Mail::Message::Body - the data of a body in a message
Mail::Message::Body has extra code in Mail::Message::Body::Construct Mail::Message::Body::Encode Mail::Message::Body is a Mail::Reporter Mail::Message::Body is extended by Mail::Message::Body::File Mail::Message::Body::Lines Mail::Message::Body::Multipart Mail::Message::Body::Nested Mail::Message::Body::String Mail::Message::Body is realized by Mail::Message::Body::Delayed
my Mail::Message $msg = ...;
my $body = $msg->body;
my @text = $body->lines;
my $text = $body->string;
my IO::Handle $file = $body->file;
$body->print(\*FILE);
my $content_type = $body->type;
my $transfer_encoding = $body->transferEncoding;
my $encoded = $body->encode(mime_type => 'text/html',
charset => 'us-ascii', transfer_encoding => 'none');\n";
my $decoded = $body->decoded;
The encoding and decoding functionality of a Mail::Message::Body is implemented in the Mail::Message::Body::Encode package. That package is automatically loaded when encoding and decoding of messages needs to take place. Methods to simply build an process body objects are implemented in Mail::Message::Body::Construct.
The body of a message (a Mail::Message object) is stored in one of the many body types. The functionality of each body type is equivalent, but there are performance differences. Each body type has its own documentation with details about its implementation.
overload: ""
(stringification) Returns the body as string --which will trigger
completion-- unless called to produce a string for Carp. The latter
to avoid deep recursions.
example: stringification of body
print $msg->body; # implicit by print my $body = $msg->body; my $x = "$body"; # explicit by interpolation
overload: '==' and '!='
(numeric comparison) compares if two references point to the same message. This only produces correct results is both arguments are message references within the same folder.
example: use of numeric comparison on a body
my $skip = $folder->message(3);
foreach my $msg (@$folder)
{ next if $msg == $skip;
$msg->send;
}
overload: @{}
When a body object is used as being an array reference, the lines of the body are returned. This is the same as using lines().
example: using a body as array
print $body->lines->[1]; # second line print $body->[1]; # same my @lines = $body->lines; my @lines = @$body; # same
overload: bool
Always returns a true value, which is needed to have overloaded
objects to be used as in if($body). Otherwise, if(defined $body)
would be needed to avoid a runtime error.
$obj->clone
Return a copy of this body, usually to be included in a cloned message. Use Mail::Message::clone() for a whole message.
Mail::Message::Body->new(OPTIONS)
BE WARNED that, what you specify here are encodings and such which are already in place. The options will not trigger conversions. When you need conversions, first create a body with options which tell what you've got, and then call encode() for what you need.
Option --Defined in --Default based_on undef charset 'us-ascii' checked <false> data undef description undef disposition undef eol 'NATIVE' file undef log Mail::Reporter 'WARNINGS' message undef mime_type 'text/plain' modified <false> trace Mail::Reporter 'WARNINGS' transfer_encoding 'none'
. based_on => BODY
The information about encodings must be taken from the specified BODY, unless specified differently.
. charset => STRING
Defines the character-set which is used in the data. Only useful in
combination with a mime_type which refers to text in any shape.
This field is case-insensitive.
. checked => BOOLEAN
Whether the added information has been check not to contain illegal octets with respect to the transfer encoding and mime type. If not checked, and then set as body for a message, it will be.
. data => ARRAY-OF-LINES | STRING
The content of the body. The only way to set the content of a body is during the creation of the body. So if you want to modify the content of a message, you need to create a new body with the new content and add that to the body. The reason behind this, is that correct encodings and body information must be guaranteed. It avoids your hassle in calculating the number of lines in the body, and checking whether bad characters are enclosed in text.
Specify a reference to an ARRAY of lines, each terminated by a newline. Or one STRING which may contain multiple lines, separated and terminated by a newline.
. description => STRING|FIELD
Informal information about the body content. The data relates to the
Content-Description field. Specify a STRING which will become the
field content, or a real FIELD.
. disposition => STRING|FIELD
How this message can be decomposed. The data relates to the
Content-Disposition field. Specify a STRING which will become the
field content, or a real FIELD.
The content of this field is specified in RFC 1806. The body of the
field can be inline, to indicate that the body is intended to be
displayed automatically upon display of the message. Use attachment
to indicate that they are separate from the main body of the mail
message, and that their display should not be automatic, but contingent
upon some further action of the user.
The filename attribute specifies a name to which is suggested to the
reader of the message when it is extracted.
. eol => 'CR'|'LF'|'CRLF'|'NATIVE'
Convert the message into having the specified string as line terminator
for all lines in the body. NATIVE is used to represent the \n
on the current platform and will be translated in the applicable one.
