Programming Jabber

jabber:iq:private

The jabber:iq:private namespace is traditionally a way of storing user-defined data that should be kept private. Persistency across sessions is achieved by storing the data in the user’s records on the server. The data is, of course, formatted in XML.

Warning

Private data stored by a user is accessible only to that user. Remember, however, that the private data is stored on the server. Unencrypted. If you’re paranoid, encrypt it before storing it.

A typical use of the jabber:iq:private namespace is shown in Example 6-1. The JIM client stores countless user preferences on a per-user basis using this namespace. Once a user has connected and authenticated with a Jabber server, those user preferences are retrieved and used by the client to customize the settings.

Example 6-1. JIM retrieves user preferences stored in a jabber:iq:private namespace

SEND: <iq id="jabberim:prefs3860" type="get">
        <query xmlns="jabber:iq:private">
          <jabberIM xmlns="jabberim:prefs"/>
        </query>
      </iq>

RECV: <iq id='jabberim:prefs3860' type='result' from='dj@yak/Work'>
        <query xmlns='jabber:iq:private'>
          <jabberim xmlns='jabberim:prefs'
                    UseAutoAway='true'
                    AwayTime='5'
                    XATime='30'
                    AwayStatus='Away (auto)'
                    XAStatus='Ext. Away (auto)'
                    WizardShown='false'
                    ... >
          </jabberim>
        </query>
      </iq>

In this example, you can see that a private namespace is used to qualify the particular chunk of stored data, jabberim:prefs. Also of interest is the difference between the tags—<jabberIM/> in the retrieval request ...