Provided by: tcllib_1.19-dfsg-2_all 
NAME
mime - Manipulation of MIME body parts
SYNOPSIS
package require Tcl 8.5
package require mime ?1.6?
::mime::initialize ?-canonical type/subtype ?-param {key value}...? ?-encoding value? ?-header {key
value}...?? (-file name | -string value | -parts {token1 ... tokenN})
::mime::finalize token ?-subordinates all | dynamic | none?
::mime::getproperty token ?property | -names?
::mime::getheader token ?key | -names?
::mime::setheader token key value ?-mode write | append | delete?
::mime::getbody token ?-decode? ?-command callback ?-blocksize octets??
::mime::copymessage token channel
::mime::buildmessage token
::mime::parseaddress string
::mime::parsedatetime (string | -now) property
::mime::mapencoding encoding_name
::mime::reversemapencoding charset_type
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
DESCRIPTION
The mime library package provides the commands to create and manipulate MIME body parts.
::mime::initialize ?-canonical type/subtype ?-param {key value}...? ?-encoding value? ?-header {key
value}...?? (-file name | -string value | -parts {token1 ... tokenN})
This command creates a MIME part and returns a token representing it.
• If the -canonical option is present, then the body is in canonical (raw) form and is found
by consulting either the -file, -string, or -parts option.
In addition, both the -param and -header options may occur zero or more times to specify
Content-Type parameters (e.g., charset) and header keyword/values (e.g., Content-
Disposition), respectively.
Also, -encoding, if present, specifies the Content-Transfer-Encoding when copying the body.
• If the -canonical option is not present, then the MIME part contained in either the -file
or the -string option is parsed, dynamically generating subordinates as appropriate.
::mime::finalize token ?-subordinates all | dynamic | none?
This command destroys the MIME part represented by token. It returns an empty string.
If the -subordinates option is present, it specifies which subordinates should also be destroyed.
The default value is dynamic, destroying all subordinates which were created by ::mime::initialize
together with the containing body part.
::mime::getproperty token ?property | -names?
This command returns a string or a list of strings containing the properties of a MIME part. If
the command is invoked with the name of a specific property, then the corresponding value is
returned; instead, if -names is specified, a list of all properties is returned; otherwise, a
serialized array of properties and values is returned.
The possible properties are:
content
The type/subtype describing the content
encoding
The "Content-Transfer-Encoding"
params A list of "Content-Type" parameters
parts A list of tokens for the part's subordinates. This property is present only if the MIME
part has subordinates.
size The approximate size of the content (unencoded)
::mime::getheader token ?key | -names?
This command returns the header of a MIME part, as a list of strings.
A header consists of zero or more key/value pairs. Each value is a list containing one or more
strings.
If this command is invoked with the name of a specific key, then a list containing the
corresponding value(s) is returned; instead, if -names is specified, a list of all keys is
returned; otherwise, a serialized array of keys and values is returned. Note that when a key is
specified (e.g., "Subject"), the list returned usually contains exactly one string; however, some
keys (e.g., "Received") often occur more than once in the header, accordingly the list returned
usually contains more than one string.
::mime::setheader token key value ?-mode write | append | delete?
This command writes, appends to, or deletes the value associated with a key in the header. It
returns a list of strings containing the previous value associated with the key.
The value for -mode is one of:
write The key/value is either created or overwritten (the default).
append A new value is appended for the key (creating it as necessary).
delete All values associated with the key are removed (the value parameter is ignored).
::mime::getbody token ?-decode? ?-command callback ?-blocksize octets??
This command returns a string containing the body of the leaf MIME part represented by token in
canonical form.
If the -command option is present, then it is repeatedly invoked with a fragment of the body as
this:
uplevel #0 $callback [list "data" $fragment]
(The -blocksize option, if present, specifies the maximum size of each fragment passed to the callback.)
When the end of the body is reached, the callback is invoked as:
uplevel #0 $callback "end"
Alternatively, if an error occurs, the callback is invoked as:
uplevel #0 $callback [list "error" reason]
Regardless, the return value of the final invocation of the callback is propagated upwards by
::mime::getbody.
If the -command option is absent, then the return value of ::mime::getbody is a string containing the
MIME part's entire body.
If the option -decode is absent the return value computed above is returned as is. This means that it
will be in the charset specified for the token and not the usual utf-8. If the option -decode is present
however the command will use the charset information associated with the token to convert the string from
its encoding into utf-8 before returning it.
::mime::copymessage token channel
This command copies the MIME represented by token part to the specified channel. The command
operates synchronously, and uses fileevent to allow asynchronous operations to proceed
independently. It returns an empty string.
::mime::buildmessage token
This command returns the MIME part represented by token as a string. It is similar to
::mime::copymessage, only it returns the data as a return string instead of writing to a channel.
::mime::parseaddress string
This command takes a string containing one or more 822-style address specifications and returns a
list of serialized arrays, one element for each address specified in the argument. If the string
contains more than one address they will be separated by commas.
Each serialized array contains the properties below. Note that one or more of these properties may
be empty.
address
local@domain
comment
822-style comment
domain the domain part (rhs)
error non-empty on a parse error
group this address begins a group
friendly
user-friendly rendering
local the local part (lhs)
memberP
this address belongs to a group
phrase the phrase part
proper 822-style address specification
route 822-style route specification (obsolete)
::mime::parsedatetime (string | -now) property
This command takes a string containing an 822-style date-time specification and returns the
specified property as a serialized array.
The list of properties and their ranges are:
hour 0 .. 23
lmonth January, February, ..., December
lweekday
Sunday, Monday, ... Saturday
mday 1 .. 31
min 0 .. 59
mon 1 .. 12
month Jan, Feb, ..., Dec
proper 822-style date-time specification
rclock elapsed seconds between then and now
sec 0 .. 59
wday 0 .. 6 (Sun .. Mon)
weekday
Sun, Mon, ..., Sat
yday 1 .. 366
year 1900 ...
zone -720 .. 720 (minutes east of GMT)
::mime::mapencoding encoding_name
This commansd maps tcl encodings onto the proper names for their MIME charset type. This is only
done for encodings whose charset types were known. The remaining encodings return "" for now.
::mime::reversemapencoding charset_type
This command maps MIME charset types onto tcl encoding names. Those that are unknown return "".
KNOWN BUGS
Tcllib Bug #447037
This problem affects only people which are using Tcl and Mime on a 64-bit system. The currently
recommended fix for this problem is to upgrade to Tcl version 8.4. This version has extended 64
bit support and the bug does not appear anymore.
The problem could have been generally solved by requiring the use of Tcl 8.4 for this package. We
decided against this solution as it would force a large number of unaffected users to upgrade
their Tcl interpreter for no reason.
See Ticket 447037 [/tktview?name=447037] for additional information.
BUGS, IDEAS, FEEDBACK
This document, and the package it describes, will undoubtedly contain bugs and other problems. Please
report such in the category mime of the Tcllib Trackers [http://core.tcl.tk/tcllib/reportlist]. Please
also report any ideas for enhancements you may have for either package and/or documentation.
When proposing code changes, please provide unified diffs, i.e the output of diff -u.
Note further that attachments are strongly preferred over inlined patches. Attachments can be made by
going to the Edit form of the ticket immediately after its creation, and then using the left-most button
in the secondary navigation bar.
SEE ALSO
ftp, http, pop3, smtp
KEYWORDS
email, internet, mail, mime, net, rfc 2045, rfc 2046, rfc 2049, rfc 821, rfc 822, smtp
CATEGORY
Text processing
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (c) 1999-2000 Marshall T. Rose