BE WARNED that folders with a non-native encoding may appear on your platform, for instance in Windows folders handled from a UNIX system. The eol encoding has effect on the size of the body!
. file => FILENAME|FILEHANDLE|IOHANDLE
Read the data from the specified file, file handle, or object of
type IO::Handle.
. log => LEVEL
. message => MESSAGE
The message where this body belongs to.
. mime_type => STRING|FIELD|MIME
The type of data which is added. You may specify a content of a header
line as STRING, or a FIELD object. You may also specify a MIME::Type
object. In any case, it will be kept internally as
a real field (a Mail::Message::Field object). This relates to the
Content-Type header field.
A mime-type specification consists of two parts: a general class (text,
image, application, etc) and a specific sub-class. Examples for
specific classes with text are plain, html, and xml. This
field is case-insensitive but case preserving. The default mime-type
is text/plain,
. modified => BOOLEAN
Whether the body is flagged modified, directly from its creation.
. trace => LEVEL
. transfer_encoding => STRING|FIELD
The encoding that the data has. If the data is to be encoded, than you
will have to call encode() after the body is created. That will
return a new encoded body. This field is case-insensitive and relates
to the Content-Transfer-Encoding field in the header.
example:
my $body = Mail::Message::Body::String->new(file => \*IN,
mime_type => 'text/html; charset="ISO-8859-1"');
my $body = Mail::Message::Body::Lines->new(data => ['first', $second],
charset => 'ISO-10646', transfer_encoding => 'none');
my $body = Mail::Message::Body::Lines->new(data => \@lines,
transfer_encoding => 'base64');
my $body = Mail::Message::Body::Lines->new(file => 'picture.gif',
mime_type => 'image/gif');
$obj->attach(MESSAGES, OPTIONS)
See Mail::Message::Body::Construct/"Constructing a body"
$obj->check
See Mail::Message::Body::Encode/"Constructing a body"
$obj->concatenate(COMPONENTS)
See Mail::Message::Body::Construct/"Constructing a body"
$obj->decoded(OPTIONS)
Returns a body, an object which is (a sub-)class of a Mail::Message::Body, which contains a simplified representation of textual data. The returned object may be the object where this is called on, but may also be a new body of any type.
my $dec = $body->decoded;
is equivalent with
my $dec = $body->encode(mime_type => 'text/plain', charset => 'us-ascii',
transfer_encoding => 'none');
The $dec which is returned is a body. Ask with the mimeType() method
what is produced. This $dec body is not related to a header.
Option --Default result_type <same as current>
. result_type => CLASS
$obj->encode(OPTIONS)
See Mail::Message::Body::Encode/"Constructing a body"
$obj->encoded
See Mail::Message::Body::Encode/"Constructing a body"
$obj->eol(['CR'|'LF'|'CRLF'|'NATIVE'])
Returns the character (or characters) which are used to separate lines within this body. When a kind of separator is specified, the body is translated to contain the specified line endings.
$obj->foreachLine(CODE)
See Mail::Message::Body::Construct/"Constructing a body"
$obj->stripSignature(OPTIONS)
See Mail::Message::Body::Construct/"Constructing a body"
$obj->unify(BODY)
See Mail::Message::Body::Encode/"Constructing a body"
$obj->isDelayed
Returns a true or false value, depending on whether the body of this message has been read from file. This can only false for a Mail::Message::Body::Delayed.
$obj->isMultipart
Returns whether this message-body contains parts which are messages by themselves.
$obj->isNested
Only true for a message body which contains exactly one sub-message:
the Mail::Message::Body::Nested body type.
$obj->message([MESSAGE])
Returns the message where this body belongs to, optionally setting it
to a new MESSAGE first. If undef is passed, the body will be
disconnected from the message.
$obj->charset
Returns the character set which is used in the text body as string. This
is part of the result of what the type method returns.
$obj->checked([BOOLEAN])
Returns whether the body encoding has been checked or not (optionally after setting the flag to a new value).
$obj->description([STRING|FIELD])
Returns (optionally after setting) the informal description of the body
content. The related header field is Content-Description.
A Mail::Message::Field object is returned (which stringifies into
the field content). The field content will be none if no disposition
was specified.
The argument can be a STRING (which is converted into a field), or a fully prepared header field.
$obj->disposition([STRING|FIELD])
Returns (optionally after setting) how the message can be disposed
(unpacked). The related header field is Content-Disposition.
A Mail::Message::Field object is returned (which stringifies into
the field content). The field content will be none if no disposition
was specified.
