NAME
MIME::Lite - low-calorie MIME generator
SYNOPSIS
use MIME::Lite;
Create a single-part message:
# Create a new single-part message, to send a GIF file:
$msg = new MIME::Lite
From =>'
[email protected]',
To =>'
[email protected]',
Cc =>'
[email protected],
[email protected]',
Subject =>'Helloooooo, nurse!',
Type =>'image/gif',
Encoding =>'base64',
Path =>'hellonurse.gif';
Create a multipart message (i.e., one with attachments):
# Create a new multipart message:
$msg = new MIME::Lite
From =>'
[email protected]',
To =>'
[email protected]',
Cc =>'
[email protected],
[email protected]',
Subject =>'A message with 2 parts...',
Type =>'multipart/mixed';
# Add parts (each "attach" has same arguments as "new"):
attach $msg
Type =>'TEXT',
Data =>"Here's the GIF file you wanted";
attach $msg
Type =>'image/gif',
Path =>'aaa000123.gif',
Filename =>'logo.gif';
Output a message:
# Format as a string:
$str = $msg->as_string;
# Print to a filehandle (say, a "sendmail" stream):
$msg->print(\*SENDMAIL);
Send a message:
# Send in the "best" way (the default is to use "sendmail"):
$msg->send;
DESCRIPTION
In the never-ending quest for great taste with fewer calories, we
proudly present: *MIME::Lite*.
MIME::Lite is intended as a simple, standalone module for generating
(not parsing!) MIME messages... specifically, it allows you to output a
simple, decent single- or multi-part message with text or binary
attachments. It does not require that you have the Mail:: or MIME::
modules installed.
You can specify each message part as either the literal data itself (in
a scalar or array), or as a string which can be given to open() to get a
readable filehandle (e.g., "<filename" or "somecommand|").
You don't need to worry about encoding your message data: this module
will do that for you. It handles the 5 standard MIME encodings.
If you need more sophisticated behavior, please get the MIME-tools
package instead. I will be more likely to add stuff to that toolkit over
this one.
MORE EXAMPLES
Create a multipart message exactly as above, but using the "attach to
singlepart" hack:
# Create a new multipart message:
$msg = new MIME::Lite
From =>'
[email protected]',
To =>'
[email protected]',
Cc =>'
[email protected],
[email protected]',
Subject =>'A message with 2 parts...',
Type =>'TEXT',
Data =>"Here's the GIF file you wanted";
# Attach a part:
attach $msg Type =>'image/gif',
Path =>'aaa000123.gif',
Filename =>'logo.gif';
Output a message to a filehandle:
# Write it to a filehandle:
$msg->print(\*STDOUT);
# Write just the header:
$msg->print_header(\*STDOUT);
# Write just the encoded body:
$msg->print_body(\*STDOUT);
Get a message as a string:
# Get entire message as a string:
$str = $msg->as_string;
# Get just the header:
$str = $msg->header_as_string;
# Get just the encoded body:
$str = $msg->body_as_string;
Change how messages are sent:
# Do something like this in your 'main':
if ($I_DONT_HAVE_SENDMAIL) {
MIME::Lite->send('smtp', "smtp.myisp.net", Timeout=>60);
}
# Now this will do the right thing:
$msg->send; # will now use Net::SMTP as shown above
PUBLIC INTERFACE
Construction
new [PARAMHASH]
*Class method, constructor.* Create a new message object.
If any arguments are given, they are passed into `build()';
otherwise, just the empty object is created.
attach [OBJECT|PARAMHASH]
*Instance method.* Add a new part to this message, and return the
new part.
You can attach a MIME::Lite OBJECT, or have it create one by
specifying a PARAMHASH that will be automatically given to `new()'.
One of the possibly-quite-useful hacks thrown into this is the
"attach-to-singlepart" hack: if you attempt to attach a part (let's
call it "part 1") to a message that *isn't* a multipart message (the
"self" object in this case), the following happens:
* A new part (call it "part 0") is made.
* The MIME attributes and data (but *not* the other headers) are cut
from the "self" message, and pasted into "part 0".
* The "self" is turned into a "multipart/mixed" message.
* The new "part 0" is added to the "self", and *then* "part 1" is
added.
