NAME

Mail::Box::IMAP4::Message - one message on a IMAP4 server

INHERITANCE

 Mail::Box::IMAP4::Message
   is a Mail::Box::Net::Message
   is a Mail::Box::Message
   is a Mail::Message
   is a Mail::Reporter

SYNOPSIS

 my $folder = new Mail::Box::IMAP4 ...
 my $message = $folder->message(10);

DESCRIPTION

A Mail::Box::IMAP4::Message represents one message on a IMAP4 server, maintained by a Mail::Box::IMAP4 folder. Each message is stored as separate entity on the server, and maybe temporarily in your program as well.

METHODS

Constructors

$obj->clone(OPTIONS)

See Mail::Message/"Constructors"

Mail::Box::IMAP4::Message->new(OPTIONS)

 Option      --Defined in     --Default
 body          Mail::Message    undef
 body_type     Mail::Box::Message  Mail::Message::Body::Lines
 cache_body                     <false>
 cache_head                     <false>
 cache_labels                   <false>
 deleted       Mail::Message    <false>
 field_type    Mail::Message    undef
 folder        Mail::Box::Message  <required>
 head          Mail::Message    undef
 head_type     Mail::Message    Mail::Message::Head::Complete
 labels        Mail::Message    {}
 log           Mail::Reporter   'WARNINGS'
 messageId     Mail::Message    undef
 modified      Mail::Message    <false>
 size          Mail::Box::Message  undef
 trace         Mail::Reporter   'WARNINGS'
 trusted       Mail::Message    <false>
 unique        Mail::Box::Net::Message  <unique string>
 write_labels                   <true>

. body => OBJECT

. body_type => CODE|CLASS

. cache_body => BOOLEAN

. cache_head => BOOLEAN

. cache_labels => BOOLEAN

All standard IMAP labels can be cached on the local server to improve speed. This has the same dangers as setting write_labels to false. The caching starts when the first label of the message was read.

. deleted => BOOLEAN

. field_type => CLASS

. folder => FOLDER

. head => OBJECT

. head_type => CLASS

. labels => ARRAY|HASH

. log => LEVEL

. messageId => STRING

. modified => BOOLEAN

. size => INTEGER

. trace => LEVEL

. trusted => BOOLEAN

. unique => STRING

. write_labels => BOOLEAN

When a label is changed or its value read, using label(), that info should be sent to the IMAP server. But, this action could be superfluous, for instance because the label was already set or clear, and communication is expensive. On the other hand, someone else may use IMAP to make changes in the same folder, and will get the updates too late or never...

Constructing a message

$obj->bounce([RG-OBJECT|OPTIONS])

See Mail::Message::Construct::Bounce/"Constructing a message"

Mail::Box::IMAP4::Message->build([MESSAGE|PART|BODY], CONTENT)

See Mail::Message::Construct::Build/"Constructing a message"

Mail::Box::IMAP4::Message->buildFromBody(BODY, [HEAD], HEADERS)

See Mail::Message::Construct::Build/"Constructing a message"

$obj->forward(OPTIONS)

See Mail::Message::Construct::Forward/"Constructing a message"

$obj->forwardAttach(OPTIONS)

See Mail::Message::Construct::Forward/"Constructing a message"

$obj->forwardEncapsulate(OPTIONS)

See Mail::Message::Construct::Forward/"Constructing a message"

$obj->forwardInline(OPTIONS)

See Mail::Message::Construct::Forward/"Constructing a message"

$obj->forwardNo(OPTIONS)

See Mail::Message::Construct::Forward/"Constructing a message"

$obj->forwardPostlude

See Mail::Message::Construct::Forward/"Constructing a message"

$obj->forwardPrelude

See Mail::Message::Construct::Forward/"Constructing a message"

$obj->forwardSubject(STRING)

See Mail::Message::Construct::Forward/"Constructing a message"

Mail::Box::IMAP4::Message->read(FILEHANDLE|SCALAR|REF-SCALAR|ARRAY-OF-LINES, OPTIONS)

See Mail::Message::Construct::Read/"Constructing a message"

$obj->rebuild(OPTIONS)

See Mail::Message::Construct::Rebuild/"Constructing a message"

$obj->reply(OPTIONS)

See Mail::Message::Construct::Reply/"Constructing a message"

$obj->replyPrelude([STRING|FIELD|ADDRESS|ARRAY-OF-THINGS])

See Mail::Message::Construct::Reply/"Constructing a message"

$obj->replySubject(STRING)

Mail::Box::IMAP4::Message->replySubject(STRING)

See Mail::Message::Construct::Reply/"Constructing a message"

The message

$obj->container

See Mail::Message/"The message"

$obj->copyTo(FOLDER, OPTIONS)

See Mail::Box::Message/"The message"

$obj->folder([FOLDER])

See Mail::Box::Message/"The message"

$obj->isDummy

See Mail::Message/"The message"

$obj->isPart

See Mail::Message/"The message"

$obj->messageId

See Mail::Message/"The message"

$obj->moveTo(FOLDER, OPTIONS)

See Mail::Box::Message/"The message"

$obj->print([FILEHANDLE])

See Mail::Message/"The message"

$obj->send([MAILER], OPTIONS)

See Mail::Message/"The message"

$obj->seqnr([INTEGER])

See Mail::Box::Message/"The message"

$obj->size

Returns the size of this message. If the message is still on the remote server, IMAP is used to ask for the size. When the message is already loaded onto the local system, the size of the parsed message is taken. These sizes can differ because the difference in line-ending representation.