The argument can be a STRING (which is converted into a field), or a fully prepared header field.
$obj->dispositionFilename([DIRECTORY])
See Mail::Message::Body::Encode/"About the payload"
$obj->isBinary
See Mail::Message::Body::Encode/"About the payload"
$obj->isText
See Mail::Message::Body::Encode/"About the payload"
$obj->mimeType
Returns a MIME::Type object which is related to this body's type. This
differs from the type method, which results in a Mail::Message::Field.
example:
if($body->mimeType eq 'text/html') {...}
print $body->mimeType->simplified;
$obj->nrLines
Returns the number of lines in the message body. For multi-part messages, this includes the header lines and boundaries of all the parts.
$obj->size
The total number of bytes in the message body. The size of the body is computed in the shape it is in. For example, if this is a base64 encoded message, the size of the encoded data is returned; you may want to call Mail::Message::decoded() first.
$obj->transferEncoding([STRING|FIELD])
Returns the transfer-encoding of the data within this body as
Mail::Message::Field (which stringifies to its content). If it
needs to be changed, call the encode() or decoded() method.
When no encoding is present, the field contains the text none.
The optional STRING or FIELD enforces a new encoding to be set, without the actual required translations.
example:
my $transfer = $msg->decoded->transferEncoding;
$transfer->print; # --> Content-Encoding: base64
print $transfer; # --> base64
if($msg->body->transferEncoding eq 'none') {...}
$obj->type([STRING|FIELD])
Returns the type of information the body contains as
Mail::Message::Field object. The type is taken from the header
field Content-Type. If the header did not contain that field,
then you will get a default field containing text/plain.
You usually can better use mimeType(), because that will return a clever object with type information.
example:
my $msg = $folder->message(6);
$msg->get('Content-Type')->print;
# --> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
my $content = $msg->decoded;
my $type = $content->type;
print "This is a $type message\n";
# --> This is a text/plain; charset="us-ascii" message
print "This is a ", $type->body, "message\n";
# --> This is a text/plain message
print "Comment: ", $type->comment, "\n";
# --> Comment: charset="us-ascii"
$obj->endsOnNewline
Returns whether the last line of the body is terminated by a new-line (in transport it will become a CRLF). An empty body will return true as well: the newline comes from the line before it.
$obj->file
Return the content of the body as a file handle. The returned stream may be a real file, or a simulated file in any form that Perl supports. While you may not be able to write to the file handle, you can read from it.
WARNING: Even if the file handle supports writing, do not write to the file handle. If you do, some of the internal values of the Mail::Message::Body may not be updated.
$obj->lines
Return the content of the body as a list of lines (in LIST context) or a reference to an array of lines (in SCALAR context). In scalar context the array of lines is cached to avoid needless copying and therefore provide much faster access for large messages.
To just get the number of lines in the body, use the nrLines() method, which is usually much more efficient.
BE WARNED: For some types of bodies the reference will refer to the original data. You must not change the referenced data! If you do, some of the essential internal variables of the Mail::Message::Body may not be updated.
example:
my @lines = $body->lines; # copies lines my $line3 = ($body->lines)[3] # only one copy print $lines[0]; my $linesref = $body->lines; # reference to originals my $line3 = $body->lines->[3] # only one copy (faster) print $linesref->[0]; print $body->[0]; # by overloading
$obj->print([FILEHANDLE])
Print the body to the specified FILEHANDLE (defaults to the selected handle).
The handle may be a GLOB, an IO::File object, or... any object with a
print() method will do. Nothing useful is returned.
$obj->printEscapedFrom(FILEHANDLE)
Print the body to the specified FILEHANDLE but all lines which start with 'From ' (optionally already preceded by >'s) will habe an > added in front. Nothing useful is returned.
$obj->string
Return the content of the body as a scalar (a single string). This is a copy of the internally kept information.
example:
my $text = $body->string; print "Body: $body\n"; # by overloading
$obj->stripTrailingNewline
Remove the newline from the last line, or the last line if it does not contain anything else than a newline.
$obj->write(OPTIONS)
Write the content of the body to a file. Be warned that you may want to decode the body before writing it!
Option --Default filename <required>
. filename => FILENAME
example: write the data to a file
use File::Temp;
my $fn = tempfile;
$message->decoded->write(filename => $fn)
or die "Couldn't write to $fn: $!\n";
example: using the content-disposition information to write
use File::Temp;
my $dir = tempdir; mkdir $dir or die;
my $fn = $message->body->dispositionFilename($dir);
$message->decoded->write(filename => $fn)
or die "Couldn't write to $fn: $!\n";
$obj->addTransferEncHandler(NAME, CLASS|OBJECT)
Mail::Message::Body->addTransferEncHandler(NAME, CLASS|OBJECT)
See Mail::Message::Body::Encode/"Internals"
$obj->contentInfoFrom(HEAD)
Transfer the body related info from the header into this body.
