NAME

Mail::Box::Manager - manage a set of folders

CLASS INHERITANCE

Mail::Box::Manager is a Mail::Reporter

SYNOPSIS

 use Mail::Box::Manager;
 my $mgr     = new Mail::Box::Manager;
 $mgr->registerType(mbox => 'Mail::Box::Mbox');

 # Create folder objects.
 my $folder  = $mgr->open(folder => $ENV{MAIL});
 my $message = $folder->message(0);
 my ($message1, $message2) = ($folder->message(1), $folder->message(2));
 $mgr->copyMessage('Draft', $message);
 $mgr->moveMessage('Outbox', $message1, $message2, create => 1 );
 $mgr->close($folder);

 # Create thread-detectors (see Mail::Box::Thread::Manager)
 my $t       = $mgr->threads($inbox, $outbox);

 my $threads = $mgr->threads(folder => $folder);
 foreach my $thread ($threads->all)
 {   $thread->print;
 }

DESCRIPTION

The manager keeps track on a set of open folders and a set of message-thread supporting objects. You are not obliged to use this object (you can directly create a Mail::Box::Mbox if you prefer), but you will create more portable and safer code if you do use it.

METHODS

Initiation

new ARGS

 OPTION               DEFAULT
 default_folder_type  'mbox'
 folder_types         <all standard types>
 folderdir            [ '.' ]
 folderdirs           <synonym for folderdir>
 log                  'WARNINGS'
 trace                'WARNINGS'

default_folder_type => NAME|CLASS

Specifies the default folder type for newly created folders. If this option is not specified, the most recently registered type is used (see registerType and the folder_types option.

folder_types => NEW-TYPE | ARRAY-OF-NEW-TYPES

Add one or more new folder types to the list of known types. The order is important: when you open a file without specifying its type, the manager will start trying the last added list of types, in order.

Each TYPE is specified as an array which contains name, class, and defaults for options which overrule the usual defaults. You may specify folder-specific defaults as OPTIONS. They override the settings of the manager.

folderdir => DIRECTORY

The default directory, or directories, where folders are located. Mail::Box::Manager can autodetect the existing folder-types. There may be different kinds of folders opened at the same time, and messages can be moved between those types, although that may result in a loss of information depending on the folder types.

folderdirs => [ DIRECTORY, ... ]

log => LEVEL

See Mail::Reporter::new(log)

trace => LEVEL

See Mail::Reporter::new(trace)

Manage Folders

close FOLDER, OPTIONS

close removes the specified folder from the list of open folders. Indirectly it will update the files on disk if needed (depends on the save_on_exit flag for each folder). OPTIONS are passed to the close method of each folder.

The folder's messages will also be withdrawn from the known message threads. You may also close the folder directly. The manager will be informed about this event and take appropriate actions.

Examples:

 my $inbox = $mgr->open('inbox');
 $mgr->close($inbox);
 $inbox->close;        # alternative

closeAllFolders , OPTIONS

closeAllFolders calls close() for each folder managed by this object. It is called just before the program stops (before global cleanup).

decodeFolderURL URL

Try to decompose a folder name which is specified as URL (see open()) into separate options.

folderTypes

The folderTypes returns the list of currently defined folder types.

Examples:

 print join("\n", $manager->folderTypes), "\n";

isOpenFolder FOLDER

Returns true if the FOLDER is currently open.

Examples:

 print "Yes\n" if $mgr->isOpenFolder('Inbox');

open [FOLDERNAME], OPTIONS

Open a folder which name is specified as first parameter or with the option flag folder. The folder type is autodetected unless the type is specified.

open carries options for the manager which are described here, but may also have additional options for the folder type. For a description of the folder options, see the options to the constructor (the Mail::Box::new() method) for each type of mail box.

 OPTION               DEFAULT
 create               <false>
 folder               $ENV{MAIL}
 folderdir            '.'
 type                 <first, usually mbox>

create => BOOLEAN

Create the folder if it does not exist. By default, this is not done. The type option specifies which type of folder is created.

folder => NAME|URL

Which folder to open, specified by NAME or special URL. The URL format is composed as

 type://username:password@hostname:port/foldername

Like real URLs, all fields are optional and have smart defaults, as long as the string starts with a known folder type. Far from all folder types support all these options, but at least they are all split-out.

When you specify anything which does not match the URL format, it is passed directly to the new method of the folder which is opened.

folderdir => DIRECTORY

The directory where the folders are usually stored.

type => FOLDERTYPENAME|FOLDERTYPE

Specify the type of the folder. If you do not specify this option while opening a folder for reading, the manager checks all registered folder types in order for the ability to open the folder. If you open a new folder for writing, then the default will be the most recently registered type. (If you add more than one type at once, the first of the list is used.)

Examples:

 my $jack  = $manager->open(folder => '=jack', type => 'mbox');
 my $rcvd  = $manager->open(type => 'Mail::Box::Mbox', access => 'rw');

 my $inbox = $manager->open('Inbox')
    or die "Cannot open Inbox.\n";

 my $send  = $manager->open('pop3://myself:secret@pop3.server.com:120/x');
 my $send  = $manager->open(folder => '/x', type => 'pop3'
   , username    => 'myself', password => 'secret'
   , server_name => 'pop3.server.com', server_port => '120');

openFolders

Returns a list of all open folders.

registerType TYPE, CLASS [,OPTIONS]

With registerType you can register one TYPE of folders. The CLASS is compiled automatically, so you do not need to use them in your own modules. The TYPE is just an arbitrary name.

