Mail::Box(3) User Contributed Perl Documentation Mail::Box(3)NAMEMail::Box - manage a mailbox, a folder with messages
INHERITANCEMail::Box
is a Mail::Reporter
Mail::Box is extended by
Mail::Box::Dir
Mail::Box::File
Mail::Box::Net
SYNOPSIS
use Mail::Box::Manager;
my $mgr = Mail::Box::Manager->new;
my $folder = $mgr->open(folder => $ENV{MAIL}, ...);
print $folder->name;
# Get the first message.
print $folder->message(0);
# Delete the third message
$folder->message(3)->delete;
# Get the number of messages in scalar context.
my $emails = $folder->messages;
# Iterate over the messages.
foreach ($folder->messages) {...} # all messages
foreach (@$folder) {...} # all messages
$folder->addMessage(Mail::Box::Message->new(...));
Tied-interface:
tie my(@inbox), 'Mail::Box::Tie::ARRAY', $inbox;
# Four times the same:
$inbox[3]->print; # tied
$folder->[3]->print; # overloaded folder
$folder->message(3)->print; # usual
print $folder->[3]; # overloaded message
tie my(%inbox), 'Mail::Box::Tie::HASH', $inbox;
# Twice times the same
$inbox{$msgid}->print; # tied
$folder->messageId($msgid)->print;# usual
DESCRIPTION
A Mail::Box::Manager creates "Mail::Box" objects. But you already
knew, because you started with the Mail::Box-Overview manual page.
That page is obligatory reading, sorry!
"Mail::Box" is the base class for accessing various types of mailboxes
(folders) in a uniform manner. The various folder types vary on how
they store their messages, but when some effort those differences could
be hidden behind a general API. For example, some folders store many
messages in one single file, where other store each message in a
separate file withing the same directory.
No object in your program will be of type "Mail::Box": it is only used
as base class for the real folder types. "Mail::Box" is extended by
OVERLOADED
overload: ""
(stringification) The folder objects stringify to their name. This
simplifies especially print statements and sorting a lot.
example: use overloaded folder as string
# Three lines with overloading: resp. cmp, @{}, and ""
foreach my $folder (sort @folders)
{ my $msgcount = @$folder;
print "$folder contains $msgcount messages\n";
}
overload: @{}
When the folder is used as if it is a reference to an array, it
will show the messages, like messages() and message() would do.
example: use overloaded folder as array
my $msg = $folder->[3];
my $msg = $folder->message(3); # same
foreach my $msg (@$folder) ...
foreach my $msg ($folder->messages) ... # same
overload: cmp
(string comparison) folders are compared based on their name. The
sort rules are those of the build-in "cmp".
METHODS
Constructors
Mail::Box->new(OPTIONS)
Open a new folder. A list of labeled OPTIONS for the mailbox can be
supplied. Some options pertain to Mail::Box, and others are added
by sub-classes.
To control delay-loading of messages, as well the headers as the
bodies, a set of *_type options are available. "extract" determines
whether we want delay-loading.
-Option--Defined in --Default
access 'r'
body_delayed_type Mail::Message::Body::Delayed
body_type <folder specific>
coerce_options []
create <false>
extract 10240
field_type undef
fix_headers <false>
folder $ENV{MAIL}
folderdir undef
head_delayed_type Mail::Message::Head::Delayed
head_type Mail::Message::Head::Complete
keep_dups <false>
lock_file undef
lock_timeout 1 hour
lock_type Mail::Box::Locker::DotLock
lock_wait 10 seconds
locker undef
log Mail::Reporter 'WARNINGS'
manager undef
message_type Mail::Box::Message
multipart_type Mail::Message::Body::Multipart
remove_when_empty <true>
save_on_exit <true>
trace Mail::Reporter 'WARNINGS'
trusted <depends on folder location>
access => MODE
Access-rights to the folder. Folders are opened for read-only
(which means write-protected) by default! MODE can be
'r': read-only (default)
'a': append
'rw': read-write
'd': delete
These MODE has no relation to the modes actually used to open the
folder files within this module. For instance, if you specify
"rw", and open the folder, only read permission on the folder-
file is required.
Be warned: writing a MBOX folder may create a new file to replace
the old folder. The permissions and owner of the file may get
changed by this.
body_delayed_type => CLASS
The bodies which are delayed: which will be read from file when
it is needed, but not before.
body_type => CLASS|CODE
When messages are read from a folder-file, the headers will be
stored in a "head_type" object. For the body, however, there is
a range of choices about type, which are all described in
Mail::Message::Body.
Specify a CODE-reference which produces the body-type to be
created, or a CLASS of the body which is used when the body is
not a multipart or nested. In case of a code reference, the
header structure is passed as first argument to the routine.
Do not return a delayed body-type (like "::Delayed"), because
that is determined by the "extract" option while the folder is
opened. Even delayed message will require some real body type
when they get parsed eventually. Multiparts and nested messages
are also outside your control.
