Mail::Box::POP3(3) User Contributed Perl Documentation Mail::Box::POP3(3)NAMEMail::Box::POP3 - handle POP3 folders as client
INHERITANCEMail::Box::POP3
is a Mail::Box::Net
is a Mail::Box
is a Mail::Reporter
Mail::Box::POP3 is extended by
Mail::Box::POP3s
SYNOPSIS
use Mail::Box::POP3;
my $folder = new Mail::Box::POP3 folder => $ENV{MAIL}, ...;
DESCRIPTION
Maintain a folder which has its messages stored on a remote server.
The communication between the client application and the server is
implemented using the POP3 protocol. This class uses
Mail::Transport::POP3 to hide the transport of information, and
focusses solely on the correct handling of messages within a POP3
folder.
OVERLOADED
overload: ""
See "OVERLOADED" in Mail::Box
overload: @{}
See "OVERLOADED" in Mail::Box
overload: cmp
See "OVERLOADED" in Mail::Box
METHODS
Constructors
Mail::Box::POP3->new(OPTIONS)
For authentications, you have three choices: specify a foldername
which resembles an URL, or specify a pop-client object, or separate
options for user, password, pop-server and server-port.
-Option--Defined in --Default
access Mail::Box 'r'
authenticate 'AUTO'
body_delayed_type Mail::Box Mail::Message::Body::Delayed
body_type Mail::Box Mail::Message::Body::Lines
coerce_options Mail::Box []
create Mail::Box <not applicable>
extract Mail::Box 10240
field_type Mail::Box undef
fix_headers Mail::Box <false>
folder Mail::Box <not applicable>
folderdir Mail::Box <not used>
head_delayed_type Mail::Box Mail::Message::Head::Delayed
head_type Mail::Box Mail::Message::Head::Complete
keep_dups Mail::Box <false>
lock_file Mail::Box undef
lock_timeout Mail::Box 1 hour
lock_type Mail::Box 'NONE'
lock_wait Mail::Box 10 seconds
locker Mail::Box undef
log Mail::Reporter 'WARNINGS'
manager Mail::Box undef
message_type Mail::Box Mail::Box::POP3::Message
multipart_type Mail::Box Mail::Message::Body::Multipart
password Mail::Box::Net undef
pop_client undef
remove_when_empty Mail::Box <false>
save_on_exit Mail::Box <true>
server_name Mail::Box::Net undef
server_port Mail::Box::Net 110
trace Mail::Reporter 'WARNINGS'
trusted Mail::Box <false>
username Mail::Box::Net undef
access => MODE
authenticate => 'LOGIN'|'APOP'|'AUTO'
POP3 can use two methods of authentication: the old LOGIN
protocol, which transmits a username and password in plain text,
and the newer APOP protocol which uses MD5 encryption. APOP is
therefore much better, however not always supported by the
server. With AUTO, first APOP is tried and if that fails LOGIN.
body_delayed_type => CLASS
body_type => CLASS|CODE
coerce_options => ARRAY
create => BOOLEAN
extract => INTEGER | CODE | METHOD | 'LAZY'|'ALWAYS'
field_type => CLASS
fix_headers => BOOLEAN
folder => FOLDERNAME
folderdir => DIRECTORY
head_delayed_type => CLASS
head_type => CLASS
keep_dups => BOOLEAN
lock_file => FILENAME
lock_timeout => SECONDS
lock_type => CLASS|STRING|ARRAY
lock_wait => SECONDS
locker => OBJECT
log => LEVEL
manager => MANAGER
message_type => CLASS
multipart_type => CLASS
password => STRING
pop_client => OBJECT
You may want to specify your own pop-client object. The object
which is passed must extend Mail::Transport::POP3.
remove_when_empty => BOOLEAN
save_on_exit => BOOLEAN
server_name => HOSTNAME
server_port => INTEGER
trace => LEVEL
trusted => BOOLEAN
username => STRING
example:
my $url = 'pop3://user:password@pop.xs4all.nl'
my $pop = Mail::Box::POP3->new($url);
my $pop = $mgr->open(type => 'pop3',
username => 'myname', password => 'mypassword',
server_name => 'pop.xs4all.nl');
The folder
$obj->addMessage(MESSAGE)
It is impossible to write messages to the average POP3 server.
There are extensions to the protocol which do permit it, however
these are not implemented (yet, patches welcome).
"undef" is returned, and an error displayed. However, no complaint
is given when the MESSAGE is "undef" itself.
-Option--Defined in--Default
share Mail::Box <not used>
share => BOOLEAN
$obj->addMessages(MESSAGES)
As useless as addMessage(). The only acceptable call to this
method is without any message.
Mail::Box::POP3->appendMessages(OPTIONS)
See "The folder" in Mail::Box
$obj->close(OPTIONS)
See "The folder" in Mail::Box
$obj->copyTo(FOLDER, OPTIONS)
See "The folder" in Mail::Box
$obj->delete(OPTIONS)
It is not possible to delete a POP3 folder remotely: the best we
can do is remove all the messages in it... which is the action
implemented here. A notice is logged about this.
