NAME¶

Mail::IMAPClient::BodyStructure - parse fetched results

SYNOPSIS¶

  use Mail::IMAPClient;
  use Mail::IMAPClient::BodyStructure;
  my $imap = Mail::IMAPClient->new(
      Server => $server, User => $login, Password => $pass
  );
  $imap->select("INBOX") or die "Could not select INBOX: $@\n";
  my @recent = $imap->search("recent") or die "No recent msgs in INBOX\n";
  foreach my $id (@recent) {
      my $bsdat = $imap->fetch( $id, "bodystructure" );
      my $bso   = Mail::IMAPClient::BodyStructure->new( join("", $imap->History) );
      my $mime  = $bso->bodytype . "/" . $bso->bodysubtype;
      my $parts = map( "\n\t" . $_, $bso->parts );
      print "Msg $id (Content-type: $mime) contains these parts:$parts\n";
  }

DESCRIPTION¶

This extension will parse the result of an IMAP FETCH BODYSTRUCTURE command into a perl data structure. It also provides helper methods to help pull information out of the data structure.

This module requires Parse::RecDescent.

Class Methods¶

The following class method is available:

Object Methods¶

The following object methods are available:

Mail::IMAPClient::BodyStructure::Envelope¶

The IMAP standard specifies that output from the IMAP FETCH ENVELOPE command will be an RFC2060 envelope structure. It further specifies that output from the FETCH BODYSTRUCTURE command may also contain embedded envelope structures (if, for example, a message's subparts contain one or more included messages). Objects belonging to Mail::IMAPClient::BodyStructure::Envelope are Perl representations of these envelope structures, which is to say the nested parenthetical lists of RFC2060 translated into a Perl datastructure.

Note that all of the fields relate to the specific part to which they belong. In other words, output from a FETCH nnnn ENVELOPE command (or, in Mail::IMAPClient, "$imap-"fetch($msgid,"ENVELOPE")> or "my $env = $imap-"get_envelope($msgid)>) are for the message, but fields from within a bodystructure relate to the message subpart and not the parent message.

An envelope structure's Mail::IMAPClient::BodyStructure::Envelope representation is a hash of thingies that looks like this:

  {
     subject   => "subject",
     inreplyto => "reference_message_id",
     from      => [ addressStruct1 ],
     messageid => "message_id",
     bcc       => [ addressStruct1, addressStruct2 ],
     date      => "Tue, 09 Jul 2002 14:15:53 -0400",
     replyto   => [ adressStruct1, addressStruct2 ],
     to        => [ adressStruct1, addressStruct2 ],
     sender    => [ adressStruct1 ],
     cc        => [ adressStruct1, addressStruct2 ],
  }

The ...::Envelope object also has methods for accessing data in the structure. They are:

date

Returns the date of the message.

inreplyto

Returns the message id of the message to which this message is a reply.

subject

Returns the subject of the message.

messageid

Returns the message id of the message.

You can also use the following methods to get addressing information. Each of these methods returns an array of Mail::IMAPClient::BodyStructure::Address objects, which are perl data structures representing RFC2060 address structures. Some of these arrays would naturally contain one element (such as from, which normally contains a single "From:" address); others will often contain more than one address. However, because RFC2060 defines all of these as "lists of address structures", they are all translated into arrays of ...::Address objects.

See the section on Mail::IMAPClient::BodyStructure::Address, below, for alternate (and preferred) ways of accessing these data.

The methods available are:

bcc

Returns an array of blind cc'ed recipients' address structures. (Don't expect much in here unless the message was sent from the mailbox you're poking around in, by the way.)

cc

Returns an array of cc'ed recipients' address structures.

from

Returns an array of "From:" address structures--usually just one.

replyto

Returns an array of "Reply-to:" address structures. Once again there is usually just one address in the list.

sender

Returns an array of senders' address structures--usually just one and usually the same as from.

to

Returns an array of recipients' address structures.

Each of the methods that returns a list of address structures (i.e. a list of Mail::IMAPClient::BodyStructure::Address arrays) also has an analogous method that will return a list of E-Mail addresses instead. The addresses are in the format "personalname <mailboxname@hostname>" (see the section on Mail::IMAPClient::BodyStructure::Address, below) However, if the personal name is 'NIL' then it is omitted from the address.

These methods are:

bcc_addresses

Returns a list (or an array reference if called in scalar context) of blind cc'ed recipients' email addresses. (Don't expect much in here unless the message was sent from the mailbox you're poking around in, by the way.)

cc_addresses

Returns a list of cc'ed recipients' email addresses. If called in a scalar context it returns a reference to an array of email addresses.

from_addresses

Returns a list of "From:" email addresses. If called in a scalar context it returns the first email address in the list. (It's usually a list of just one anyway.)

replyto_addresses

Returns a list of "Reply-to:" email addresses. If called in a scalar context it returns the first email address in the list.

sender_addresses

Returns a list of senders' email addresses. If called in a scalar context it returns the first email address in the list.

to_addresses

Returns a list of recipients' email addresses. If called in a scalar context it returns a reference to an array of email addresses.

Note that context affects the behavior of all of the above methods.

Those fields that will commonly contain multiple entries (i.e. they are recipients) will return an array reference when called in scalar context. You can use this behavior to optimize performance.

Those fields that will commonly contain just one address (the sender's) will return the first (and usually only) address. You can use this behavior to optimize your development time.

Addresses and the Mail::IMAPClient::BodyStructure::Address¶

Several components of an envelope structure are address structures. They are each parsed into their own object, Mail::IMAPClient::BodyStructure::Address, which looks like this:

   {
      mailboxname  => 'somebody.special',
      hostname     => 'somplace.weird.com'
      personalname => 'Somebody Special
      sourceroute  => 'NIL'
   }

RFC2060 specifies that each address component of a bodystructure is a list of address structures, so Mail::IMAPClient::BodyStructure parses each of these into an array of Mail::IMAPClient::BodyStructure::Address objects.

Each of these objects has the following methods available to it:

mailboxname

Returns the "mailboxname" portion of the address, which is the part to the left of the '@' sign.

hostname

Returns the "hostname" portion of the address, which is the part to the right of the '@' sign.

personalname

Returns the "personalname" portion of the address, which is the part of the address that's treated like a comment.

sourceroute

Returns the "sourceroute" portion of the address, which is typically "NIL".

Taken together, the parts of an address structure form an address that will look something like this:

"personalname <mailboxname@hostname>"

Note that because the Mail::IMAPClient::BodyStructure::Address objects come in arrays, it's generally easier to use the methods available to Mail::IMAPClient::BodyStructure::Envelope to obtain all of the addresses in a particular array in one operation. These methods are provided, however, in case you'd rather do things the hard way. (And also because the aforementioned methods from Mail::IMAPClient::BodyStructure::Envelope need them anyway.)

AUTHOR¶

Original author: David J. Kernen; Reworked by: Mark Overmeer; Maintained by Phil Pearl.

SEE ALSO¶

perl(1), Mail::IMAPClient, Parse::RecDescent, and RFC2060.