NAME

Mail::Box::IMAP4 - handle IMAP4 folders as client

INHERITANCE

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

Mail::Box::IMAP4 is extended by
  Mail::Box::IMAP4s

SYNOPSIS

my $url = 'imap4://user:passwd@host:port/INBOX';
my $url = 'imap://user:passwd@host:port/INBOX';

use Mail::Box::IMAP4;
my $folder = Mail::Box::IMAP4->new(folder => $url, ...);

use Mail::Box::Manager;
my $mgr    = Mail::Box::Manager->new;
my $folder = $msg->open($url, retry => 3, interval => 5);

DESCRIPTION

Maintain a folder which has its messages stored on a remote server. The communication between the client application and the server is implemented using the IMAP4 protocol. See also Mail::Server::IMAP4.

This class uses Mail::Transport::IMAP4 to hide the transport of information, and focusses solely on the correct handling of messages within a IMAP4 folder. More than one IMAP4 folder can be handled by one single IMAP4 connection.

Extends "DESCRIPTION" in Mail::Box::Net.

OVERLOADED

Extends "OVERLOADED" in Mail::Box::Net.

overload: "": Inherited, see "OVERLOADED" in Mail::Box
overload: @{}: Inherited, see "OVERLOADED" in Mail::Box
overload: cmp: Inherited, see "OVERLOADED" in Mail::Box

METHODS

Extends "METHODS" in Mail::Box::Net.

Constructors

Extends "Constructors" in Mail::Box::Net.

Mail::Box::IMAP4->new(%options)

The new can have many %options. Not only the ones listed here below, but also all the %options for Mail::Transport::IMAP4::new() can be passed.

The default depends on the value of new(cache_head).

Without folder name, no folder is selected. Only few methods are available now, for instance listSubFolders() to get the top-level folder names. Usually, the folder named INBOX will be present.

-Option           --Defined in     --Default
 access             Mail::Box        'r'
 body_delayed_type  Mail::Box        Mail::Message::Body::Delayed
 body_type          Mail::Box        Mail::Message::Body::Lines
 cache_body                          NO
 cache_head                          NO or DELAY
 cache_labels                        NO or DELAY
 coerce_options     Mail::Box        []
 create             Mail::Box        <false>
 extract            Mail::Box        10240
 field_type         Mail::Box        undef
 fix_headers        Mail::Box        <false>
 folder             Mail::Box        /
 folderdir          Mail::Box        <network location>
 head_delayed_type  Mail::Box        Mail::Message::Head::Delayed
 head_type          Mail::Box        Mail::Box::IMAP4::Head or Mail::Message::Head::Complete
 join_connection                     true
 keep_dups          Mail::Box        <false>
 lock_file          Mail::Box        undef
 lock_timeout       Mail::Box        1 hour
 lock_type          Mail::Box        'NONE'
 lock_wait          Mail::Box        10 seconds
 locker             Mail::Box        undef
 log                Mail::Reporter   'WARNINGS'
 manager            Mail::Box        undef
 message_type       Mail::Box        Mail::Box::IMAP4::Message
 multipart_type     Mail::Box        Mail::Message::Body::Multipart
 password           Mail::Box::Net   undef
 remove_when_empty  Mail::Box        <false>
 save_on_exit       Mail::Box        <true>
 server_name        Mail::Box::Net   undef
 server_port        Mail::Box::Net   143
 trace              Mail::Reporter   'WARNINGS'
 transporter                         Mail::Transport::IMAP4
 trusted            Mail::Box        <false>
 username           Mail::Box::Net   undef

access => MODE

body_delayed_type => CLASS

body_type => CLASS|CODE

cache_body => 'NO'|'YES'|'DELAY'

Body objects are immutable, but may still cached or not. In common case, the body of a message is requested via Mail::Message::body() or Mail::Message::decoded(). This returns a handle to a body object. You may decide whether that body object can be reused or not. NO means: retrieve the data each time again, YES will cache the body data, DELAY will send the whole message when the folder is closed.

       [local cache]  [write]
NO         no           no
YES        yes          no
DELAY      yes          yes

cache_head => 'NO'|'PARTIAL'|'DELAY'

For a read-only folder, DELAY is the default, otherwise NO is chosen. The four configuration parameter have subtile consequences. To start with a table:

       [local cache]  [write]  [default head_type]
NO         no           no     Mail::Box::IMAP4::Head
PARTIAL    yes          no     Mail::Box::IMAP4::Head
DELAY      yes          yes    Mail::Message::Head::Complete

The default head_type is Mail::Box::IMAP4::Head, the default cached_head_type is Mail::Message::Head::Complete.