The added types are prepended to the list of known types, so they are checked first when a folder is opened in autodetect mode.

Examples:

 $manager->registerType(mbox => 'Mail::Box::Mbox',
     save_on_exit => 0, folderdir => '/tmp');

Move Messages to Folders

appendMessages [FOLDER|FOLDERNAME,] MESSAGES, OPTIONS

Append one or more messages to a folder. You may specify a FOLDERNAME or an opened folder as the first argument. When the name is that of an open folder, it is treated as if the folder-object was specified, and not directly access the folder-files. You may also specify the foldername as part of the options list.

If a message is added to an already opened folder, it is only added to the structure internally in the program. The data will not be written to disk until a write of that folder takes place. When the name of an unopened folder is given, the folder is opened, the messages stored on disk, and then the folder is closed.

A message must be an instance of an Mail::Message. The actual message type does not have to match the folder type--the folder will try to resolve the differences with minimal loss of information. The coerced messages (how the were actually written) are returned as list.

The OPTIONS is a list of key/values, which are added to (overriding) the default options for the detected folder type.

Examples:

 $mgr->appendMessages('=send', $message, folderdir => '/');
 $mgr->appendMessages('=received', $inbox->messages);

 my @appended = $mgr->appendMessages($inbox->messages,
    folder => 'Drafts');
 $_->label(seen => 1) foreach @appended;

copyMessage [FOLDER|FOLDERNAME,] MESSAGES, OPTIONS

Copy a message from one folder into another folder. If the destination folder is already opened, the copied message is stored in memory and written to disk when a write of the folder is later performed. Otherwise, the destination folder will be opened, the message written, and then the folder closed.

You need to specify a folder's name or folder object as the first argument, or in the options list. The options are the same as those which can be specified when opening a folder.

Examples:

 my $drafts = $mgr->open(folder => 'Drafts');
 my $outbox = $mgr->open(folder => 'Outbox');
 $mgr->copyMessage($outbox, $drafts->message(0));

 $mgr->copyMessage('Trash', $drafts->message(1), $drafts->message(2),
    folderdir => '/tmp', create => 1);

 $mgr->copyMessage($drafts->message(1), folder => 'Drafts'
    folderdir => '/tmp', create => 1);

delete FOLDERNAME [,OPTIONS]

Remove the named folder, including all its sub-folders. The OPTIONS are the same as those for open().

The deletion of a folder can take some time. Dependent on the type of folder, the folder must be read first. For some folder-types this will be fast.

moveMessage [FOLDER|FOLDERNAME,] MESSAGES, OPTIONS

Move a message from one folder to another. Be warned that removals from a folder only take place when the folder is closed, so the message is only flagged to be deleted in the opened source folder.

 $mgr->moveMessage($received, $inbox->message(1))

is equivalent to

 $mgr->copyMessage($received, $inbox->message(1));
 $inbox->message(1)->delete;

Manage Threads

threads [FOLDERS], OPTIONS

Create a new object which keeps track of message threads. You can read about the possible options in the Mail::Box::Thread::Manager documentation. As OPTIONS specify one folder or an array of FOLDERS. It is also permitted to specify folders before the options.

Examples:

 my $t1 = $mgr->threads(folders => [ $inbox, $send ]);
 my $t2 = $mgr->threads($inbox);
 my $t3 = $mgr->threads($inbox, $send);

toBeThreaded FOLDER, MESSAGES

toBeUnthreaded FOLDER, MESSAGES

Signal to the manager that all thread managers which are using the specified folder must be informed that new messages are coming in (or going out).

Logging and Tracing

defaultTrace [LEVEL, [LEVEL]

See Mail::Reporter::defaultTrace()

errors

See Mail::Reporter::errors()

log [LEVEL [,STRINGS]]

See Mail::Reporter::log()

report [LEVEL]

See Mail::Reporter::report()

reportAll [LEVEL]

See Mail::Reporter::reportAll()

trace [LEVEL]

See Mail::Reporter::trace()

warnings

See Mail::Reporter::warnings()

Other Methods

AUTOLOAD

See Mail::Reporter::AUTOLOAD()

DESTROY

See Mail::Reporter::DESTROY()

inGlobalDestruction

See Mail::Reporter::inGlobalDestruction()

logPriority LEVEL

See Mail::Reporter::logPriority()

logSettings

See Mail::Reporter::logSettings()

notImplemented

See Mail::Reporter::notImplemented()

SEE ALSO

A good start to read is Mail::Box-Overview. More documentation and a mailinglist are available from the project's website at http://perl.overmeer.net/mailbox/.

AUTHOR

Mark Overmeer (mark@overmeer.net) with the help of many.

VERSION

This code is beta, version 2.026.

Copyright (c) 2001-2002 Mark Overmeer. All rights reserved. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.