$obj->contentInfoTo(HEAD)
Copy the content information (the Content-* fields) into the specified
HEAD. The body was created from raw data without the required information,
which must be added. See also contentInfoFrom().
$obj->fileLocation([BEGIN,END])
The location of the body in the file. Returned a list containing begin and end. The begin is the offsets of the first byte if the folder used for this body. The end is the offset of the first byte of the next message.
$obj->getTransferEncHandler(TYPE)
See Mail::Message::Body::Encode/"Internals"
$obj->isModified
Returns whether the body has changed.
$obj->load
Be sure that the body is loaded. This returns the loaded body.
$obj->modified([BOOLEAN])
Change the body modification flag. This will force a re-write of the body to a folder file when it is closed. It is quite dangerous to change the body: the same body may be shared between messages within your program.
Especially be warned that you have to change the message-id when you change the body of the message: no two messages should have the same id.
Without value, the current setting is returned, although you can better use isModified().
$obj->moveLocation([DISTANCE])
Move the registration of the message to a new location over DISTANCE. This is called when the message is written to a new version of the same folder-file.
$obj->read(PARSER, HEAD, BODYTYPE [,CHARS [,LINES]])
Read the body with the PARSER from file. The implementation of this method will differ between types of bodies. The BODYTYPE argument is a class name or a code reference of a routine which can produce a class name, and is used in multipart bodies to determine the type of the body for each part.
The CHARS argument is the estimated number of bytes in the body, or
undef when this is not known. This data can sometimes be derived from
the header (the Content-Length line) or file-size.
The second argument is the estimated number of LINES of the body. It is less
useful than the CHARS but may be of help determining whether the message
separator is trustworthy. This value may be found in the Lines field
of the header.
$obj->AUTOLOAD
When an unknown method is called on a message body object, this may not be problematic. For performance reasons, some methods are implemented in separate files, and only demand-loaded. If this delayed compilation of additional modules does not help, an error will be produced.
$obj->addReport(OBJECT)
See Mail::Reporter/"Error handling"
$obj->defaultTrace([LEVEL]|[LOGLEVEL, TRACELEVEL]|[LEVEL, CALLBACK])
Mail::Message::Body->defaultTrace([LEVEL]|[LOGLEVEL, TRACELEVEL]|[LEVEL, CALLBACK])
See Mail::Reporter/"Error handling"
$obj->errors
See Mail::Reporter/"Error handling"
$obj->log([LEVEL [,STRINGS]])
Mail::Message::Body->log([LEVEL [,STRINGS]])
See Mail::Reporter/"Error handling"
$obj->logPriority(LEVEL)
Mail::Message::Body->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->trace([LEVEL])
See Mail::Reporter/"Error handling"
$obj->warnings
See Mail::Reporter/"Error handling"
$obj->DESTROY
$obj->inGlobalDestruction
A body can be contained in a message, but may also live without a message. In both cases it stores data, and the same questions can be asked: what type of data it is, how many bytes and lines, what encoding is used. Any body can be encoded and decoded, returning a new body object. However, bodies which are part of a message will always be in a shape that they can be written to a file or send to somewhere: they will be encoded if needed.
example:
my $body = Mail::Message::Body::String->new(mime_type => 'image/gif'); $body->print(\*OUT); # this is binary image data... my $encoded = $message->body($body); $encoded->print(\*OUT); # ascii data, encoded image
Now encoded refers to the body of the $message which is the content of
$body in a shape that it can be transmitted. Usually base64 encoding
is used.
The body of a message can be stored in many ways. Roughtly, the implementations can be split in two groups: the data collectors and the complex bodies. The primer implement various ways to access data, and are full compatible: they only differ in performance and memory footprint under different circumstances. The latter are created to handle complex multiparts and lazy extraction.
::External object is that this external
storage stays this way between closing and opening of a folder. The
::External object only uses a file when the folder is open.
message/rfc822: they contain a message in
the body. For most code, they simply behave like multiparts.
Warning: No decoder defined for transfer encoding $name.
The data (message body) is encoded in a way which is not currently understood, therefore no decoding (or recoding) can take place.
Warning: No encoder defined for transfer encoding $name.
The data (message body) has been decoded, but the required encoding is unknown. The decoded data is returned.
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.
This module is part of Mail-Box distribution version 2.082, built on April 28, 2008. Website: http://perl.overmeer.net/mailbox/
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