For instance:
$mgr->open('InBox', body_type => \&which_body);
sub which_body($) {
my $head = shift;
my $size = $head->guessBodySize || 0;
my $type = $size > 100000 ? 'File' : 'Lines';
"Mail::Message::Body::$type";
}
The default depends on the mail-folder type, although the general
default is Mail::Message::Body::Lines. Please check the
applicable manual pages.
coerce_options => ARRAY
Keep configuration information for messages which are coerced
into the specified folder type, starting with a different folder
type (or even no folder at all). Messages which are coerced are
always fully read, so this kind of information does not need to
be kept here.
create => BOOLEAN
Automatically create the folder when it does not exist yet. This
will only work when access is granted for writing or appending to
the folder.
Be careful: you may create a different folder type than you
expect unless you explicitly specify
Mail::Box::Manager::open(type).
extract => INTEGER | CODE | METHOD | 'LAZY'|'ALWAYS'
Defines when to parse (process) the content of the message. When
the header of a message is read, you may want to postpone the
reading of the body: header information is more often needed than
the body data, so why parse it always together? The cost of
delaying is not too high, and with some luck you may never need
parsing the body.
If you supply an INTEGER to this option, bodies of those messages
with a total size less than that number will be extracted from
the folder only when necessary. Messages where the size (in the
"Content-Length" field) is not included in the header, like often
the case for multiparts and nested messages, will not be
extracted by default.
If you supply a CODE reference, that subroutine is called every
time that the extraction mechanism wants to determine whether to
parse the body or not. The subroutine is called with the
following arguments:
CODE->(FOLDER, HEAD)
where FOLDER is a reference to the folder we are reading. HEAD
refers to the Mail::Message::Head::Complete head of the message
at hand. The routine must return a "true" value (extract now) or
a "false" value (be lazy, do not parse yet). Think about using
the Mail::Message::Head::guessBodySize() and
Mail::Message::guessTimestamp() on the header to determine your
choice.
The third possibility is to specify the NAME of a method. In
that case, for each message is called:
FOLDER->NAME(HEAD)
Where each component has the same meaning as described above.
The fourth way to use this option involves constants: with "LAZY"
all messages will be delayed. With "ALWAYS" you enforce
unconditional parsing, no delaying will take place. The latter
is usuful when you are sure you always need all the messages in
the folder.
$folder->new(extract => 'LAZY'); # Very lazy
$folder->new(extract => 10000); # Less than 10kB
# same, but implemented yourself
$folder->new(extract => &large);
sub large($) {
my ($f, $head) = @_;
my $size = $head->guessBodySize;
defined $size ? $size < 10000 : 1
};
# method call by name, useful for Mail::Box
# extensions. The example selects all messages
# sent by you to be loaded without delay.
# Other messages will be delayed.
$folder->new(extract => 'sent_by_me');
sub Mail::Box::send_by_me($) {
my ($self, $header) = @_;
$header->get('from') =~ m/\bmy\@example.com\b/i;
}
field_type => CLASS
The type of the fields to be used in a header. Must extend
Mail::Message::Field.
fix_headers => BOOLEAN
Broken MIME headers usually stop the parser: all lines not parsed
are added to the body of the message. With this flag set, the
erroneous line is added to the previous header field and parsing
is continued. See
Mail::Box::Parser::Perl::new(fix_header_errors).
folder => FOLDERNAME
Which folder to open (for reading or writing). When used for
reading (the "access" option set to "r" or "a") the mailbox
should already exist and must be readable. The file or directory
of the mailbox need not exist if it is opened for reading and
writing ("rw"). Write-permission is checked when opening an
existing mailbox.
The folder name can be preceded by a "=", to indicate that it is
named relative to the directory specified in new(folderdir).
Otherwise, it is taken as relative or absolute path.
folderdir => DIRECTORY
Where are folders to be found by default? A folder-name may be
preceded by a equals-sign ("=", a "mutt" convension) to
explicitly state that the folder is located below the default
directory. For example: in case "folderdir => '/tmp'" and
"folder => '=abc'", the name of the folder-file is '/tmp/abc'.