Having a local cache means that a lookup for a field is first done in a local data-structure (which extends Mail::Message::Head::Partial), and only on the remote server if it was not found. This is dangerous, because your locally cached data can be out-of-sync with the server. However, it may give you a nice performance benefit.

DELAY will always collect the whole header for you. This is required when you want to look for Resent Groups (See Mail::Message::Head::ResentGroup) or other field order dependent header access. A Mail::Message::Head::Delayed will be created first.

cache_labels => 'NO'|'WRITE'|'DELAY'

When labels from a message are received, these values can be kept. However, this imposes dangers where the server's internal label storage may get out of sync with your data.

With NO, no caching will take place (but the performance will be worse). With WRITE, all label access will be cached, but written to the server as well. Both NO and WRITE will update the labels on the served, even when the folder was opened read-only. DELAY will not write the changed information to the server, but delay that till the moment that the folder is closed. It only works when the folder is opened read/write or write is enforced.

The default is DELAY for folders which where opened read-only. This means that you still can force an update with close(write). For folders which are opened read-write, the default is the safeset setting, which is NO.

coerce_options => ARRAY

create => BOOLEAN

extract => INTEGER | CODE | METHOD | 'LAZY'|'ALWAYS'

field_type => CLASS

fix_headers => BOOLEAN

folder => FOLDERNAME

folderdir => DIRECTORY

head_delayed_type => CLASS

head_type => CLASS

join_connection => BOOLEAN

Within this Mail::Box::IMAP4 class is registered which transporters are already in use, i.e. which connections to the IMAP server are already in established. When this option is set, multiple folder openings on the same server will try to reuse one connection.

keep_dups => BOOLEAN

lock_file => FILENAME

lock_timeout => SECONDS

lock_type => CLASS|STRING|ARRAY

lock_wait => SECONDS

locker => OBJECT

log => LEVEL

manager => MANAGER

message_type => CLASS

multipart_type => CLASS

password => STRING

remove_when_empty => BOOLEAN

save_on_exit => BOOLEAN

server_name => HOSTNAME

server_port => INTEGER

trace => LEVEL

transporter => OBJECT|CLASS

The name of the CLASS which will interface with the connection. When you implement your own extension to Mail::Transport::IMAP4, you can either specify a fully instantiated transporter OBJECT, or the name of your own CLASS. When an OBJECT is given, most other options will be ignored.

trusted => BOOLEAN

username => STRING

example:

my $imap   = Mail::Box::IMAP4->new(username => 'myname',
   password => 'mypassword', server_name => 'imap.xs4all.nl');

my $url    = 'imap4://user:password@imap.xs4all.nl';
my $imap   = $mgr->open($url);

my $client = Mail::IMAPClient->new(...);
my $imap   = Mail::Box::IMAP4->new(imap_client => $client);

The folder

Extends "The folder" in Mail::Box::Net.

$obj->addMessage($message, %options)

Inherited, see "The folder" in Mail::Box

$obj->addMessages(@messages)

Inherited, see "The folder" in Mail::Box

Mail::Box::IMAP4->appendMessages(%options)

Inherited, see "The folder" in Mail::Box

$obj->close(%options)

Close the folder. In the case of IMAP, more than one folder can use the same connection, therefore, closing a folder does not always close the connection to the server. Only when no folder is using the connection anymore, a logout will be invoked by Mail::Transport::IMAP4::DESTROY()

-Option      --Defined in     --Default
 force         Mail::Box        <false>
 save_deleted  Mail::Box        false
 write         Mail::Box        MODIFIED

force => BOOLEAN
save_deleted => BOOLEAN
write => 'ALWAYS'|'NEVER'|'MODIFIED'

$obj->copyTo($folder, %options)

Inherited, see "The folder" in Mail::Box

$obj->delete(%options)

Inherited, see "The folder" in Mail::Box

$obj->folderdir( [$directory] )

Inherited, see "The folder" in Mail::Box

$obj->name()

Inherited, see "The folder" in Mail::Box

$obj->organization()

Inherited, see "The folder" in Mail::Box

$obj->size()

Inherited, see "The folder" in Mail::Box

$obj->type()

Inherited, see "The folder" in Mail::Box

$obj->update(%options)

Inherited, see "The folder" in Mail::Box

$obj->url()

Inherited, see "The folder" in Mail::Box

Folder flags

Extends "Folder flags" in Mail::Box::Net.

$obj->access(): Inherited, see "Folder flags" in Mail::Box
$obj->isModified(): Inherited, see "Folder flags" in Mail::Box
$obj->modified( [BOOLEAN] ): Inherited, see "Folder flags" in Mail::Box
$obj->writable(): Inherited, see "Folder flags" in Mail::Box

The messages

Extends "The messages" in Mail::Box::Net.