One of the nice side-effects is that you can create a text message
and then add zero or more attachments to it, much in the same way
that a user agent like Netscape allows you to do.
build [PARAMHASH]
*Class/instance method, initiallizer.* Create (or initiallize) a
MIME message object. Normally, you'll use the following keys in
PARAMHASH:
* Data, FH, or Path (either one of these, or none if multipart)
* Type (e.g., "image/jpeg")
* From, To, and Subject (if this is the "top level" of a message)
The PARAMHASH can contain the following keys:
(fieldname)
Any field you want placed in the message header, taken from the
standard list of header fields (you don't need to worry about
case):
Bcc Encrypted Received Sender
Cc From References Subject
Comments Keywords Reply-To To
Content-* Message-ID Resent-* X-*
Date MIME-Version Return-Path
Organization
To give experienced users some veto power, these fields will be
set *after* the ones I set... so be careful: *don't set any MIME
fields* (like `Content-type') unless you know what you're doing!
To specify a fieldname that's *not* in the above list, even one
that's identical to an option below, just give it with a
trailing `":"', like `"My-field:"'. When in doubt, that *always*
signals a mail field (and it sort of looks like one too).
Data *Alternative to "Path" or "FH".* The actual message data. This may
be a scalar or a ref to an array of strings; if the latter, the
message consists of a simple concatenation of all the strings in
the array.
Disposition
*Optional.* The content disposition, `"inline"' or
`"attachment"'. The default is `"inline"'.
Encoding
*Optional.* The content transfer encoding that should be used to
encode your data. The default is `"binary"', which means "no
encoding": this is generally *not* suitable for sending anything
but ASCII text files with short lines, so consider using one of
the following values instead:
Use encoding: If your message contains:
------------------------------------------------------------
7bit Only 7-bit text, all lines <1000 characters
8bit 8-bit text, all lines <1000 characters
quoted-printable 8-bit text or long lines (MUCH more reliable than "8bit")
base64 Largely binary data: a GIF, a tar file, etc.
Be sure to pick an appropriate encoding. In the case of
"7bit"/"8bit", long lines are automatically chopped to legal
length; in the case of "7bit", all 8-bit characters are
automatically *removed*. This may not be what you want, so pick
your encoding well! There's a the section on "A MIME PRIMER" in
this document with more info.
FH *Alternative to "Data" or "Path".* Filehandle containing the data,
opened for reading. See "ReadNow" also.
Filename
*Optional.* The name of the attachment. You can use this to
supply a filename if the one in the Path is inadequate, or if
you're using the Data argument.
Length *Optional.* Set the content length explicitly. Normally, this header
is automatically computed, but only under certain circumstances
(see the section on "Limitations").
Path *Alternative to "Data" or "FH".* Path to a file containing the
data... actually, it can be any open()able expression. If it
looks like a path, the last element will automatically be
treated as the filename. See "ReadNow" also.
ReadNow *Optional, for use with "Path".* If true, will open the path and
slurp the contents into core now. This is useful if the Path
points to a command and you don't want to run the command over
and over if outputting the message several times. Fatal
exception raised if the open fails.
Top *Optional.* If defined, indicates whether or not this is a "top-
level" MIME message. The parts of a multipart message are *not*
top-level. Default is true.
Type *Optional.* The MIME content type, or one of these special values
(case-sensitive):
"TEXT" means "text/plain"
"BINARY" means "application/octet-stream"
The default is `"TEXT"'.
A picture being worth 1000 words (which is of course 2000 bytes, so
it's probably more of an "icon" than a "picture", but I digress...),
here are some examples:
$msg = build MIME::Lite
From => '
[email protected]',
To => '
[email protected]',
Subject => "Hi there!",
Type => 'TEXT',
Encoding => '7bit',
Data => "Just a quick note to say hi!";
$msg = build MIME::Lite
From => '
[email protected]',
To => '
[email protected]',
Subject => "A gif for U"
Type => 'image/gif',
Path => "/home/httpd/logo.gif";
$msg = build MIME::Lite
From => '
[email protected]',
To => '
[email protected]',
Subject => "A gzipp'ed tar file",
Type => 'x-gzip',
Path => "gzip < /usr/inc/somefile.tar |",
ReadNow => 1,
Filename => "somefile.tgz";
To show you what's really going on, that last example could also
have been written:
$msg = new MIME::Lite;
$msg->build(Type => 'x-gzip',
Path => "gzip < /usr/inc/somefile.tar |",
ReadNow => 1,
Filename => "somefile.tgz");
$msg->add(From => "
[email protected]");
$msg->add(To => "
[email protected]");
$msg->add(Subject => "A gzipp'ed tar file");
Setting/getting headers and attributes
add TAG,VALUE
Add field TAG with the given VALUE to the end of the header. The TAG
will be converted to all-lowercase, and the VALUE will be made
"safe" (returns will be given a trailing space).
