Email::Abstract(3) User Contributed Perl Documentation Email::Abstract(3)NAMEEmail::Abstract - unified interface to mail representations
SYNOPSIS
my $message = Mail::Message->read($rfc822)
|| Email::Simple->new($rfc822)
|| Mail::Internet->new([split /\n/, $rfc822])
|| ...
|| $rfc822;
my $email = Email::Abstract->new($message);
my $subject = $email->get_header("Subject");
$email->set_header(Subject => "My new subject");
my $body = $email->get_body;
$rfc822 = $email->as_string;
my $mail_message = $email->cast("Mail::Message");
DESCRIPTION
"Email::Abstract" provides module writers with the ability to write
simple, representation-independent mail handling code. For instance, in
the cases of "Mail::Thread" or "Mail::ListDetector", a key part of the
code involves reading the headers from a mail object. Where previously
one would either have to specify the mail class required, or to build a
new object from scratch, "Email::Abstract" can be used to perform
certain simple operations on an object regardless of its underlying
representation.
"Email::Abstract" currently supports "Mail::Internet", "MIME::Entity",
"Mail::Message", "Email::Simple" and "Email::MIME". Other
representations are encouraged to create their own "Email::Abstract::*"
class by copying "Email::Abstract::EmailSimple". All modules installed
under the "Email::Abstract" hierarchy will be automatically picked up
and used.
METHODS
All of these methods may be called either as object methods or as class
methods. When called as class methods, the email object (of any class
supported by Email::Abstract) must be prepended to the list of
arguments, like so:
my $return = Email::Abstract->method($message, @args);
This is provided primarily for backwards compatibility.
new
my $email = Email::Abstract->new($message);
Given a message, either as a string or as an object for which an
adapter is installed, this method will return a Email::Abstract object
wrapping the message.
If the message is given as a string, it will be used to construct an
object, which will then be wrapped.
get_header
my $header = $email->get_header($header_name);
my @headers = $email->get_header($header_name);
This returns the values for the given header. In scalar context, it
returns the first value.
set_header
$email->set_header($header => @values);
This sets the $header header to the given one or more values.
get_body
my $body = $email->get_body;
This returns the body as a string.
set_body
$email->set_body($string);
This changes the body of the email to the given string.
WARNING! You probably don't want to call this method, despite what you
may think. Email message bodies are complicated, and rely on things
like content type, encoding, and various MIME requirements. If you
call "set_body" on a message more complicated than a single-part seven-
bit plain-text message, you are likely to break something. If you need
to do this sort of thing, you should probably use a specific message
class from end to end.
This method is left in place for backwards compatibility.
as_string
my $string = $email->as_string;
This returns the whole email as a decoded string.
cast
my $mime_entity = $email->cast('MIME::Entity');
This method will convert a message from one message class to another.
It will throw an exception if no adapter for the target class is known,
or if the adapter does not provide a "construct" method.
object
my $message = $email->object;
This method returns the message object wrapped by Email::Abstract. If
called as a class method, it returns false.
Note that, because strings are converted to message objects before
wrapping, this method will return an object when the Email::Abstract
was constructed from a string.
PERL EMAIL PROJECT
This module is maintained by the Perl Email Project
<http://emailproject.perl.org/wiki/Email::Abstract>
AUTHOR
Casey West, <casey@geeknest.com>
Simon Cozens, <simon@cpan.org>
Ricardo SIGNES, <rjbs@cpan.org>
COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
Copyright 2004 by Simon Cozens
This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
under the same terms as Perl itself.
perl v5.14.1 2010-06-12 Email::Abstract(3)