$obj->current( [$number|$message|$message_id] ): Inherited, see "The messages" in Mail::Box
$obj->find($message_id): Inherited, see "The messages" in Mail::Box
$obj->findFirstLabeled( $label, [BOOLEAN, [$msgs]] ): Inherited, see "The messages" in Mail::Box
$obj->message( $index, [$message] ): Inherited, see "The messages" in Mail::Box
$obj->messageId( $message_id, [$message] ): Inherited, see "The messages" in Mail::Box
$obj->messageIds(): Inherited, see "The messages" in Mail::Box
$obj->messages( <'ALL'|$range|'ACTIVE'|'DELETED'|$label| !$label|$filter> ): Inherited, see "The messages" in Mail::Box
$obj->nrMessages(%options): Inherited, see "The messages" in Mail::Box
$obj->scanForMessages($message, $message_ids, $timespan, $window): Inherited, see "The messages" in Mail::Box

Sub-folders

Extends "Sub-folders" in Mail::Box::Net.

$obj->listSubFolders(%options)
Mail::Box::IMAP4->listSubFolders(%options): Inherited, see "Sub-folders" in Mail::Box
$obj->nameOfSubFolder( $subname, [$parentname] )
Mail::Box::IMAP4->nameOfSubFolder( $subname, [$parentname] ): Inherited, see "Sub-folders" in Mail::Box
$obj->openRelatedFolder(%options): Inherited, see "Sub-folders" in Mail::Box
$obj->openSubFolder($subname, %options): Inherited, see "Sub-folders" in Mail::Box
$obj->topFolderWithMessages()
Mail::Box::IMAP4->topFolderWithMessages(): Inherited, see "Sub-folders" in Mail::Box

Internals

Extends "Internals" in Mail::Box::Net.

$obj->body( [$body] )

$obj->coerce($message, %options)

Inherited, see "Internals" in Mail::Box

$obj->create($folder, %options)

Mail::Box::IMAP4->create($folder, %options)

Inherited, see "METHODS" in Mail::Box::Net

$obj->createTransporter($class, %options)

Create a transporter object (an instance of Mail::Transport::IMAP4), where $class defines the exact object type. As %options, everything which is acceptable to a transporter initiation can be used (see Mail::Transport::IMAP4::new().

-Option         --Default
 join_connection  true

join_connection => BOOLEAN: See new(join_connection). When false, the connection will never be shared with other IMAP mail boxes.

$obj->determineBodyType($message, $head)

Inherited, see "Internals" in Mail::Box

$obj->fetch( <$messages|$selection>, $info )

Low-level data retreival about one or more messages via IMAP4 from the remote server. Some of this data may differ from the information which is stored in the message objects which are created by MailBox, so you should avoid the use of this method for your own purposes. The IMAP implementation provides some wrappers around this, providing the correct behavior.

An ARRAY of $messages may be specified or some message $selection, acceptable to Mail::Box::messages(). Examples of the latter are 'ALL', 'DELETED', or spam (messages labelled to contain spam).

The $info contains one or more attributes as defined by the IMAP protocol. You have to read the full specs of the related RFCs to see these.

Mail::Box::IMAP4->foundIn( [$foldername], %options )

Inherited, see "Internals" in Mail::Box

$obj->getHead($message)

Read the header for the specified message from the remote server. undef is returned in case the message disappeared.

$obj->getHeadAndBody($message)

Read all data for the specified message from the remote server. Return head and body of the mesasge as list, or an empty list if the $message disappeared from the server.

$obj->lineSeparator( [<STRING|'CR'|'LF'|'CRLF'>] )

Inherited, see "Internals" in Mail::Box

$obj->locker()

Inherited, see "Internals" in Mail::Box

$obj->read(%options)

Inherited, see "Internals" in Mail::Box

$obj->readMessages(%options)

Inherited, see "Internals" in Mail::Box

$obj->storeMessage($message)

Inherited, see "Internals" in Mail::Box

$obj->toBeThreaded($messages)

Inherited, see "Internals" in Mail::Box

$obj->toBeUnthreaded($messages)

Inherited, see "Internals" in Mail::Box

$obj->transporter( [$object] )

Returns the object which is the interface to the IMAP4 protocol handler. The IMAP4 handler has the current folder selected. When an $object is specified, it is set to be the transporter from that moment on. The $object must extend Mail::Transport::IMAP4.

$obj->updateMessages(%options)

Inherited, see "Internals" in Mail::Box

$obj->write(%options)

The IMAP protocol usually writes the data immediately to the remote server, because that's what the protocol wants. However, some options to new() may delay that to boost performance. This method will, when the folder is being closed, write that info after all.