Beware: any MIME fields you "add" will override any MIME attributes
I have when it comes time to output those fields. Normally, you will
use this method to add *non-MIME* fields:
$msg->add("Subject" => "Hi there!");
Giving VALUE an arrayref will cause all those values to be added:
$msg->add("Received" => ["here", "there", "everywhere"]
*Note:* add() is probably going to be more efficient than
`replace()', so you're better off using it for most applications.
*Note:* the name comes from Mail::Header.
attr ATTR,[VALUE]
Set MIME attribute ATTR to the string VALUE. ATTR is converted to
all-lowercase. This method is normally used to set/get MIME
attributes:
$msg->attr("content-type" => "text/html");
$msg->attr("content-type.charset" => "US-ASCII");
$msg->attr("content-type.name" => "homepage.html");
This would cause the final output to look something like this:
Content-type: text/html; charset=US-ASCII; name="homepage.html"
Note that the special empty sub-field tag indicates the anonymous
first sub-field.
Giving VALUE as undefined will cause the contents of the named
subfield to be deleted.
Supplying no VALUE argument just returns the attribute's value:
$type = $msg->attr("content-type"); # returns "text/html"
$name = $msg->attr("content-type.name"); # returns "homepage.html"
delete TAG
Delete field TAG with the given VALUE to the end of the header. The
TAG will be converted to all-lowercase.
$msg->delete("Subject");
*Note:* the name comes from Mail::Header.
fields
Return the full header for the object, as a ref to an array of
`[TAG, VALUE]' pairs.
Any fields that the user has explicitly set will override the
corresponding MIME fields that we would generate. So: *don't* say:
$msg->set("Content-type" => "text/html; charset=US-ASCII");
unless you *mean it*!
*Note:* I called this "fields" because the header() method of
Mail::Header returns something different, but similar enough to be
confusing.
filename [FILENAME]
Set the filename which this data will be reported as. This actually
sets both "standard" attributes.
With no argument, returns the filename as dictated by the content-
disposition.
get TAG,[INDEX]
Get the contents of field TAG, which might have been set with set()
or replace(). Returns the text of the field.
$ml->get('Subject', 0);
If the optional 0-based INDEX is given, then we return the INDEX'th
occurence of field TAG. Otherwise, we look at the context: In a
scalar context, only the first (0th) occurence of the field is
returned; in an array context, *all* occurences are returned.
*Warning:* this should only be used with non-MIME fields. Behavior
with MIME fields is TBD, and will raise an exception for now.
get_length
Recompute the content length for the message *if the process is
trivial*, setting the "content-length" attribute as a side-effect:
$msg->get_length;
Returns the length, or undefined if not set.
*Note:* the content length can be difficult to compute, since it
involves assembling the entire encoded body and taking the length of
it (which, in the case of multipart messages, means freezing all the
sub-parts, etc.).
This method only sets the content length to a defined value if the
message is a singlepart with `"binary"' encoding, *and* the body is
available either in-core or as a simple file. Otherwise, the content
length is set to the undefined value.
Since content-length is not a standard MIME field anyway (that's
right, kids: it's not in the MIME RFCs, it's an HTTP thing), this
seems pretty fair.
replace TAG,VALUE
Delete all occurences of fields named TAG, and add a new field with
the given VALUE. TAG is converted to all-lowercase.
Beware: any MIME fields you "replace" will override any MIME
attributes I have when it comes time to output those fields.
Normally, you will use this method to set *non-MIME* fields:
$msg->replace("Subject" => "Hi there!");
Giving VALUE as undefined will simply cause the contents of the
named field to be deleted. Giving VALUE as an arrayref will cause
all the values in the array to be added.