-Option--Defined in--Default
recursive Mail::Box <not used>
recursive => BOOLEAN
$obj->folderdir([DIRECTORY])
See "METHODS" in Mail::Box::Net
$obj->name
See "The folder" in Mail::Box
$obj->organization
See "The folder" in Mail::Box
$obj->size
See "The folder" in Mail::Box
$obj->type
See "The folder" in Mail::Box
$obj->update
NOT IMPLEMENTED YET
$obj->url
See "The folder" in Mail::Box
Folder flags
$obj->access
See "Folder flags" in Mail::Box
$obj->isModified
See "Folder flags" in Mail::Box
$obj->modified([BOOLEAN])
See "Folder flags" in Mail::Box
$obj->writable
See "Folder flags" in Mail::Box
The messages
$obj->current([NUMBER|MESSAGE|MESSAGE-ID])
See "The messages" in Mail::Box
$obj->find(MESSAGE-ID)
See "The messages" in Mail::Box
$obj->findFirstLabeled(LABEL, [BOOLEAN, [ARRAY-OF-MSGS]])
See "The messages" in Mail::Box
$obj->message(INDEX [,MESSAGE])
See "The messages" in Mail::Box
$obj->messageId(MESSAGE-ID [,MESSAGE])
See "The messages" in Mail::Box
$obj->messageIds
See "The messages" in Mail::Box
$obj->messages(['ALL',RANGE,'ACTIVE','DELETED',LABEL,!LABEL,FILTER])
See "The messages" in Mail::Box
$obj->nrMessages(OPTIONS)
See "The messages" in Mail::Box
$obj->scanForMessages(MESSAGE, MESSAGE-IDS, TIMESPAN, WINDOW)
See "The messages" in Mail::Box
Sub-folders
$obj->listSubFolders(OPTIONS)
Mail::Box::POP3->listSubFolders(OPTIONS)
The standard POP3 protocol does not support sub-folders, so an
empty list will be returned in any case.
-Option--Defined in --Default
check Mail::Box <false>
folder Mail::Box <from calling object>
folderdir Mail::Box <from folder>
skip_empty Mail::Box <false>
check => BOOLEAN
folder => FOLDERNAME
folderdir => DIRECTORY
skip_empty => BOOL
$obj->nameOfSubFolder(SUBNAME, [PARENTNAME])
Mail::Box::POP3->nameOfSubFolder(SUBNAME, [PARENTNAME])
See "Sub-folders" in Mail::Box
$obj->openRelatedFolder(OPTIONS)
See "Sub-folders" in Mail::Box
$obj->openSubFolder(OPTIONS)
It is not possible to open a sub-folder for a POP3 folder, because
that is not supported by the official POP3 protocol. In any case,
"undef" is returned to indicate a failure.
$obj->topFolderWithMessages
Mail::Box::POP3->topFolderWithMessages
See "Sub-folders" in Mail::Box
Internals
$obj->coerce(MESSAGE, OPTIONS)
See "Internals" in Mail::Box
$obj->create(FOLDER, OPTIONS)
Mail::Box::POP3->create(FOLDER, OPTIONS)
It is not possible to create a new folder on a POP3 server. This
method will always return "false".
-Option--Defined in--Default
folderdir Mail::Box <not used>
folderdir => DIRECTORY
$obj->determineBodyType(MESSAGE, HEAD)
See "Internals" in Mail::Box
Mail::Box::POP3->foundIn([FOLDERNAME], OPTIONS)
See "Internals" in Mail::Box
$obj->getHead(MESSAGE)
Read the header for the specified message from the remote server.
$obj->getHeadAndBody(MESSAGE)
Read all data for the specified message from the remote server.
$obj->lineSeparator([STRING|'CR'|'LF'|'CRLF'])
See "Internals" in Mail::Box
$obj->locker
See "Internals" in Mail::Box
$obj->popClient(OPTIONS)
Returns the pop client object. This does not establish the
connection.
