/ 
Mail-Box-2.023
River stage one • 8 direct dependents • 8 total dependents
/ Mail::Box::Tie::ARRAY

NAME

Mail::Box::Tie::ARRAY - access an existing message folder as array

SYNOPSIS

use Mail::Box::Manager;
my $mgr    = Mail::Box::Manager->new;
my $folder = $mgr->open(folder => 'inbox');

use Mail::Box::Tie::ARRAY;
tie my(@inbox), 'Mail::Box::Tie::ARRAY', $folder;

# deprecated, but works too
use Mail::Box::Tie;
tie my(@inbox), 'Mail::Box::Tie', $folder;

foreach (@inbox) {print $_->short}
print $_->print foreach @inbox;
my $emails = @inbox;

print $inbox[3];
print scalar @inbox;
push @inbox, Mail::Box::Message->new(...);
delete $inbox[6];
print $inbox[0]->head->get('status');

my $folder = tied @inbox;
untie @inbox;

DESCRIPTION

Certainly when you look at a folder as a list of messages, it is logical to access the folder through an array.

Not all operations on arrays are supported. Actually, most functions which would reduce the size of the array are modified instead to mark messages for deletion.

Examples what you cannot do:

shift/unshift/pop/splice @inbox;

METHODS

Initiation

tie ARRAY, 'Mail::Box::Tie::ARRAY', FOLDER

Create the tie on an existing folder.

Examples:

my $mgr   = Mail::Box::Manager->new;
my $inbox = $mgr->new(folder => $ENV{MAIL});
tie my(@inbox), ref $inbox, $inbox;

Tied Interface

DELETE

Flag a message to be removed. Be warned that the message stays in the folder, and is not removed before the folder is written.

Examples:

delete $inbox[5];
$inbox[5]->delete;   #same
FETCH INDEX

Get the message which is at the indicated location in the list of messages contained in this folder. Deleted messages will be returned as undef

Examples:

print $inbox[3];
FETCHSIZE

Return the total number of messages in a folder. This is called when the folder-array is used in scalar context, for instance.

Examples:

if(@inbox > 10)    # contains more than 10 messages?
my $nrmsgs = @inbox;
PUSH MESSAGES

Add MESSAGES to the end of the folder.

Examples:

push @inbox, $newmsg;
STORE INDEX, MESSAGE

Random message replacement is is not permitted--doing so would disturb threads etc. An error occurs if you try to do this. The only thing which is allowed is to store a message at the first free index at the end of the folder (which is also achievable with PUSH--see below).

Examples:

$inbox[$#inbox] = $add;
push @inbox, $add;
STORESIZE LENGTH

Sets all messages behind from LENGTH to the end of folder to be deleted.

IMPLEMENTATION

This module implements TIEARRAY, FETCH, STORE, FETCHSIZE, STORESIZE, DELETE, PUSH, and DESTROY.

This module does not implement all other methods as described in the Tie::Array documentation, because the real array of messages is not permitted to shrink or be mutilated.

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 2.023.

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.