METHODS

Constructing a body

$obj->charsetDetect( %options )

[3.013] This is tricky. It is hard to detect whether the body originates from the program, or from an external source. And what about a database database? are those octets or strings? Please read Autodetection of character-set.

Option Default

external

<false>

external => BOOLEAN
Do only consider externally valid character-sets, implicitly: PERL is not an acceptable answer.
$class->charsetDetectAlgorithm( [CODE|undef|METHOD] )

[3.013] When a body object does not specify its character-set, but that detail is required, then it gets autodetected. The default algorithm is implemented in charsetDetect(). You may change this default algorithm, or pass option charset_detect for each call to encode().

When you call this method with an explicit undef, you reset the default. (Without parameter) the current algorithm (CODE or method name) is returned.

$obj->check

Check the content of the body not to include illegal characters. Which characters are considered illegal depends on the encoding of this body.

A body is returned which is checked. This may be the body where this method is called upon, but also a new object, when serious changes had to be made. If the check could not be made, because the decoder is not defined, then undef is returned.

$obj->encode( %options )

Encode (translate) a Mail::Message::Body into a different format. See the DESCRIPTION above. Options which are not specified will not trigger conversions.

Option Default

charset

PERL

charset_detect

<built-in>

mime_type

undef

result_type

<same as source>

transfer_encoding

undef

charset => CHARSET|'PERL'
Only applies when the mime_type is textual.
If the CHARSET is explicitly specified (for instance iso-8859-10, then the data is being interpreted as raw bytes (blob), not as text. However, in case of PERL, it is considered to be an internal representation of characters (either latin1 or Perl's utf8 --not the same as utf-8--, you should not want to know).
This setting overrules the charset attribute in the mime_type FIELD.
charset_detect => CODE
[3.013] When the body does not contain an explicit charset specification, then the RFC says it is us-ascii. In reality, this is not true: it is just an unknown character set. This often happens when text files are included as attachment, for instance a footer attachment.
When you want to be smarter than the default charset detector, you can provide your own function for this parameter. The function will get the transfer-decoded version of this body. You can change the default globally via charsetDetectAlgorithm().
mime_type => STRING|FIELD
Convert into the specified mime type, which can be specified as STRING or FIELD. The FIELD is a Mail::Message::Field-object, representing a Content-Type mime header. The STRING must be valid content for such header, and will be converted into a FIELD object.
The FIELD may contain attributes. Usually, it has a charset attribute, which explains the CHARSET of the content after content transfer decoding. The charset option will update/add this attribute. Otherwise (hopefully in rare cases) the CHARSET will be auto-detected when the body gets decoded.
result_type => CLASS
The type of body to be created when the body is changed to fulfill the request on re-coding. Also the intermediate stages in the translation process (if needed) will use this type. CLASS must extend Mail::Message::Body.
transfer_encoding => STRING|FIELD
» Warning: Charset $name is not known

The encoding or decoding of a message body encounters a character set which is not understood by Perl's Encode module.

» 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.

$obj->encoded( %options )

Encode the body to a format what is acceptable to transmit or write to a folder file. This returns the body where this method was called upon when everything was already prepared, or a new encoded body otherwise. In either case, the body is checked.

Option Default

charset_detect

<the default>

charset_detect => CODE
See charsetDetectAlgorithm().
$obj->unify( $body )

Unify the type of the given $body objects with the type of the called body. undef is returned when unification is impossible. If the bodies have the same settings, the $body object is returned unchanged.

Examples:

 my $bodytype = Mail::Message::Body::Lines;
 my $html  = $bodytype->new(mime_type=>'text/html', data => []);
 my $plain = $bodytype->new(mime_type=>'text/plain', ...);

 my $unified = $html->unify($plain);
 # $unified is the data of plain translated to html (if possible).

About the payload

$obj->dispositionFilename( [$directory] )

Various fields are searched for filename and name attributes. Without $directory, the name found will be returned unmodified.

When a $directory is given, a filename is composed. For security reasons, only the basename of the found name gets used and many potentially dangerous characters removed. If no name was found, or when the found name is already in use, then an unique name is generated.

Don't forget to read RFC6266 section 4.3 for the security aspects in your email application.

$obj->isBinary

Returns true when the un-encoded message is binary data. This information is retrieved from knowledge provided by MIME::Types.

$obj->isText

Returns true when the un-encoded message contains printable text.

Internals

$obj->addTransferEncHandler( $name, <$class|$object> )
$class->addTransferEncHandler( $name, <$class|$object> )

Relate the NAMEd transfer encoding to an OBJECTs or object of the specified $class. In the latter case, an object of that $class will be created on the moment that one is needed to do encoding or decoding.

The $class or $object must extend Mail::Message::TransferEnc. It will replace existing class and object for this $name.

Why aren't you contributing this class to MailBox?

$obj->getTransferEncHandler( $type )

Get the transfer encoder/decoder which is able to handle $type, or return undef if there is no such handler.