*Note:* the name comes from Mail::Header.
Setting/getting message data
binmode [OVERRIDE]
With no argument, returns whether or not it thinks that the data (as
given by the "Path" argument of `build()') should be read using
binmode() (for example, when `read_now()' is invoked).
The default behavior is that any content type other than `text/*' or
`message/*' is binmode'd; this should in general work fine.
With a defined argument, this method sets an explicit "override"
value. An undefined argument unsets the override. The new current
value is returned.
data [DATA]
Get/set the literal DATA of the message. The DATA may be either a
scalar, or a reference to an array of scalars (which will simply be
joined).
*Warning:* setting the data causes the "content-length" attribute to
be recomputed (possibly to nothing).
path [PATH]
Get/set the PATH to the message data.
*Warning:* setting the path recomputes any existing "content-length"
field, and re-sets the "filename" (to the last element of the path
if it looks like a simple path, and to nothing if not).
fh [FILEHANDLE]
Get/set the FILEHANDLE which contains the message data.
Takes a filehandle as an input and stores it in the object. This
routine is similar to path(); one important difference is that no
attempt is made to set the content length.
resetfh [FILEHANDLE]
Set the current position of the filehandle back to the beginning.
Only applies if you used "FH" in build() or attach() for this
message.
Returns false if unable to reset the filehandle (since not all
filehandles are seekable).
read_now
Forces data from the path/filehandle (as specified by `build()') to
be read into core immediately, just as though you had given it
literally with the `Data' keyword.
Note that the in-core data will always be used if available.
Be aware that everything is slurped into a giant scalar: you may not
want to use this if sending tar files! The benefit of *not* reading
in the data is that very large files can be handled by this module
if left on disk until the message is output via `print()' or
`print_body()'.
sign PARAMHASH
Sign the message. This forces the message to be read into core,
after which the signature is appended to it.
Data As in `build()': the literal signature data. Can be either a scalar
or a ref to an array of scalars.
Path As in `build()': the path to the file.
If no arguments are given, the default is:
Path => "$ENV{HOME}/.signature"
The content-length is recomputed.
Output
print [OUTHANDLE]
*Instance method.* Print the message to the given output handle, or
to the currently-selected filehandle if none was given.
All OUTHANDLE has to be is a filehandle (possibly a glob ref), or
any object that responds to a print() message.
print_body [OUTHANDLE]
*Instance method.* Print the body of the message to the given output
handle, or to the currently-selected filehandle if none was given.
All OUTHANDLE has to be is a filehandle (possibly a glob ref), or
any object that responds to a print() message.
Fatal exception raised if unable to open any of the input files, or
if a part contains no data, or if an unsupported encoding is
encountered.
print_header [OUTHANDLE]
*Instance method.* Print the header of the message to the given
output handle, or to the currently-selected filehandle if none was
given.
All OUTHANDLE has to be is a filehandle (possibly a glob ref), or
any object that responds to a print() message.
as_string
*Instance method.* Return the entire message as a string, with a
header and an encoded body.
body_as_string
*Instance method.* Return the encoded body as a string.
*Note:* actually prepares the body by "printing" to a scalar. Proof
that you can hand the `print*()' methods any blessed object that
responds to a `print()' message.
header_as_string
*Instance method.* Return the header as a string.
Sending
send
send HOW, HOWARGS...
*Class/instance method.* This is the principle method for sending
mail, and for configuring how mail will be sent.
*As an instance method* (with no arguments), sends the message by
whatever means has been set up (the default is to use the Unix
"sendmail" program). Returns whatever the mail-handling routine
returns: this should be true on success, false/exception on error:
$msg = MIME::Lite->new(From=>...);
$msg->send || die "you DON'T have mail!";
*As a class method* (with a HOW argument and optional HOWARGS), sets
up how the instance method will work for all objects until further
notice. It treats HOW as a facility name, with optional HOWARGS
handled by the facility. There are three facilities:
"sendmail", SENDMAILCMD
Send a message by piping it into the "sendmail" command. Uses
the `send_by_sendmail()' method, giving it the SENDMAILCMD. This
usage implements (and deprecates) the `sendmail()' method. =item
"smtp", [HOSTNAME]
Send a message by SMTP, using optional HOSTNAME as SMTP-sending
host. Uses the `send_by_smtp()' method.