Each folder type has already some default set.
head_delayed_type => CLASS
The headers which are delayed: which will be read from file when
it is needed, but not before.
head_type => CLASS
The type of header which contains all header information. Must
extend Mail::Message::Head::Complete.
keep_dups => BOOLEAN
Indicates whether or not duplicate messages within the folder
should be retained. A message is considered to be a duplicate if
its message-id is the same as a previously parsed message within
the same folder. If this option is false (the default) such
messages are automatically deleted, because it is considered
useless to store the same message twice.
lock_file => FILENAME
The name of the file which is used to lock. This must be
specified when locking is to be used.
lock_timeout => SECONDS
When the lock file is older than the specified number of SECONDS,
it is considered a mistake. The original lock is released, and
accepted for this folder.
lock_type => CLASS|STRING|ARRAY
The type of the locker object. This may be the full name of a
CLASS which extends Mail::Box::Locker, or one of the known locker
types "DotLock", "Flock", "Mutt", "NFS", "POSIX", or "NONE". If
an ARRAY is specified, then a Multi locker is built which uses
the specified list.
lock_wait => SECONDS
SECONDS to wait before failing on opening this folder.
locker => OBJECT
An OBJECT which extends Mail::Box::Locker, and will handle folder
locking replacing the default lock behavior.
log => LEVEL
manager => MANAGER
A reference to the object which manages this folder -- typically
an Mail::Box::Manager instance.
message_type => CLASS
What kind of message objects are stored in this type of folder.
The default is Mail::Box::Message (which is a sub-class of
Mail::Message). The class you offer must be an extension of
Mail::Box::Message.
multipart_type => CLASS
The default type of objects which are to be created for multipart
message bodies.
remove_when_empty => BOOLEAN
Determines whether to remove the folder file or directory
automatically when the write would result in a folder without
messages nor sub-folders.
save_on_exit => BOOLEAN
Sets the policy for saving the folder when it is closed. A
folder can be closed manually (see close()) or in a number of
implicit ways, including on the moment the program is terminated.
trace => LEVEL
trusted => BOOLEAN
Flags whether to trust the data in the folder or not. Folders
which reside in your "folderdir" will be trusted by default (even
when the names if not specified staring with "="). Folders which
are outside the folderdir or read from STDIN
(Mail::Message::Construct::read()) are not trused by default, and
require some extra checking.
If you do not check encodings of received messages, you may print
binary data to the screen, which is a security risk.
The folder
$obj->addMessage(MESSAGE, OPTIONS)
Add a message to the folder. A message is usually a
Mail::Box::Message object or a sub-class thereof. The message
shall not be in an other folder, when you use this method. In case
it is, use Mail::Box::Manager::moveMessage() or
Mail::Box::Manager::copyMessage() via the manager.
Messages with id's which already exist in this folder are not
added.
BE WARNED that message labels may get lost when a message is moved
from one folder type to an other. An attempt is made to translate
labels, but there are many differences in interpretation by
applications.
-Option--Default
share <not used>
share => BOOLEAN
Try to share the physical resource of the current message with
the indicated message. It is sometimes possible to share
messages between different folder types. When the sharing is not
possible, than this option is simply ignored.
Sharing the resource is quite dangerous, and only available for a
limited number of folder types, at the moment only some
Mail::Box::Dir folders; these file-based messages can be
hardlinked (on platforms that support it). The link may get
broken when one message is modified in one of the folders.... but
maybe not, depending on the folder types involved.
example:
$folder->addMessage($msg);
$folder->addMessages($msg1, $msg2, ...);
$obj->addMessages(MESSAGE [, MESSAGE, ...])
Adds a set of MESSAGE objects to the open folder at once. For some
folder types this may be faster than adding them one at a time.
example:
$folder->addMessages($msg1, $msg2, ...);
Mail::Box->appendMessages(OPTIONS)
Append one or more messages to an unopened folder. Usually, this
method is called by the Mail::Box::Manager::appendMessage(), in
which case the correctness of the folder type is checked.
For some folder types it is required to open the folder before it
can be used for appending. This can be fast, but this can also be
very slow (depends on the implementation). All OPTIONS passed will
also be used to open the folder, if needed.
-Option--Default
folder <required>
message undef
messages undef
share <false>
folder => FOLDERNAME
The name of the folder to which the messages are to be appended.
The folder implementation will avoid opening the folder when
possible, because this is resource consuming.
message => MESSAGE
messages => ARRAY-OF-MESSAGES
One reference to a MESSAGE or a reference to an ARRAY of
MESSAGEs, which may be of any type. The messages will be first
coerced into the correct message type to fit in the folder, and
then will be added to it.
share => BOOLEAN
Try to share physical storage of the message. Only available for
a limited number of folder types, otherwise no-op.
example:
my $message = Mail::Message->new(...);
Mail::Box::Mbox->appendMessages
( folder => '=xyz'
, message => $message
, folderdir => $ENV{FOLDERS}
);
better:
my Mail::Box::Manager $mgr;
$mgr->appendMessages($message, folder => '=xyz');
$obj->close(OPTIONS)
Close the folder, which usually implies writing the changes. This
will return "false" when writing is required but fails. Please do
check this result.
WARNING: When moving messages from one folder to another, be sure
to write the destination folder before writing and closing the
source folder. Otherwise you may lose data if the system crashes
or if there are software problems.
