DNSQueryAPITechnicalDocs.md

DNS Query API Technical Docs

This documentation covers some (not all) of the objects, methods and properties of the API. The code itself should be fairly easy to hack if more complex changes are required.

*Class: Query *

The main DNS API class.

property Query::server (string)

DNS server hostname or IP as a string

property Query::port (decimal)

Port to use (default 53)

property Query::timeout (decimal)

Timeout in seconds (default 60)

property Query::udp (bool)

Will use UDP if true else use TCP (default true)

property Query::debug (bool)

Output some debug information when querying (default false)

property Query::debugbinary (bool)

Dump binary debug output when querying (default false)

property Query::error (bool)

Set if the last query resulted in an error

property Query::lasterror (string)

Description of the last error encountered (null string if no error)

property Query::lastnameservers (Class::Answer)

Nameserver record results returned from the last query

property Query::lastadditional (Class::Answer)

Result records from the additional section of the last query

method Query::Query (hostname (string), [port=53 (decimal)], [timeout=60 (decimal)], [udp=true (bool)], [debug=false (bool)])

The constructor function - do not call this directly, rather use /$object=new Query(options...)/ to create the object. Configuration can be changed after initilisation by setting the relevant property directly.

mixed method Query::Query (question (string), [type=A (string)])

Query the nameserver with the given question for the optionally specified type (defaults to A). The question string would normally consist of a hostname, domain name or IP address (in normal or IN-ADDR.ARPA form).

The query will be executed against the configured server using the set protocol (UDP if the udp property is true else TCP). If an error is encountered at any point the error property is set to true, a description placed in the lasterror property and the method returns false.

On successful completion of the query a Class::Answer is returned containing the records from the answer portion of the response. The class properties lastnameservers and lastadditional will be set as Class::Answer objects containing the resource records returned in the nameserver and additional portion of the answer respectively.

string method Query::SmartALookup (hostname (string))

Takes a hostname and returns an IP address or a null string if the query failed. Will recursively lookup aliases to a depth of 5.

Intended as a DNS server specific version of gethostbyname()

Class: Answer

property Answer::count (decimal)

Number of result records contained within the answer

property Answer::results (Class::Result Array)

An array of Class::Result objects containing each of the result records

Class: Result

property Result::type (decimal)

Decimal record type

property Result::typeid (string)

String of the type (i.e. A, MX, SOA etc) or null string if an unknown type

property Result::class (decimal)

Numeric result class type

property Result::ttl (decimal)

Time-to-live (TTL) of resource record

property Result::data (string|binary)

The processed output of a known type (the IP address for an A record, mail exchange for an MX record) or the binary data for an unknown type

property Result::domain (string)

The domain/domain name/hostname the record applies to i.e. the hostname that the A record in the data type of an A lookup refers to

property Result::string (string)

A textual representation of the answer (if the type is known else a null string) i.e. "www.fish.com has address 1.2.3.4"

property Result::extras (string Array)

An array of any extra data available for the record if the type was known with a relevant key i.e. "level" for MX record mail exchange priorities. See the main documentation for a full list of extra type-dependent data.