Add sphinx doc (closes #3)

[python-musicpd.git] / doc / source / use.rst

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+Using the client library
+=========================
+
+The client library can be used as follows::
+
+    client = musicpd.MPDClient()       # create client object
+    client.connect()                   # use MPD_HOST/MPD_PORT if set else
+                                       #   test ${XDG_RUNTIME_DIR}/mpd/socket for existence
+                                       #   fallback to localhost:6600
+                                       # connect support host/port argument as well
+    print client.mpd_version           # print the mpd version
+    print client.cmd('one', 2)         # print result of the command "cmd one 2"
+    client.close()                     # send the close command
+    client.disconnect()                # disconnect from the server
+
+A list of supported commands, their arguments (as MPD currently understands
+them), and the functions used to parse their responses can be found in
+`doc/commands.txt`.  See the `MPD protocol documentation`_ for more
+details.
+
+Command lists are also supported using `command_list_ok_begin()` and
+`command_list_end()` ::
+
+    client.command_list_ok_begin()       # start a command list
+    client.update()                      # insert the update command into the list
+    client.status()                      # insert the status command into the list
+    results = client.command_list_end()  # results will be a list with the results
+
+Provide a 2-tuple as argument for command supporting ranges (cf. `MPD protocol documentation`_ for more details).
+Possible ranges are: "START:END", "START:" and ":" ::
+
+    # An intelligent clear
+    # clears played track in the queue, currentsong included
+    pos = client.currentsong().get('pos', 0)
+    # the 2-tuple range object accepts str, no need to convert to int
+    client.delete((0, pos))
+    # missing end interpreted as highest value possible, pay attention still need a tuple.
+    client.delete((pos,))  # purge queue from current to the end
+
+A notable case is the `rangeid` command allowing an empty range specified
+as a single colon as argument (i.e. sending just ":")::
+
+    # sending "rangeid :" to clear the range, play everything
+    client.rangeid(())  # send an empty tuple
+
+Empty start in range (i.e. ":END") are not possible and will raise a CommandError.
+
+
+Commands may also return iterators instead of lists if `iterate` is set to
+`True`::
+
+    client.iterate = True
+    for song in client.playlistinfo():
+        print song['file']
+
+Each command have a *send\_<CMD>* and a *fetch\_<CMD>* variant, which allows to
+send a MPD command and then fetch the result later.
+This is useful for the idle command::
+
+    >>> client.send_idle()
+    # do something else or use function like select()
+    # http://docs.python.org/howto/sockets.html#non-blocking-sockets
+    # ex. select([client], [], [])
+    >>> events = client.fetch_idle()
+
+    # more complex use for example, with glib/gobject:
+    >>> def callback(source, condition):
+    >>>    changes = client.fetch_idle()
+    >>>    print changes
+    >>>    return False  # removes the IO watcher
+
+    >>> client.send_idle()
+    >>> gobject.io_add_watch(client, gobject.IO_IN, callback)
+    >>> gobject.MainLoop().run()
+
+
+.. _MPD protocol documentation: http://www.musicpd.org/doc/protocol/