-Option--Default
force <false>
save_deleted false
write MODIFIED
force => BOOLEAN
Override the new(access) setting which was specified when the
folder was opened. This option only has an effect if its value is
TRUE. NOTE: Writing to the folder may not be permitted by the
operating system, in which case even "force" will not help.
save_deleted => BOOLEAN
Do also write messages which where flagged to be deleted to their
folder. The flag for deletion is conserved (when possible),
which means that a re-open of the folder may remove the messages
for real. See write(save_deleted).
write => 'ALWAYS'|'NEVER'|'MODIFIED'
Specifies whether the folder should be written. As could be
expected, "ALWAYS" means always (even if there are no changes),
"NEVER" means that changes to the folder will be lost, and
"MODIFIED" only saves the folder if there are any changes.
example:
my $f = $mgr->open('spam', access => 'rw')
or die "Cannot open spam: $!\n";
$f->message(0)->delete
if $f->messages;
$f->close
or die "Couldn't write $f: $!\n";
$obj->copyTo(FOLDER, OPTIONS)
Copy the folder's messages to a new folder. The new folder may be
of a different type.
-Option--Default
delete_copied <false>
select 'ACTIVE'
share <not used>
subfolders <folder type dependent>
delete_copied => BOOLEAN
Flag the messages from the source folder to be deleted, just
after it was copied. The deletion will only take effect when the
originating folder is closed.
select => 'ACTIVE'|'DELETED'|'ALL'|LABEL|!LABEL|FILTER
Which messages are to be copied. See the description of
messages() about how this works.
share => BOOLEAN
Try to share the message between the folders. Some
Mail::Box::Dir folder types do support it by creating a hardlink
(on UNIX/Linux).
subfolders => BOOLEAN|'FLATTEN'|'RECURSE'
How to handle sub-folders. When false (0 or "undef"), sub-
folders are simply ignored. With "FLATTEN", messages from sub-
folders are included in the main copy. "RECURSE" recursively
copies the sub-folders as well. By default, when the destination
folder supports sub-folders "RECURSE" is used, otherwise
"FLATTEN". A value of true will select the default.
example:
my $mgr = Mail::Box::Manager->new;
my $imap = $mgr->open(type => 'imap', host => ...);
my $mh = $mgr->open(type => 'mh', folder => '/tmp/mh',
create => 1, access => 'w');
$imap->copyTo($mh, delete_copied => 1);
$mh->close; $imap->close;
$obj->delete(OPTIONS)
Remove the specified folder file or folder directory (depending on
the type of folder) from disk. Of course, THIS IS DANGEROUS: you
"may" lose data. Returns a "true" value on success.
WARNING: When moving messages from one folder to another, be sure
to write the destination folder before deleting the source folder.
Otherwise you may lose data if the system crashes or if there are
software problems.
-Option--Default
recursive 1
recursive => BOOLEAN
example: removing an open folder
my $folder = Mail::Box::Mbox->new(folder => 'InBox', access => 'rw');
... some other code ...
$folder->delete;
example: removing an closed folder
my $folder = Mail::Box::Mbox->new(folder => 'INBOX', access => 'd');
$folder->delete;
$obj->folderdir([DIRECTORY])
Get or set the DIRECTORY which is used to store mail-folders by
default.
example:
print $folder->folderdir;
$folder->folderdir("$ENV{HOME}/nsmail");
$obj->name
Returns the name of the folder. What the name represents depends
on the actual type of mailbox used.
example:
print $folder->name;
print "$folder"; # overloaded stringification
$obj->organization
Returns how the folder is organized: as one "FILE" with many
messages, a "DIRECTORY" with one message per file, or by a "REMOTE"
server.
$obj->size
Returns the size of the folder in bytes, not counting in the
deleted messages. The error in the presented result may be as
large as 10%, because the in-memory representation of messages is
not always the same as the size when they are written.
$obj->type
Returns a name for the type of mail box. This can be "mbox", "mh",
"maildir", or "pop3".
$obj->update(OPTIONS)
Read new messages from the folder, which where received after
opening it. This is quite dangerous and shouldn't be possible:
folders which are open are locked. However, some applications do
not use locks or the wrong kind of locks. This method reads the
changes (not always failsafe) and incorporates them in the open
folder administration.
The OPTIONS are extra values which are passed to the
updateMessages() method which is doing the actual work here.
$obj->url
Represent the folder as a URL (Universal Resource Locator) string.
You may pass such a URL as folder name to
Mail::Box::Manager::open().
example:
print $folder->url;
# may result in
# mbox:/var/mail/markov or
# pop3://user:password@pop.aol.com:101
Folder flags
$obj->access
Returns the access mode of the folder, as set by new(access)
$obj->isModified
Checks if the folder, as stored in memory, is modified. A true
value is returned when any of the messages is to be deleted, has
changed, or messages were added after the folder was read from
file.
WARNING: this flag is not related to an external change to the
folder structure on disk. Have a look at update() for that.
$obj->modified([BOOLEAN])
Sets whether the folder is modified or not.
