h1. Beanstalk Client

h1. → 'beanstalk-client'


h2. What

This is a Ruby client library for the Beanstalk protocol.

"<tt>beanstalkd</tt>":http://xph.us/software/beanstalkd/ is a fast,
distributed, in-memory work-queue service. Its interface is generic, but is
intended for use in reducing the latency of page views in high-volume web
applications by running most time-consuming tasks asynchronously.

h2. Installing

<p>First you must download and install the 
"<tt>beanstalkd</tt>":http://xph.us/software/beanstalkd/ server.</p>

<p>Then just:</p>

<pre syntax="sh">sudo gem install beanstalk-client</pre>

<p>and you're ready to go!</p>

h2. How to use it

Here's an example of the low-level Ruby interface.

First, have one process put a job into the queue:

<pre syntax="ruby">
beanstalk = Beanstalk::Pool.new(['localhost:11300'])
...
beanstalk.put('hello')
</pre>

Then start another process to take jobs out of the queue and run them:

<pre syntax="ruby">
beanstalk = Beanstalk::Pool.new(['localhost:11300'])
loop do
  job = beanstalk.reserve
  puts job.body # prints "hello"
  job.delete
end
</pre>

h2. Rails Integration

But you very likely want to use this in a Rails project. In that case, you
should check out the <a href=http://async-observer.rubyforge.org/>Async
Observer Rails plugin</a>. It gives far more functionality and a
super-easy-to-use interface.

h2. Forum

There's a google group called
"beanstalk-talk":http://groups.google.com/group/beanstalk-talk for all
discussion regarding <tt>beanstalkd</tt> and the various client libraries.

h2. How to submit patches

Read the "8 steps for fixing other people's code":http://drnicwilliams.com/2007/06/01/8-steps-for-fixing-other-peoples-code/ and for section "8b: Submit patch to Google Groups":http://drnicwilliams.com/2007/06/01/8-steps-for-fixing-other-peoples-code/#8b-google-groups, use the Google Group above.

The repository is <code>http://xph.us/src/beanstalk-client-ruby.git</code> for anonymous access.

You can browse the repo at
"http://xph.us/git/beanstalk-client-ruby/":http://xph.us/git/beanstalk-client-ruby/.

h2. License

You can share this code under the terms of the GPL version 3. 

h2. Contact

Comments are welcome. Send any questions or comments to the
"beanstalk-talk":http://groups.google.com/group/beanstalk-talk google group.