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MMS-Mail-Parser-0.03
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/ MMS::Mail::Parser

NAME

MMS::Mail::Parser - A class for parsing MMS (or picture) messages.

VERSION

Version 0.03

SYNOPSIS

This class takes an MMS message and parses it into two 'standard' formats (an MMS::Mail::Message and MMS::Mail::Message::Parsed) for further use. It is intended to make parsing MMS messages network/provider agnostic such that a 'standard' object results from parsing, independant of the network/provider it was sent through.

Code usage example

This example demonstrates the use of the two stage parse. The first pass provides an MMS::Mail::Message object that is then passed through to the provider_parse message that attempts to determine the Network provider the message was sent through and extracts the relevant information and places it into an MMS::Mail::Message::Parsed object.

    use MMS::Mail::Parser;
    my $mms = MMS::Mail::Parser->new();
    my $message = $mms->parse(\*STDIN);
    if (defined($message)) {
      my $parsed = $mms->provider_parse;
      print $parsed->subject."\n";
    }

Examples of input

MMS::Mail::Parser has the same input methods as MIME::Parser.

    # Parse from a filehandle:
    $entity = $parser->parse(\*STDIN);

    # Parse an in-memory MIME message: 
    $entity = $parser->parse_data($message);

    # Parse a file based MIME message:
    $entity = $parser->parse_open("/some/file.msg");

    # Parse already-split input (as "deliver" would give it to you):
    $entity = $parser->parse_two("msg.head", "msg.body");

Examples of parser modification

MMS::Mail::Parser uses MIME::Parser as it's parsing engine. The MMS::Mail::Parser class creates it's own MIME::Parser object if one is not passed in via the new or mime_parser methods. There are a number of reasons for providing your own parser such as forcing all attachment storage to be done in memory than on disk (providing a speed increase to your application at the cost of memory usage).

    my $parser = new MIME::Parser;
    $parser->output_to_core(1);
    my $mmsparser = new MMS::Mail::Parser;
    $mmsparser->mime_parser($parser);
    my $message = $mmsparser->parse(\*STDIN);
    if (defined($message)) {
      my $parsed = $mms->provider_parse;
    }

Examples of error handling

The parser contains an error stack and will ultimately return an undef value from any of the main parse methods if an error occurs. The last error message can be retreived by calling last_error method.

    my $message = $mmsparser->parse(\*STDIN);
    unless (defined($message)) {
      print STDERR $mmsparser->last_error."\n";
      exit(0);
    }

Miscellaneous methods

There are a small set of miscellaneous methods available. The output_dir method is provided so that a new MIME::Parser object does not have to be created to supply a separate storage directory for parsed attachments (however any attachments created as part of the process are removed when the message object is detroyed so the lack of specification of a storage location is not a huge issue ).

    # Provide debug ouput to STDERR
    $mmsparser->debug(1);

    # Set an output directory for MIME::Parser 
    $mmsparser->output_dir('/tmp');

    # Get/set an array reference to the error stack
    my $errors = $mmsparser->errors;

    # Get/set the MIME::Parser object used by MMS::Parser
    $mmsparser->mime_parser($parser);

Tutorial

A thorough tutorial can be accessed at http://www.robl.co.uk/redirects/articles/mmsmailparser/

METHODS

The following are the top-level methods of MMS::Mail::Parser object.

Constructor

new()

Return a new MMS::Mail::Parser object. Valid attributes are:

mime_parser MIME::Parser

Passed as an array reference, parser specifies the MIME::Parser object to use instead of MMS::Mail::Parser creating it's own.

debug INTEGER

Passed as an array reference, debug determines whether debuging information is outputted to standard error (default 0)

Regular Methods

parse INSTREAM

Returns an MMS::Mail::Message object by parsing the input stream INSTREAM

parse_data DATA

Returns an MMS::Mail::Message object by parsing the in memory string DATA

parse_open EXPR

Returns an MMS::Mail::Message object by parsing the file specified in EXPR

parse_two HEADFILE, BODYFILE

Returns an MMS::Mail::Message object by parsing the header and body file specified in HEADFILE and BODYFILE

provider_parse MMS::MailMessage

Returns an MMS::Mail::Message::Parsed object by attempting to discover the network provider the message was sent through and parsing through the appropriate MMS::ProviderMailParser. If an MMS::MailMessage object is supplied as an argument then the provider_parse method will parse the supplied MMS::Mail::Message object. If a provider has been set via the provider method then that parser will be used by the provider_parse method instead of attempting to discover the network provider from the MMS::Mail::Message.

output_dir DIRECTORY

Returns the output_dir parameter used with the MIME::Parser object when invoked with no argument supplied. When an argument is supplied it sets the output_dir used by the MIME::Parser to the value of the argument supplied.

mime_parser MIME::Parser

Returns the MIME::Parser object used by MMS::Mail::Parser (if created) when invoked with no argument supplied. When an argument is supplied it sets the MIME::Parser object used by MMS::Mail::Parser to parse messages.

provider MMS::Mail::Provider

Returns an object for the currently set provider when invoked with no argument supplied. When an argument is supplied it sets the provider to the supplied object.

errors

Returns the error stack used by the MMS::Mail::Parser object as an array reference.

last_error

Returns the last error from the stack.

debug INTEGER

Returns a number indicating whether STDERR debugging output is active (1) or not (0). When an argument is supplied it sets the debug property to that value.

AUTHOR

Rob Lee, <robl@robl.co.uk>

BUGS

Please report any bugs or feature requests to bug-mms-mail-parser@rt.cpan.org, or through the web interface at http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/ReportBug.html?Queue=MMS-Mail-Parser. I will be notified, and then you'll automatically be notified of progress on your bug as I make changes.

NOTES

To quote the perl artistic license ('perldoc perlartistic') :

10. THIS PACKAGE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

As per usual this module is sprinkled with a little Deb magic.

COPYRIGHT & LICENSE

Copyright 2005 Rob Lee, all rights reserved.

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

SEE ALSO

MMS::Mail::Message, MMS::Mail::Message::Parsed, MMS::Mail::Provider, MMS::Mail::Provider