[xmlblaster] xmlBlaster with perl questions

[Kevin Priebe <nscoop2 at uvic.ca>]

Hi,

I've recently started to experiment with xmlBlaster using the Perl
interface.  Basically what we want to have is an event queueing/batching
system where events are generated and sent to xmlBlaster.  Some events
can happen right away and some should happen only at certain time
intervals (batched together).  I have it working with an event
generator, a Q/batch system (prototype just written in house) and
several agents that subscribe to certain event types.  There are a few
things that I need to know but can't find about xmlBlaster:

1) Is there a way that an agent can ask xmlBlaster what it is subscribed
for? (agents can subscribe for more than one event type)

2) Are the subscriptions persistent if the server and/or agent shuts
down?

Right now agents just subscribe when they start up and disconnect if
they are shutdown or killed (thus losing the subscription).  We want an
agent to get any missed events if it has to restart, but if it
resubscribes it gets 2 of the same message! (back to the 'need to check
if it is subscribed')

3) Is there any built in functionality for Q-ing and batching of
messages?

I've checked out the 'burst mode' qos, but I'm not sure if it's exactly
what I'm looking for.  Each agent might want several different events
that are to be sent at different time intervals based on event type. 
Any ideas of how to use burst mode for this?  The intervals might be up
to 15 minutes or more.  Right now we just wrote our own simple batching
program that uses it's own database.

4) Does the Perl interface support all of the functionality listed
above?

We are using Perl since all of our in house libraries are written in
Perl.

Thanks for any help.  Sorry for the long list of questions.

Kevin