"sub", \&SUBREF, ARGS...
Sends a message MSG by invoking the subroutine SUBREF of your
choosing, with MSG as the first argument, and ARGS following.
*For example:* let's say you're on an OS which lacks the usual Unix
"sendmail" facility, but you've installed something a lot like it,
and you need to configure your Perl script to use this
"sendmail.exe" program. Do this following in your script's setup:
MIME::Lite->send('sendmail', "d:\\programs\\sendmail.exe");
Then, whenever you need to send a message $msg, just say:
$msg->send;
That's it. Now, if you ever move your script to a Unix box, all you
need to do is change that line in the setup and you're done. All of
your $msg->send invocations will work as expected.
send_by_sendmail SENDMAILCMD
*Instance method.* Send message via the external "sendmail" program,
SENDMAILCMD. Returns true on success, false or exception on error.
*Note:* this facility will probably only work on Unix systems. The
SENDMAILCMD for this facility must get all its message-specific
information from the standard input.
send_by_smtp [ARGS...]
*Instance method.* Send message via SMTP, using Net::SMTP. The ARGS
are sent into Net::SMTP::new(): usually, these are
MAILHOST, OPTION=>VALUE, ...
Returns true on success, false or exception on error.
sendmail COMMAND...
*Class method, DEPRECATED.* Declare the sender to be "sendmail", and
set up the "sendmail" command. *You should use send() instead.*
Miscellaneous
quiet ONOFF
*Class method.* Suppress/unsuppress all warnings coming from this
module.
quiet MIME::Lite 1; # I know what I'm doing
I recommend that you include that comment as well. And while you
type it, say it out loud: if it doesn't feel right, then maybe you
should reconsider the whole line. `;-)'
NOTES
Limitations
This is "lite", after all...
* There's no parsing. Get MIME-tools if you need to parse MIME messages.
* MIME::Lite messages are currently *not* interchangeable with either
Mail::Internet or MIME::Entity objects. This is a completely
separate module.
* A content-length field is only inserted if the encoding is binary, the
message is a singlepart, and all the document data is available at
`build()' time by virtue of residing in a simple path, or in-core.
Since content-length is not a standard MIME field anyway (that's
right, kids: it's not in the MIME RFCs, it's an HTTP thing), this
seems pretty fair.
* MIME::Lite alone cannot help you lose weight. You must supplement your
use of MIME::Lite with a healthy diet and exercise.
Cheap and easy mailing
I thought putting in a default "sendmail" invocation wasn't too bad an
idea, since a lot of Perlers are on UNIX systems. The default arguments
to sendmail (which you can change) are:
-t Scan message for To:, Cc:, Bcc:, etc.
-oi Do NOT treat a single "." on a line as a message terminator.
As in, "-oi vey, it truncated my message... why?!"
-oem On error, mail back the message (I assume to the
appropriate address, given in the header).
When mail returns, circle is complete. Jai guru deva -oem.
If you're not on a Unix system, or if you'd just rather send mail some
other way, check out the `send()' method. There's built in support for
SMTP delivery, or you can slip in your own hooks.
Under the hood
This class treats a MIME header in the most abstract sense, as being a
collection of high-level attributes. The actual RFC-822-style header
fields are not constructed until it's time to actually print the darn
thing.
WARNINGS
Important: the MIME attributes are stored and manipulated separately
from the message header fields; when it comes time to print the header
out, *any explicitly-given header fields override the ones that would be
created from the MIME attributes.* That means that this:
### DANGER ### DANGER ### DANGER ### DANGER ### DANGER ###
$msg->add("Content-type", "text/html; charset=US-ASCII");
will set the exact `"Content-type"' field in the header I write,
*regardless of what the actual MIME attributes are.*
*This feature is for experienced users only,* as an escape hatch in case
the code that normally formats MIME header fields isn't doing what you
need. And, like any escape hatch, it's got an alarm on it: MIME::Lite
will warn you if you attempt to `set()' or `replace()' any MIME header
field. Use `attr()' instead.