$obj->writable
Checks whether the current folder is writable.
example:
$folder->addMessage($msg) if $folder->writable;
The messages
$obj->current([NUMBER|MESSAGE|MESSAGE-ID])
Some mail-readers keep the current message, which represents the
last used message. This method returns [after setting] the current
message. You may specify a NUMBER, to specify that that message
number is to be selected as current, or a MESSAGE/MESSAGE-ID (as
long as you are sure that the header is already loaded, otherwise
they are not recognized).
example:
$folder->current(0);
$folder->current($message);
$obj->find(MESSAGE-ID)
Like messageId(), this method searches for a message with the
MESSAGE-ID, returning the corresponding message object. However,
"find" will cause unparsed message in the folder to be parsed until
the message-id is found. The folder will be scanned back to front.
$obj->findFirstLabeled(LABEL, [BOOLEAN, [ARRAY-OF-MSGS]])
Find the first message which has this LABEL with the correct
setting. The BOOLEAN indicates whether any true value or any false
value is to be found. By default, a true value is searched for.
When a message does not have the requested label, it is taken as
false.
example: looking for a labeled message
my $current = $folder->findFirstLabeled('current');
my $first = $folder->findFirstLabeled(seen => 0);
my $last = $folder->findFirstLabeled(seen => 0,
[ reverse $self->messages('ACTIVE') ] )
$obj->message(INDEX [,MESSAGE])
Get or set a message with on a certain index. Messages which are
flagged for deletion are counted. Negative indexes start at the
end of the folder.
example:
my $msg = $folder->message(3);
$folder->message(3)->delete; # status changes to `deleted'
$folder->message(3, $msg);
print $folder->message(-1); # last message.
$obj->messageId(MESSAGE-ID [,MESSAGE])
With one argument, returns the message in the folder with the
specified MESSAGE-ID. If a reference to a message object is passed
as the optional second argument, the message is first stored in the
folder, replacing any existing message whose message ID is MESSAGE-
ID. (The message ID of MESSAGE need not match MESSAGE-ID.)
!!WARNING!!: when the message headers are delay-parsed, the message
might be in the folder but not yet parsed into memory. In this
case, use find() instead of "messageId()" if you really need a
thorough search. This is especially the case for directory
organized folders without special indexi, like Mail::Box::MH.
The MESSAGE-ID may still be in angles, which will be stripped. In
that case blanks (which origin from header line folding) are
removed too. Other info around the angles will be removed too.
example:
my $msg = $folder->messageId('<complex-message.id>');
$folder->messageId("<complex-message\n.id>", $msg);
my $msg = $folder->messageId('complex-message.id');
my $msg = $folder->messageId('garbage <complex-message.id> trash');
$obj->messageIds
Returns a list of all message-ids in the folder, including those of
messages which are to be deleted.
For some folder-types (like MH), this method may cause all message-
files to be read. See their respective manual pages.
example:
foreach my $id ($folder->messageIds) {
$folder->messageId($id)->print;
}
$obj->messages(['ALL',RANGE,'ACTIVE','DELETED',LABEL,!LABEL,FILTER])
Returns multiple messages from the folder. The default is "ALL"
which will return (as expected maybe) all the messages in the
folder. The "ACTIVE" flag will return the messages not flagged for
deletion. This is the opposite of "DELETED", which returns all
messages from the folder which will be deleted when the folder is
closed.
You may also specify a RANGE: two numbers specifying begin and end
index in the array of messages. Negative indexes count from the
end of the folder. When an index is out-of-range, the returned
list will be shorter without complaints.
Everything else than the predefined names is seen as labels. The
messages which have that label set will be returned. When the
sequence starts with an exclamation mark (!), the search result is
reversed.
For more complex searches, you can specify a FILTER, which is
simply a code reference. The message is passed as only argument.
example:
foreach my $message ($folder->messages) {...}
foreach my $message (@$folder) {...}
# twice the same
my @messages = $folder->messages;
my @messages = $folder->messages('ALL');
# Selection based on a range (begin, end)
my $subset = $folder->messages(10,-8);
# twice the same:
my @not_deleted= grep {not $_->isDeleted}
$folder->messages;
my @not_deleted= $folder->messages('ACTIVE');
# scalar context the number of messages
my $nr_of_msgs = $folder->messages;
# third message, via overloading
$folder->[2];
# Selection based on labels
$mgr->moveMessages($spam, $inbox->message('spam'));
$mgr->moveMessages($archive, $inbox->message('seen'));
$obj->nrMessages(OPTIONS)
Simply calls messages() in scalar context to return a count instead
of the messages itself. Some people seem to understand this
better. Note that nrMessages() will default to returning a count
of "ALL" messages in the folder, including both "ACTIVE" and
"DELETED".
The OPTIONS are passed to (and explained in) messages().
