NAME

       Email::Abstract - unified interface to mail representations

VERSION

       version 3.008

SYNOPSIS

         my $message = Mail::Message->read($rfc822)
                    || Email::Simple->new($rfc822)
                    || Mail::Internet->new([split /\n/, $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", "Email::MIME", and "Courriel".  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.

AUTHORS

       •   Ricardo SIGNES <rjbs@cpan.org>

       •   Simon Cozens <simon@cpan.org>

       •   Casey West <casey@geeknest.com>

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

       This software is copyright (c) 2004 by Simon Cozens.

       This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as
       the Perl 5 programming language system itself.