GopherSharp is a minimal library to abstract and simplify accessing gopher holes from .NET/Mono. This makes it even more trivial to create a gopher client by abstracting way socket management and parsing menus, leaving basics like displaying and managing the output of the menu up to you.

This code can be refractored in minor ways at any time. In addition, more functions may be added.

Check out the gopher RFC as well, for best practices.

To access a menu, use

List<GopherItem> items = GopherRequester.RequestMenu(hostnameToServer, selectorToMenu); // port is last parameter and option, default is 70

To access a text file or menu as a string, use

string item = GopherRequester.RequestText(hostnameToServer, selectorToMenu); // port is last parameter and option, default is 70

To access a raw file as a byte array, use

byte[] item = GopherRequester.RequestRaw(hostnameToServer, selectorToMenu); // port is last parameter and option, default is 70

A GopherItem abstracts a menu item on a gopher server. Its items include:

• char ItemType - char representing the type of content the selector references
• string DisplayString - string representing what the item will be on the menu (don't adjust this in your software)
• string Selector - contains the location of the linked item
• string Hostname - contains the server name where the linked item lives
• int Port - port on which the server listens, normally 70

It has a constructor of either nothing (making an empty information item) or consuming a raw string from a gopher menu item.