$obj->scanForMessages(MESSAGE, MESSAGE-IDS, TIMESPAN, WINDOW)
You start with a MESSAGE, and are looking for a set of messages
which are related to it. For instance, messages which appear in
the 'In-Reply-To' and 'Reference' header fields of that message.
These messages are known by their MESSAGE-IDS and you want to find
them in the folder.
When all message-ids are known, then looking-up messages is simple:
they are found in a plain hash using messageId(). But Mail::Box is
lazy where it can, so many messages may not have been read from
file yet, and that's the preferred situation, because that saves
time and memory.
It is not smart to search for the messages from front to back in
the folder: the chances are much higher that related message reside
closely to each other. Therefore, this method starts scanning the
folder from the specified MESSAGE, back to the front of the folder.
The TIMESPAN can be used to terminate the search based on the time
enclosed in the message. When the constant string "EVER" is used
as TIMESPAN, then the search is not limited by that. When an
integer is specified, it will be used as absolute time in time-
ticks as provided by your platform dependent "time" function. In
other cases, it is passed to timespan2seconds() to determine the
threshold as time relative to the message's time.
The WINDOW is used to limit the search in number of messages to be
scanned as integer or constant string "ALL".
Returned are the message-ids which were not found during the scan.
Be warned that a message-id could already be known and therefore
not found: check that first.
example: scanning through a folder for a message
my $refs = $msg->get('References') or return;
my @msgids = $ref =~ m/\<([^>]+\>/g;
my @failed = $folder->scanForMessages($msg, \@msgids, '3 days', 50);
Sub-folders
$obj->listSubFolders(OPTIONS)
Mail::Box->listSubFolders(OPTIONS)
List the names of all sub-folders to this folder, not recursively
decending. Use these names as argument to openSubFolder(), to get
access to that folder.
For MBOX folders, sub-folders are simulated.
-Option--Default
check <false>
folder <from calling object>
folderdir <from folder>
skip_empty <false>
check => BOOLEAN
Should all returned foldernames be checked to be sure that they
are of the right type? Each sub-folder may need to be opened to
check this, with a folder type dependent penalty (in some cases
very expensive).
folder => FOLDERNAME
The folder whose sub-folders should be listed.
folderdir => DIRECTORY
skip_empty => BOOL
Shall empty folders (folders which currently do not contain any
messages) be included? Empty folders are not useful to open, but
may be useful to save to.
example:
my $folder = $mgr->open('=in/new');
my @subs = $folder->listSubFolders;
my @subs = Mail::Box::Mbox->listSubFolders(folder => '=in/new');
my @subs = Mail::Box::Mbox->listSubFolders; # toplevel folders.
$obj->nameOfSubFolder(SUBNAME, [PARENTNAME])
Mail::Box->nameOfSubFolder(SUBNAME, [PARENTNAME])
Returns the constructed name of the folder with NAME, which is a
sub-folder of this current one. You have either to call this
method as instance method, or specify a PARENTNAME.
example: how to get the name of a subfolder
my $sub = Mail::Box::Mbox->nameOfSubfolder('xyz', 'abc');
print $sub; # abc/xyz
my $f = Mail::Box::Mbox->new(folder => 'abc');
print $f->nameOfSubfolder('xyz'); # abc/xyz
my $sub = Mail::Box::Mbox->nameOfSubfolder('xyz', undef);
print $sub; # xyz
$obj->openRelatedFolder(OPTIONS)
Open a folder (usually a sub-folder) with the same options as this
one. If there is a folder manager in use, it will be informed
about this new folder. OPTIONS overrule the options which where
used for the folder this method is called upon.
$obj->openSubFolder(SUBNAME, OPTIONS)
Open (or create, if it does not exist yet) a new subfolder in an
existing folder.
example:
my $folder = Mail::Box::Mbox->new(folder => '=Inbox');
my $sub = $folder->openSubFolder('read');
$obj->topFolderWithMessages
Mail::Box->topFolderWithMessages
Some folder types can have messages in the top-level folder, some
other can't.
Internals
$obj->coerce(MESSAGE, OPTIONS)
Coerce the MESSAGE to be of the correct type to be placed in the
folder. You can specify Mail::Internet and MIME::Entity objects
here: they will be translated into Mail::Message messages first.
$obj->create(FOLDERNAME, OPTIONS)
Mail::Box->create(FOLDERNAME, OPTIONS)
Create a folder. If the folder already exists, it will be left
unchanged. The folder is created, but not opened! If you want to
open a file which may need to be created, then use
Mail::Box::Manager::open() with the create flag, or
Mail::Box::new(create).
-Option--Default
folderdir undef
folderdir => DIRECTORY
When the foldername is preceded by a "=", the "folderdir"
directory will be searched for the named folder.
$obj->determineBodyType(MESSAGE, HEAD)
Determine which kind of body will be created for this message when
reading the folder initially.
