Email::Abstract(3pm)					User Contributed Perl Documentation				      Email::Abstract(3pm)

NAME

       Email::Abstract - unified interface to mail representations

SYNOPSIS

	 my $message = Mail::Message->read($rfc822)
		    || Email::Simple->new($rfc822)
		    || Mail::Internet->new([split /
/, $rfc822])
		    || ...
		    || $rfc822;

	 my $email = Email::Abstract->new($message);

	 my $subject = $email->get_header("Subject");
	 $email->set_header(Subject => "My new subject");

	 my $body = $email->get_body;

	 $rfc822 = $email->as_string;

	 my $mail_message = $email->cast("Mail::Message");

DESCRIPTION

       "Email::Abstract" provides module writers with the ability to write simple, representation-independent mail handling code. For instance, in
       the cases of "Mail::Thread" or "Mail::ListDetector", a key part of the code involves reading the headers from a mail object. Where
       previously one would either have to specify the mail class required, or to build a new object from scratch, "Email::Abstract" can be used
       to perform certain simple operations on an object regardless of its underlying representation.

       "Email::Abstract" currently supports "Mail::Internet", "MIME::Entity", "Mail::Message", "Email::Simple" and "Email::MIME".  Other
       representations are encouraged to create their own "Email::Abstract::*" class by copying "Email::Abstract::EmailSimple".  All modules
       installed under the "Email::Abstract" hierarchy will be automatically picked up and used.

METHODS

       All of these methods may be called either as object methods or as class methods.  When called as class methods, the email object (of any
       class supported by Email::Abstract) must be prepended to the list of arguments, like so:

	 my $return = Email::Abstract->method($message, @args);

       This is provided primarily for backwards compatibility.

   new
	 my $email = Email::Abstract->new($message);

       Given a message, either as a string or as an object for which an adapter is installed, this method will return a Email::Abstract object
       wrapping the message.

       If the message is given as a string, it will be used to construct an object, which will then be wrapped.

   get_header
	 my $header  = $email->get_header($header_name);

	 my @headers = $email->get_header($header_name);

       This returns the values for the given header.  In scalar context, it returns the first value.

   set_header
	 $email->set_header($header => @values);

       This sets the $header header to the given one or more values.

   get_body
	 my $body = $email->get_body;

       This returns the body as a string.

   set_body
	 $email->set_body($string);

       This changes the body of the email to the given string.

       WARNING!  You probably don't want to call this method, despite what you may think.  Email message bodies are complicated, and rely on
       things like content type, encoding, and various MIME requirements.  If you call "set_body" on a message more complicated than a single-part
       seven-bit plain-text message, you are likely to break something.  If you need to do this sort of thing, you should probably use a specific
       message class from end to end.

       This method is left in place for backwards compatibility.

   as_string
	 my $string = $email->as_string;

       This returns the whole email as a decoded string.

   cast
	 my $mime_entity = $email->cast('MIME::Entity');

       This method will convert a message from one message class to another.  It will throw an exception if no adapter for the target class is
       known, or if the adapter does not provide a "construct" method.

   object
	 my $message = $email->object;

       This method returns the message object wrapped by Email::Abstract.  If called as a class method, it returns false.

       Note that, because strings are converted to message objects before wrapping, this method will return an object when the Email::Abstract was
       constructed from a string.

PERL EMAIL PROJECT

       This module is maintained by the Perl Email Project

       <http://emailproject.perl.org/wiki/Email::Abstract>

AUTHOR

       Casey West, <casey@geeknest.com>

       Simon Cozens, <simon@cpan.org>

       Ricardo SIGNES, <rjbs@cpan.org>

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

       Copyright 2004 by Simon Cozens

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

perl v5.10.1							    2011-02-18						      Email::Abstract(3pm)