A MIME PRIMER
Content types
The "Type" parameter of `build()' is a *content type*. This is the
actual type of data you are sending. Generally this is a string of the
form `"majortype/minortype"'.
Here are the major MIME types. A more-comprehensive listing may be found
in RFC-2046.
application
Data which does not fit in any of the other categories, particularly
data to be processed by some type of application program.
`application/octet-stream', `application/gzip',
`application/postscript'...
audio
Audio data. `audio/basic'...
image
Graphics data. `image/gif', `image/jpeg'...
message
A message, usually another mail or MIME message. `message/rfc822'...
multipart
A message containing other messages. `multipart/mixed',
`multipart/alternative'...
text
Textual data, meant for humans to read. `text/plain', `text/html'...
video
Video or video+audio data. `video/mpeg'...
Content transfer encodings
The "Encoding" parameter of `build()'. This is how the message body is
packaged up for safe transit.
Here are the 5 major MIME encodings. A more-comprehensive listing may be
found in RFC-2045.
7bit
Basically, no *real* encoding is done. However, this label
guarantees that no 8-bit characters are present, and that lines do
not exceed 1000 characters in length.
8bit
Basically, no *real* encoding is done. The message might contain 8-
bit characters, but this encoding guarantees that lines do not
exceed 1000 characters in length.
binary
No encoding is done at all. Message might contain 8-bit characters,
and lines might be longer than 1000 characters long.
The most liberal, and the least likely to get through mail gateways.
Use sparingly, or (better yet) not at all.
base64
Like "uuencode", but very well-defined. This is how you should send
essentially binary information (tar files, GIFs, JPEGs, etc.).
quoted-printable
Useful for encoding messages which are textual in nature, yet which
contain non-ASCII characters (e.g., Latin-1, Latin-2, or any other
8-bit alphabet).
CHANGE LOG
Current version: $Id: Lite.pm,v 1.134 1999/04/17 04:59:03 eryq Exp $
Version 1.133
Fixed bug in "Data" handling: arrayrefs were not being handled
properly.
Version 1.130
Added much larger and more-flexible send() facility. *Thanks to
Andrew McRae (and Optimation New Zealand Ltd) for the Net::SMTP
interface. Additional thanks to the many folks who requested this
feature.*
Added get() method for extracting basic attributes.
New... "t" tests!
Version 1.124
Folded in filehandle (FH) support in build/attach. *Thanks to Miko
O'Sullivan for the code.*
Version 1.122
MIME::Base64 and MIME::QuotedPrint are used if available.
The 7bit encoding no longer does "escapes"; it merely strips 8-bit
characters.
Version 1.121
Filename attribute is now no longer ignored by build(). *Thanks to
Ian Smith for finding and patching this bug.*
Version 1.120
Efficiency hack to speed up MIME::Lite::IO_Scalar. *Thanks to David
Aspinwall for the patch.*
Version 1.116
Small bug in our private copy of encode_base64() was patched.
*Thanks to Andreas Koenig for pointing this out.*
New, prettier way of specifying mail message headers in `build()'.
New quiet method to turn off warnings.
Changed "stringify" methods to more-standard "as_string" methods.
Version 1.112
Added `read_now()', and `binmode()' method for our non-Unix-using
brethren: file data is now read using binmode() if appropriate.
*Thanks to Xiangzhou Wang for pointing out this bug.*
Version 1.110
Fixed bug in opening the data filehandle.
Version 1.102
Initial release.
Version 1.101
Baseline code.
TERMS AND CONDITIONS
Copyright (c) 1997 by Eryq. Copyright (c) 1998 by ZeeGee Software Inc.
All rights reserved. This program is free software; you can redistribute
it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.
This software comes with NO WARRANTY of any kind. See the COPYING file
in the distribution for details.
NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION
For some reason, the US FDA says that this is now required by law on any
products that bear the name "Lite"...
Serving size: 1 module
Servings per container: 1
Calories: 0
Fat: 0g
Saturated Fat: 0g
Warning: for consumption by hardware only! May produce
indigestion in humans if taken internally.
AUTHOR
Eryq (
[email protected]). President, ZeeGee Software Inc.
(
http://www.zeegee.com).
Created: 11 December 1996. Ho ho ho.