Mail::Box->foundIn([FOLDERNAME], OPTIONS)
Determine if the specified folder is of the type handled by the
folder class. This method is extended by each folder sub-type.
The FOLDERNAME specifies the name of the folder, as is specified by
the application. You need to specified the "folder" option when
you skip this first argument.
OPTIONS is a list of extra information for the request. Read the
documentation for each type of folder for type specific options,
but each folder class will at least support the "folderdir" option:
-Option--Default
folderdir undef
folderdir => DIRECTORY
The location where the folders of this class are stored by
default. If the user specifies a name starting with a "=", that
indicates that the folder is to be found in this default
DIRECTORY.
example:
Mail::Box::Mbox->foundIn('=markov',
folderdir => "$ENV{HOME}/Mail");
Mail::Box::MH->foundIn(folder => '=markov');
$obj->lineSeparator([STRING|'CR'|'LF'|'CRLF'])
Returns the character or characters used to separate lines in the
folder file, optionally after setting it to STRING, or one of the
constants. The first line of the folder sets the default.
UNIX uses a LF character, Mac a CR, and Windows both a CR and a LF.
Each separator will be represented by a "\n" within your program.
However, when processing platform foreign folders, complications
appear. Think about the "Size" field in the header.
When the separator is changed, the whole folder me be rewritten.
Although, that may not be required.
$obj->locker
Returns the locking object.
$obj->read(OPTIONS)
Read messages from the folder into memory. The OPTIONS are folder
specific. Do not call "read()" yourself: it will be called for you
when you open the folder via the manager or instantiate a folder
object directly.
NOTE: if you are copying messages from one folder to another, use
addMessages() instead of "read()".
example:
my $mgr = Mail::Box::Manager->new;
my $folder = $mgr->open('InBox'); # implies read
my $folder = Mail::Box::Mbox->new(folder => 'Inbox'); # same
$obj->readMessages(OPTIONS)
Called by read() to actually read the messages from one specific
folder type. The read() organizes the general activities.
The OPTIONS are "trusted", "head_type", "field_type",
"message_type", "body_delayed_type", and "head_delayed_type" as
defined by the folder at hand. The defaults are the constructor
defaults (see new()).
$obj->storeMessage(MESSAGE)
Store the message in the folder without the checks as performed by
addMessage().
$obj->toBeThreaded(MESSAGES)
The specified message is ready to be removed from a thread. This
will be passed on to the mail-manager, which keeps an overview on
which thread-detection objects are floating around.
$obj->toBeUnthreaded(MESSAGES)
The specified message is ready to be included in a thread. This
will be passed on to the mail-manager, which keeps an overview on
which thread-detection objects are floating around.
$obj->updateMessages(OPTIONS)
Called by update() to read messages which arrived in the folder
after it was opened. Sometimes, external applications dump
messages in a folder without locking (or using a different lock
than your application does).
Although this is quite a dangerous, it only fails when a folder is
updated (reordered or message removed) at exactly the same time as
new messages arrive. These collisions are sparse.
The options are the same as for readMessages().
$obj->write(OPTIONS)
Write the data to disk. The folder (a "true" value) is returned if
successful. Deleted messages are transformed into destroyed
messages: their memory is freed.
WARNING: When moving messages from one folder to another, be sure
to write (or close()) the destination folder before writing (or
closing) the source folder: otherwise you may lose data if the
system crashes or if there are software problems.
To write a folder to a different file, you must first create a new
folder, then move all the messages, and then write or close() that
new folder.
-Option--Default
force <false>
save_deleted <false>
force => BOOLEAN
Override write-protection with new(access) while opening the
folder (whenever possible, it may still be blocked by the
operating system).
save_deleted => BOOLEAN
Do also write messages which where flagged to be deleted to their
folder. The flag for deletion is conserved (when possible),
which means that a re-open of the folder may remove the messages
for real. See close(save_deleted).
$obj->writeMessages(OPTIONS)
Called by write() to actually write the messages from one specific
folder type. The "write" organizes the general activities. All
options to write() are passed to "writeMessages" as well. Besides,
a few extra are added by "write" itself.
-Option--Default
messages <required>
messages => ARRAY
The messages to be written, which is a sub-set of all messages in
the current folder.
Other methods
$obj->timespan2seconds(TIME)
Mail::Box->timespan2seconds(TIME)
TIME is a string, which starts with a float, and then one of the
words 'hour', 'hours', 'day', 'days', 'week', or 'weeks'. For
instance: '1 hour' or '4 weeks'.
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->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->log([LEVEL [,STRINGS]])
See "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter
$obj->logPriority(LEVEL)
Mail::Box->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
This method is called by Perl when an folder-object is no longer
accessible by the rest of the program.