-Option      --Defined in     --Default
 force         Mail::Box        <false>
 save_deleted                   <false>

force => BOOLEAN
save_deleted => BOOLEAN: You may be able to save the messages which are flagged for deletion now, but they will be removed anyway when the folder is closed.

$obj->writeMessages(%options)

-Option     --Defined in     --Default
 messages     Mail::Box        <required>
 transporter                   <required>

messages => ARRAY
transporter => OBJECT

Other methods

Extends "Other methods" in Mail::Box::Net.

$obj->timespan2seconds($time)
Mail::Box::IMAP4->timespan2seconds($time): Inherited, see "Other methods" in Mail::Box

Error handling

Extends "Error handling" in Mail::Box::Net.

$obj->AUTOLOAD(): Inherited, see "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter
$obj->addReport($object): Inherited, see "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter
$obj->defaultTrace( [$level]|[$loglevel, $tracelevel]|[$level, $callback] )
Mail::Box::IMAP4->defaultTrace( [$level]|[$loglevel, $tracelevel]|[$level, $callback] ): Inherited, see "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter
$obj->errors(): Inherited, see "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter
$obj->log( [$level, [$strings]] )
Mail::Box::IMAP4->log( [$level, [$strings]] ): Inherited, see "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter
$obj->logPriority($level)
Mail::Box::IMAP4->logPriority($level): Inherited, see "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter
$obj->logSettings(): Inherited, see "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter
$obj->notImplemented(): Inherited, see "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter
$obj->report( [$level] ): Inherited, see "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter
$obj->reportAll( [$level] ): Inherited, see "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter
$obj->trace( [$level] ): Inherited, see "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter
$obj->warnings(): Inherited, see "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter

Cleanup

Extends "Cleanup" in Mail::Box::Net.

$obj->DESTROY(): Inherited, see "Cleanup" in Mail::Box

DETAILS

Extends "DETAILS" in Mail::Box::Net.

DIAGNOSTICS

Warning: Cannot find head back for $uidl in $folder.: The header was read before, but now seems empty: the IMAP4 server does not produce the header lines anymore.
Warning: Cannot read body for $uidl in $folder.: The header of the message was retrieved from the IMAP4 server, but the body is not read, for an unknown reason.
Error: Copying failed for one message.: For some reason, for instance disc full, removed by external process, or read-protection, it is impossible to copy one of the messages. Copying will proceed for the other messages.
Error: Couldn't select IMAP4 folder $name
Error: Destination folder $name is not writable.: The folder where the messages are copied to is not opened with write access (see new(access)). This has no relation with write permission to the folder which is controlled by your operating system.
Warning: Different messages with id $msgid: The message id is discovered more than once within the same folder, but the content of the message seems to be different. This should not be possible: each message must be unique.
Error: Folder $name not deleted: not writable.: The folder must be opened with write access via new(access), otherwise removing it will be refused. So, you may have write-access according to the operating system, but that will not automatically mean that this delete method permits you to. The reverse remark is valid as well.
Notice: Impossible to keep deleted messages in IMAP: Some folder type have a 'deleted' flag which can be stored in the folder to be performed later. The folder keeps that knowledge even when the folder is rewritten. Well, IMAP4 cannot play that trick.
Error: Invalid timespan '$timespan' specified.: The string does not follow the strict rules of the time span syntax which is permitted as parameter.
Warning: Message $uidl disappeared from $folder.: Trying to get the specific message from the server, but it appears to be gone.
Warning: Message $uidl disappeared from $folder.: Trying to get the specific message from the server, but it appears to be gone.
Warning: Message-id '$msgid' does not contain a domain.: According to the RFCs, message-ids need to contain a unique random part, then an @, and then a domain name. This is made to avoid the creation of two messages with the same id. The warning emerges when the @ is missing from the string.
Error: No IMAP4 transporter configured
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 create subfolder $name of $folder.: The copy includes the subfolders, but for some reason it was not possible to copy one of these. Copying will proceed for all other sub-folders.

LICENSE

Copyrights 2001-2023 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://dev.perl.org/licenses/

To install Mail::Box::IMAP4, copy and paste the appropriate command in to your terminal.

cpanm

cpanm Mail::Box::IMAP4

CPAN shell

perl -MCPAN -e shell
install Mail::Box::IMAP4

For more information on module installation, please visit the detailed CPAN module installation guide.

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NAME

INHERITANCE

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

OVERLOADED

METHODS

Constructors

The folder

Folder flags

The messages

Sub-folders

Internals

Other methods

Error handling

Cleanup

DETAILS

DIAGNOSTICS

SEE ALSO

LICENSE

Module Install Instructions