$obj->toplevel

See Mail::Message/"The message"

$obj->unique([STRING|undef])

See Mail::Box::Net::Message/"The message"

$obj->write([FILEHANDLE])

See Mail::Message/"The message"

The header

$obj->bcc

See Mail::Message/"The header"

$obj->cc

See Mail::Message/"The header"

$obj->date

See Mail::Message/"The header"

$obj->destinations

See Mail::Message/"The header"

$obj->from

See Mail::Message/"The header"

$obj->get(FIELDNAME)

See Mail::Message/"The header"

$obj->guessTimestamp

See Mail::Message/"The header"

$obj->head([HEAD])

See Mail::Message/"The header"

$obj->nrLines

See Mail::Message/"The header"

$obj->sender

See Mail::Message/"The header"

$obj->study(FIELDNAME)

See Mail::Message/"The header"

$obj->subject

See Mail::Message/"The header"

$obj->timestamp

See Mail::Message/"The header"

$obj->to

See Mail::Message/"The header"

The body

$obj->body([BODY])

See Mail::Message/"The body"

$obj->contentType

See Mail::Message/"The body"

$obj->decoded(OPTIONS)

See Mail::Message/"The body"

$obj->encode(OPTIONS)

See Mail::Message/"The body"

$obj->isMultipart

See Mail::Message/"The body"

$obj->isNested

See Mail::Message/"The body"

$obj->parts(['ALL'|'ACTIVE'|'DELETED'|'RECURSE'|FILTER])

See Mail::Message/"The body"

Flags

$obj->delete

See Mail::Message/"Flags"

$obj->deleted([BOOLEAN])

See Mail::Message/"Flags"

$obj->isDeleted

See Mail::Message/"Flags"

$obj->isModified

See Mail::Message/"Flags"

$obj->label(LABEL|PAIRS)

With only one argument, the value related to LABEL is returned. With more that one argument, the list is interpreted a label-value PAIRS to be set.

The IMAP protocol defines its own names for the labels, which must be set imediately to inform other IMAP clients which may have the same folder open. But that can be changed with new(write_labels). Some labels are translated to the corresponding IMAP system labels.

$obj->labels

Get the names of all labels (LIST context, not efficient in IMAP4), or a reference to a hash with labels. You should only use the returned hash to read the labels, because changes made to it will not be passed to the remote server. See labels() to set values.

$obj->labelsToStatus

See Mail::Message/"Flags"

$obj->modified([BOOLEAN])

See Mail::Message/"Flags"

$obj->statusToLabels

See Mail::Message/"Flags"

The whole message as text

$obj->file

See Mail::Message::Construct::Text/"The whole message as text"

$obj->lines

See Mail::Message::Construct::Text/"The whole message as text"

$obj->printStructure([FILEHANDLE|undef],[INDENT])

See Mail::Message::Construct::Text/"The whole message as text"

$obj->string

See Mail::Message::Construct::Text/"The whole message as text"

Internals

$obj->clonedFrom

See Mail::Message/"Internals"

Mail::Box::IMAP4::Message->coerce(MESSAGE, OPTIONS)

See Mail::Message/"Internals"

$obj->diskDelete

See Mail::Box::Message/"Internals"

$obj->fetch([INFO, ...])

Use the IMAP's UID FETCH IMAP command to get some data about this message. The INFO request is passed to Mail::Box::IMAP4::fetch(). Without INFO, ALL information is retreived and returned as a HASH.

$obj->isDelayed

See Mail::Message/"Internals"

$obj->loadBody

See Mail::Box::Net::Message/"Internals"

$obj->readBody(PARSER, HEAD [, BODYTYPE])

See Mail::Box::Message/"Internals"

$obj->readFromParser(PARSER, [BODYTYPE])

See Mail::Message/"Internals"

$obj->readHead(PARSER [,CLASS])

See Mail::Message/"Internals"

$obj->recursiveRebuildPart(PART, OPTIONS)

See Mail::Message::Construct::Rebuild/"Internals"

$obj->storeBody(BODY)

See Mail::Message/"Internals"

$obj->takeMessageId([STRING])

See Mail::Message/"Internals"

$obj->writeDelayed(IMAP)

Write all delayed information, like label changes, to the server. This is done under force, so should even be done for folders opened without write-access. This method is called indirectly by a Mail::Box::write() or Mail::Box::close().

The IMAP argument is a Mail::IMAPClient which has the right folder already selected.