-Option --Default
use_ssl <false>
use_ssl => BOOLEAN
$obj->read(OPTIONS)
See "Internals" in Mail::Box
$obj->readMessages(OPTIONS)
See "Internals" in Mail::Box
$obj->storeMessage(MESSAGE)
See "Internals" in Mail::Box
$obj->toBeThreaded(MESSAGES)
See "Internals" in Mail::Box
$obj->toBeUnthreaded(MESSAGES)
See "Internals" in Mail::Box
$obj->updateMessages(OPTIONS)
See "Internals" in Mail::Box
$obj->write(OPTIONS)
See "Internals" in Mail::Box
$obj->writeMessages(OPTIONS)-Option--Defined in--Default
messages Mail::Box <required>
messages => ARRAY
Other methods
$obj->timespan2seconds(TIME)
Mail::Box::POP3->timespan2seconds(TIME)
See "Other methods" in Mail::Box
Error handling
$obj->AUTOLOAD
See "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter
$obj->addReport(OBJECT)
See "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter
$obj->defaultTrace([LEVEL]|[LOGLEVEL, TRACELEVEL]|[LEVEL, CALLBACK])
Mail::Box::POP3->defaultTrace([LEVEL]|[LOGLEVEL,
TRACELEVEL]|[LEVEL, CALLBACK])
See "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter
$obj->errors
See "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter
$obj->log([LEVEL [,STRINGS]])
Mail::Box::POP3->log([LEVEL [,STRINGS]])
See "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter
$obj->logPriority(LEVEL)
Mail::Box::POP3->logPriority(LEVEL)
See "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter
$obj->logSettings
See "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter
$obj->notImplemented
See "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter
$obj->report([LEVEL])
See "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter
$obj->reportAll([LEVEL])
See "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter
$obj->trace([LEVEL])
See "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter
$obj->warnings
See "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter
Cleanup
$obj->DESTROY
See "Cleanup" in Mail::Box
$obj->inGlobalDestruction
See "Cleanup" in Mail::Reporter
DETAILS
Different kinds of folders
Available folder types
Folder class implementation
How POP3 folders work
Rfc1939 defines how POP3 works. POP3 is a really simple protocol to
receive messages from a server to a user's client. POP3 is also really
limited: it can only be used to fetch messages, but has not many ways
to limit the amount of network traffic, like the IMAP4 protocol has.
One POP3 account represents only one folder: there is no way of sub-
folders in POP3. POP3 doesn't support writing (except for some message
status flags).
This implementation
The protocol specifics are implemented in Mail::Transport::POP3,
written by Liz Mattijsen. That module does not use any of the other
POP3 modules available on CPAN for the reason that MailBox tries to be
smarter: it is capable of re-establishing broken POP3 connection when
the server supports UIDs.
The implementation has shown to work with many different POP servers.
In the test directory of the distribution, you will find a small server
implementation, which is used to test the client.
DIAGNOSTICS
Error: Cannot create POP3 client for $name.
The connection to the POP3 server cannot be established. You may
see more, related, error messages about the failure.
Error: Cannot find head back for $uidl on POP3 server $name.
The server told to have this message, but when asked for its
headers, no single line was returned. Did the message get
destroyed?
Error: Cannot read body for $uidl on POP3 server $name.
The message's headers are retreived from the server, but the body
seems to be lost. Did the message get destroyed between reading
the header and reading the body?
Warning: Changes not written to read-only folder $self.
You have opened the folder read-only --which is the default set by
new(access)--, made modifications, and now want to close it. Set
close(force) if you want to overrule the access mode, or close the
folder with close(write) set to "NEVER".
Error: Copying failed for one message.
For some reason, for instance disc full, removed by external
process, or read-protection, it is impossible to copy one of the
messages. Copying will proceed for the other messages.
Error: Destination folder $name is not writable.
The folder where the messages are copied to is not opened with
write access (see new(access)). This has no relation with write
permission to the folder which is controled by your operating
system.
Warning: Different messages with id $msgid
The message id is discovered more than once within the same folder,
but the content of the message seems to be different. This should
not be possible: each message must be unique.
Error: Folder $name is opened read-only
You can not write to this folder unless you have opened the folder
to write or append with new(access), or the "force" option is set
true.
Error: Invalid timespan '$timespan' specified.
The string does not follow the strict rules of the time span syntax
which is permitted as parameter.
Warning: Message $uidl on POP3 server $name disappeared.
The server indicated the existence of this message before, however
it has no information about the message anymore.
Warning: Message-id '$msgid' does not contain a domain.
According to the RFCs, message-ids need to contain a unique random
part, then an "@", and then a domain name. This is made to avoid
the creation of two messages with the same id. The warning emerges
when the "@" is missing from the string.
Warning: POP3 folders cannot be deleted.
Each user has only one POP3 folder on a server. This folder is
created and deleted by the server's administrator only.
Error: Package $package does not implement $method.
Fatal error: the specific package (or one of its superclasses) does
not implement this method where it should. This message means that
some other related classes do implement this method however the
class at hand does not. Probably you should investigate this and
probably inform the author of the package.
Error: Unable to create subfolder $name of $folder.
The copy includes the subfolders, but for some reason it was not
possible to copy one of these. Copying will proceed for all other
sub-folders.
Error: Update of $nr messages ignored for POP3 folder $name.
The standard POP3 implementation does not support writing from
client back to the server. Therefore, modifications may be lost.
Error: Writing folder $name failed
For some reason (you probably got more error messages about this
problem) it is impossible to write the folder, although you should
because there were changes made.
Error: You cannot write a message to a pop server (yet)
Some extensions to the POP3 protocol do permit writing messages to
the server, but the standard protocol only implements retreival.
Feel invited to extend our implementation with writing.
SEE ALSO
This module is part of Mail-Box distribution version 2.097, built on
January 26, 2011. Website: http://perl.overmeer.net/mailbox/
LICENSE
Copyrights 2001-2011 by Mark Overmeer. For other contributors see
ChangeLog.
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
under the same terms as Perl itself. See
http://www.perl.com/perl/misc/Artistic.html
perl v5.14.1 2011-01-26 Mail::Box::POP3(3)