$obj->inGlobalDestruction
See "Cleanup" in Mail::Reporter
DETAILS
Different kinds of folders
In general, there are three classes of folders: those who group
messages per file, those who group messages in a directory, and those
do not provide direct access to the message data. These folder types
are each based on a different base class.
· File based folders Mail::Box::File
File based folders maintain a folder (a set of messages) in one
single file. The advantage is that your folder has only one single
file to access, which speeds-up things when all messages must be
accessed at once.
One of the main disadvantages over directory based folders is that
you have to construct some means to keep all message apart. For
instance MBOX adds a message separator line between the messages in
the file, and this line can cause confusion with the message's
contents.
Where access to all messages at once is faster in file based
folders, access to a single message is (much) slower, because the
whole folder must be read. However, in directory based folders you
have to figure-out which message you need, which may be a hassle as
well.
Examples of file based folders are MBOX, DBX, and NetScape.
· Directory based folders Mail::Box::Dir
In stead of collecting multiple messages in one file, you can also
put each message in a separate file and collect those files in a
directory to represent a folder.
The main disadvantages of these folders are the enormous amount of
tiny files you usually get in your file-system. It is extremely
slow to search through your whole folder, because many files have
to be opened to do so.
The best feature of this organization is that each message is kept
exactly as it was received, and can be processed with external
scripts as well: you do not need any mail user agent (MUA).
Examples of directoy organized folders are MH, Maildir, EMH, and
XMH.
· Network (external) folders Mail::Box::Net
Where both types described before provide direct access to the
message data, maintain these folder types the message data for you:
you have to request for messages or parts of them. These folders
do not have a filename, file-system privileges and system locking
to worry about, but typically require a hostname, folder and
message IDs, and authorization.
Examples of these folder types are the popular POP and IMAP, and
database oriented message storage.
Available folder types
· Mail::Box::Dbx (read only)
Dbx files are created by Outlook Express. Using the external
(optional) Mail::Transport::Dbx module, you can read these folders,
even when you are running MailBox on a UNIX/Linux platform.
Writing and deleting messages is not supported by the library, and
therefore not by MailBox. Read access is enough to do folder
conversions, for instance.
· Mail::Box::IMAP4 (partially)
The IMAP protocol is very complex. Some parts are implemented to
create (sub-optimal but usable) IMAP clients. Besides, there are
also some parts for IMAP servers present. The most important
lacking feature is support for encrypted connections.
· Mail::Box::Maildir
Maildir folders have a directory for each folder. A folder
directory contains "tmp", "new", and "cur" sub-directories, each
containting messages with a different purpose. Files with new
messages are created in "tmp", then moved to "new" (ready to be
accepted). Later, they are moved to the "cur" directory
(accepted). Each message is one file with a name starting with
timestamp. The name also contains flags about the status of the
message.
Maildir folders can not be used on Windows by reason of file-name
limitations on that platform.
· Mail::Box::Mbox
A folder type in which all related messages are stored in one file.
This is a very common folder type for UNIX.
· Mail::Box::MH
This folder creates a directory for each folder, and a message is
one file inside that directory. The message files are numbered
sequentially on order of arrival. A special ".mh_sequences" file
maintains flags about the messages.
· Mail::Box::POP3 (read/delete only)
POP3 is a protocol which can be used to retreive messages from a
remote system. After the connection to a POP server is made, the
messages can be looked at and removed as if they are on the local
system.
· Mail::Box::Netzwert
The Netzwert folder type is optimized for mailbox handling on a
cluster of systems with a shared NFS storage. The code is not
released under GPL (yet)
Other folder types are on the (long) wishlist to get implemented.
Please, help implementing more of them.
Folder class implementation
The class structure of folders is very close to that of messages. For
instance, a Mail::Box::File::Message relates to a Mail::Box::File
folder. The folder types are:
Mail::Box::Netzwert
Mail::Box::Mbox | Mail::Box::Maildir Mail::Box::POP3
| Mail::Box::Dbx | | Mail::Box::MH | Mail::Box::IMAP4
| | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Mail::Box::File Mail::Box::Dir Mail::Box::Net
| | |
`--------------. | .---------------'
| | |
Mail::Box
|
|
Mail::Reporter (general base class)
By far most folder features are implemented in Mail::Box, so available
to all folder types. Sometimes, features which appear in only some of
the folder types are simulated for folders that miss them, like sub-
folder support for MBOX.
DIAGNOSTICS
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: Folder $name not deleted: not writable.
The folder must be opened with write access via new(access),
otherwise removing it will be refused. So, you may have write-
access according to the operating system, but that will not
automatically mean that this "delete" method permits you to. The
reverse remark is valid as well.
Error: Invalid timespan '$timespan' specified.
The string does not follow the strict rules of the time span syntax
which is permitted as parameter.
Warning: Message-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.
Error: No folder name specified.
You did not specify the name of a folder to be opened. Use the
new(folder) option or set the "MAIL" environment variable.
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: 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.
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(3)
