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.