Mail::Identity(3pm)					User Contributed Perl Documentation				       Mail::Identity(3pm)

NAME

       Mail::Identity - an e-mail role

INHERITANCE

	Mail::Identity
	  is a User::Identity::Item

SYNOPSIS

	use User::Identity;
	use Mail::Identity;
	my $me	 = User::Identity->new(...);
	my $addr = Mail::Identity->new(address => 'x@y');
	$me->add(email => $addr);

	# Simpler

	use User::Identity;
	my $me	 = User::Identity->new(...);
	my $addr = $me->add(email => 'x@y');
	my $addr = $me->add( email => 'home'
			   , address => 'x@y');

	# Conversion
	my $ma	 = Mail::Address->new(...);
	my $mi	 = Mail::Identity->coerce($ma);

DESCRIPTION

       The "Mail::Identity" object contains the description of role played by a human when sending e-mail.  Most people have more than one role
       these days: for instance, a private and a company role with different e-mail addresses.

       An "Mail::Identity" object combines an e-mail address, user description ("phrase"), a signature, pgp-key, and so on.  All fields are
       optional, and some fields are smart.  One such set of data represents one role.	"Mail::Identity" is therefore the smart cousine of the
       Mail::Address object.

METHODS

   Constructors
       $obj->from(OBJECT)

	   Convert an OBJECT into a "Mail::Identity".  On the moment, you can specify Mail::Address and User::Identity objects.  In the former
	   case, a new "Mail::Identity" is created containing the same information.  In the latter, the first address of the user is picked and
	   returned.

       Mail::Identity->new([NAME], OPTIONS)

	Option	    --Defined in     --Default
	address 		       <username@domain or name>
	charset 		       <user's charset>
	comment 		       <user's fullname if phrase is different>
	description   User::Identity::Item  undef
	domain			       <from email or localhost>
	language		       <from user>
	location		       <random user's location>
	name	      User::Identity::Item  <phrase or user's fullName>
	organization		       <location's organization>
	parent	      User::Identity::Item  undef
	pgp_key 		       undef
	phrase			       <user's fullName>
	signature		       undef
	username		       <from address or user's nickname>

	   . address => STRING

	       The e-mail address is constructed from the username/domain, but when both do not exist, the name is taken.

	   . charset => STRING

	   . comment => STRING

	   . description => STRING

	   . domain => STRING

	   . language => STRING

	   . location => NAME|OBJECT

	       The user's location which relates to this mail identity.  This can be specified as location name (which will be looked-up when
	       needed), or as User::Identity::Location object.

	   . name => STRING

	   . organization => STRING

	       Usually defined for e-mail addresses which are used by a company or other organization, but less common for personal addresses.
	       This value will be used to fill the "Organization" header field of messages.

	   . parent => OBJECT

	   . pgp_key => STRING|FILENAME

	   . phrase => STRING

	   . signature => STRING

	   . username => STRING

   Constructors
   Attributes
       $obj->address

	   Returns the e-mail address for this role.  If none was specified, it will be constructed from the username and domain.  If those are
	   not present as well, then the name() is used when it contains a "@", else the user's nickname is taken.

       $obj->charset

	   Returns the character set used in comment and phrase.  When set to "undef", the strings (are already encoded to) contain only ASCII
	   characters.	This defaults to the value of the user's charset, if a user is defined.

       $obj->comment([STRING])

	   E-mail address -when included in message MIME headers- can contain a comment.  The RFCs advice not to store useful information in these
	   comments, but it you really want to, you can do it.	The comment defaults to the user's fullname if the phrase is not the fullname and
	   there is a user defined.

	   Comments will be enclosed in parenthesis when used. Parenthesis (matching) or non-matching) which are already in the string will
	   carefully escaped when needed.  You do not need to worry.

       $obj->description

	   See "Attributes" in User::Identity::Item

       $obj->domain

	   The domain is the part of the e-mail address after the "@"-sign.  When this is not defined, it can be deducted from the email address
	   (see address()).  If nothing is known, "localhost" is returned.

       $obj->language

	   Returns the language which is used for the description fields of this e-mail address, which defaults to the user's language.

       $obj->location

	   Returns the object which describes to which location this mail address relates.  The location may be used to find the name of the
	   organization involved, or to create a signature.  If no location is specified, but a user is defined which has locations, one of those
	   is randomly chosen.

       $obj->name([NEWNAME])

	   See "Attributes" in User::Identity::Item

       $obj->organization

	   Returns the organization which relates to this e-mail identity.  If not explicitly specified, it is tried to be found via the location.

       $obj->phrase

	   The phrase is used in an e-mail address to explain who is sending the message.  This usually is the fullname (the user's fullname is
	   used by default), description of your function (Webmaster), or any other text.

	   When an email string is produced, the phase will be quoted if needed.  Quotes which are within the string will automatically be
	   escaped, so you do no need to worry: input cannot break the outcome!

       $obj->username

	   Returns the username of this e-mail address.  If none is specified, first it is tried to extract it from the specified e-mail address.
	   If there is also no username in the e-mail address, the user identity's nickname is taken.

   Collections
       $obj->add(COLLECTION, ROLE)

	   See "Collections" in User::Identity::Item

       $obj->addCollection(OBJECT | ([TYPE], OPTIONS))

	   See "Collections" in User::Identity::Item

       $obj->collection(NAME)

	   See "Collections" in User::Identity::Item

       $obj->find(COLLECTION, ROLE)

	   See "Collections" in User::Identity::Item

       $obj->parent([PARENT])

	   See "Collections" in User::Identity::Item

       $obj->removeCollection(OBJECT|NAME)

	   See "Collections" in User::Identity::Item

       $obj->type

       Mail::Identity->type

	   See "Collections" in User::Identity::Item

       $obj->user

	   See "Collections" in User::Identity::Item

DIAGNOSTICS

       Error: $object is not a collection.

	   The first argument is an object, but not of a class which extends User::Identity::Collection.

       Error: Cannot load collection module for $type ($class).

	   Either the specified $type does not exist, or that module named $class returns compilation errors.  If the type as specified in the
	   warning is not the name of a package, you specified a nickname which was not defined.  Maybe you forgot the 'require' the package which
	   defines the nickname.

       Error: Creation of a collection via $class failed.

	   The $class did compile, but it was not possible to create an object of that class using the options you specified.

       Error: Don't know what type of collection you want to add.

	   If you add a collection, it must either by a collection object or a list of options which can be used to create a collection object.
	   In the latter case, the type of collection must be specified.

       Warning: No collection $name

	   The collection with $name does not exist and can not be created.

SEE ALSO

       This module is part of User-Identity distribution version 0.93, built on December 24, 2009. Website: http://perl.overmeer.net/userid/

LICENSE

       Copyrights 2003,2004,2007-2009 by Mark Overmeer <perl@overmeer.net>. For other contributors see Changes.

       This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.  See
       http://www.perl.com/perl/misc/Artistic.html

perl v5.10.1							    2009-12-24						       Mail::Identity(3pm)