Writing changes to the remote folder is not without hassle: IMAP4 (or is it only Mail::IMAPClient doesn't support replacing header or body. Therefore, when either of them change, the whole message is rewritten to the server (which is supported), and the original flagged for deletion.

Error handling

$obj->AUTOLOAD

See Mail::Message::Construct/"METHODS"

$obj->addReport(OBJECT)

See Mail::Reporter/"Error handling"

$obj->defaultTrace([LEVEL]|[LOGLEVEL, TRACELEVEL]|[LEVEL, CALLBACK])

Mail::Box::IMAP4::Message->defaultTrace([LEVEL]|[LOGLEVEL, TRACELEVEL]|[LEVEL, CALLBACK])

See Mail::Reporter/"Error handling"

$obj->errors

See Mail::Reporter/"Error handling"

$obj->log([LEVEL [,STRINGS]])

Mail::Box::IMAP4::Message->log([LEVEL [,STRINGS]])

See Mail::Reporter/"Error handling"

$obj->logPriority(LEVEL)

Mail::Box::IMAP4::Message->logPriority(LEVEL)

See Mail::Reporter/"Error handling"

$obj->logSettings

See Mail::Reporter/"Error handling"

$obj->notImplemented

See Mail::Reporter/"Error handling"

$obj->report([LEVEL])

See Mail::Reporter/"Error handling"

$obj->reportAll([LEVEL])

See Mail::Reporter/"Error handling"

$obj->shortSize([VALUE])

Mail::Box::IMAP4::Message->shortSize([VALUE])

See Mail::Message/"Error handling"

$obj->shortString

See Mail::Message/"Error handling"

$obj->trace([LEVEL])

See Mail::Reporter/"Error handling"

$obj->warnings

See Mail::Reporter/"Error handling"

Cleanup

$obj->DESTROY

See Mail::Message/"Cleanup"

$obj->destruct

See Mail::Box::Message/"Cleanup"

$obj->inGlobalDestruction

See Mail::Reporter/"Cleanup"

DETAILS

Labels

IMAP protocol flags

Labels (or flags) are known to all folder formats, but differ how they are stored. Some folder types use message header lines to keep the labels, other use a seperate file. The IMAP protocol does not specify how the labels are kept on the server, but does specify how they are named.

The label names as defined by the IMAP protocol are standardized into the MailBox standard to hide folder differences. The following translations are always performed:

 \Seen     => seen
 \Answered => replied
 \Flagged  => flagged
 \Deleted  => deleted
 \Draft    => draft
 \Recent   => NOT old

example: of label translations

 $imap->message(3)->label(replied => 1, draft => 0);

will result in a IMAP protocol statements like

 A003 STORE 4 +FLAGS (\Answered)
 A003 STORE 4 -FLAGS (\Draft)

Other labels

Of course, your program may be in need for more labels than those provided by the protocol. You can still use these: they stay locally (and are lost when the folder is closed). Some IMAP4 extensions permit more labels than the basic RFC, but that is not yet supported by this implementation.

Caching labels

When you ask for one or more flags of a message more than once, you may improve the overall performance by setting new(cache_labels) to YES. However, this may cause inconsistencies when multiple clients use the same folder on the IMAP server.

You may also delay the label updates to the server until the folder is closed (or for ever when read-only is required). When Mail::Box::write() or Mail::Box::close() is called, it is decided whether to throw all changes away or write after all.

DIAGNOSTICS

Error: Cannot coerce a $class object into a $class object

Error: Cannot include forward source as $include.

Unknown alternative for the forward(include). Valid choices are NO, INLINE, ATTACH, and ENCAPSULATE.

Error: Cannot include reply source as $include.

Unknown alternative for the include option of reply(). Valid choices are NO, INLINE, and ATTACH.

Error: Method bounce requires To, Cc, or Bcc

The message bounce() method forwards a received message off to someone else without modification; you must specified it's new destination. If you have the urge not to specify any destination, you probably are looking for reply(). When you wish to modify the content, use forward().

Error: Method forwardAttach requires a preamble

Error: Method forwardEncapsulate requires a preamble

Error: No address to create forwarded to.

If a forward message is created, a destination address must be specified.

Error: No default mailer found to send message.

The message send() mechanism had not enough information to automatically find a mail transfer agent to sent this message. Specify a mailer explicitly using the via options.

Error: No rebuild rule $name defined.

Error: Only build() Mail::Message's; they are not in a folder yet

You may wish to construct a message to be stored in a some kind of folder, but you need to do that in two steps. First, create a normal Mail::Message, and then add it to the folder. During this Mail::Box::addMessage() process, the message will get coerce()-d into the right message type, adding storage information and the like.

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 read delayed body.

Error: Unable to read delayed head.

Error: coercion starts with some object

SEE ALSO

This module is part of Mail-Box distribution version 2.082, built on April 28, 2008. Website: http://perl.overmeer.net/mailbox/

LICENSE

Copyrights 2001-2008 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