Updates do email package documentation for markup, style, and

organization.
This commit is contained in:
Barry Warsaw 2001-09-26 22:21:52 +00:00
parent c86f6ca2b6
commit c5f8fe3a27
8 changed files with 156 additions and 220 deletions

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@ -14,8 +14,9 @@
The \module{email} package is a library for managing email messages,
including MIME and other \rfc{2822}-based message documents. It
subsumes most of the functionality in several older standard modules
such as \module{rfc822}, \module{mimetools}, \module{multifile}, and
other non-standard packages such as \module{mimecntl}.
such as \refmodule{rfc822}, \refmodule{mimetools},
\refmodule{multifile}, and other non-standard packages such as
\module{mimecntl}.
The primary distinguishing feature of the \module{email} package is
that it splits the parsing and generating of email messages from the
@ -38,8 +39,8 @@ manipulated, and finally the model is rendered back into
flat text.
It is perfectly feasible to create the object model out of whole cloth
-- i.e. completely from scratch. From there, a similar progression can
be taken as above.
--- i.e. completely from scratch. From there, a similar progression
can be taken as above.
Also included are detailed specifications of all the classes and
modules that the \module{email} package provides, the exception
@ -49,76 +50,13 @@ some auxiliary utilities, and a few examples. For users of the older
descendent, a section on differences and porting is provided.
\subsection{Representing an email message}
The primary object in the \module{email} package is the
\class{Message} class, provided in the \refmodule{email.Message}
module. \class{Message} is the base class for the \module{email}
object model. It provides the core functionality for setting and
querying header fields, and for accessing message bodies.
Conceptually, a \class{Message} object consists of \emph{headers} and
\emph{payloads}. Headers are \rfc{2822} style field name and
values where the field name and value are separated by a colon. The
colon is not part of either the field name or the field value.
Headers are stored and returned in case-preserving form but are
matched case-insensitively. There may also be a single
\emph{Unix-From} header, also known as the envelope header or the
\mailheader{From_} header. The payload is either a string in the case of
simple message objects, a list of \class{Message} objects for
multipart MIME documents, or a single \class{Message} instance for
\mimetype{message/rfc822} type objects.
\class{Message} objects provide a mapping style interface for
accessing the message headers, and an explicit interface for accessing
both the headers and the payload. It provides convenience methods for
generating a flat text representation of the message object tree, for
accessing commonly used header parameters, and for recursively walking
over the object tree.
\input{emailmessage}
\subsection{Parsing email messages}
Message object trees can be created in one of two ways: they can be
created from whole cloth by instantiating \class{Message} objects and
stringing them together via \method{add_payload()} and
\method{set_payload()} calls, or they can be created by parsing a flat text
representation of the email message.
The \module{email} package provides a standard parser that understands
most email document structures, including MIME documents. You can
pass the parser a string or a file object, and the parser will return
to you the root \class{Message} instance of the object tree. For
simple, non-MIME messages the payload of this root object will likely
be a string (e.g. containing the text of the message). For MIME
messages, the root object will return 1 from its
\method{is_multipart()} method, and the subparts can be accessed via
the \method{get_payload()} and \method{walk()} methods.
Note that the parser can be extended in limited ways, and of course
you can implement your own parser completely from scratch. There is
no magical connection between the \module{email} package's bundled
parser and the
\class{Message} class, so your custom parser can create message object
trees in any way it find necessary. The \module{email} package's
parser is described in detail in the \refmodule{email.Parser} module
documentation.
\input{emailparser}
\subsection{Generating MIME documents}
One of the most common tasks is to generate the flat text of the email
message represented by a message object tree. You will need to do
this if you want to send your message via the \refmodule{smtplib}
module or the \refmodule{nntplib} module, or print the message on the
console. Taking a message object tree and producing a flat text
document is the job of the \refmodule{email.Generator} module.
Again, as with the \refmodule{email.Parser} module, you aren't limited
to the functionality of the bundled generator; you could write one
from scratch yourself. However the bundled generator knows how to
generate most email in a standards-compliant way, should handle MIME
and non-MIME email messages just fine, and is designed so that the
transformation from flat text, to an object tree via the
\class{Parser} class,
and back to flat text, be idempotent (the input is identical to the
output).
\input{emailgenerator}
\subsection{Creating email and MIME objects from scratch}
@ -156,9 +94,10 @@ of \class{MIMEBase}, although you could. \class{MIMEBase} is provided
primarily as a convenient base class for more specific MIME-aware
subclasses.
\var{_maintype} is the \code{Content-Type:} major type (e.g. \code{text} or
\code{image}), and \var{_subtype} is the \code{Content-Type:} minor type
(e.g. \code{plain} or \code{gif}). \var{_params} is a parameter
\var{_maintype} is the \mailheader{Content-Type} major type
(e.g. \mimetype{text} or \mimetype{image}), and \var{_subtype} is the
\mailheader{Content-Type} minor type
(e.g. \mimetype{plain} or \mimetype{gif}). \var{_params} is a parameter
key/value dictionary and is passed directly to
\method{Message.add_header()}.
@ -195,10 +134,11 @@ constructor.
\begin{classdesc}{MIMEText}{_text\optional{, _subtype\optional{,
_charset\optional{, _encoder}}}}
A subclass of \class{MIMEBase}, the \class{MIMEText} class is used to
create MIME objects of major type \mimetype{text}. \var{_text} is the string
for the payload. \var{_subtype} is the minor type and defaults to
\mimetype{plain}. \var{_charset} is the character set of the text and is
create MIME objects of major type \mimetype{text}. \var{_text} is the
string for the payload. \var{_subtype} is the minor type and defaults
to \mimetype{plain}. \var{_charset} is the character set of the text and is
passed as a parameter to the \class{MIMEBase} constructor; it defaults
to \code{us-ascii}. No guessing or encoding is performed on the text
data, but a newline is appended to \var{_text} if it doesn't already
@ -221,27 +161,24 @@ Optional \var{_subtype} sets the subtype of the message; it defaults
to \mimetype{rfc822}.
\end{classdesc}
\subsection{Encoders, Exceptions, Utilities, and Iterators}
\subsection{Encoders}
\input{emailencoders}
The \module{email} package provides various encoders for safe
transport of binary payloads in \class{MIMEImage} and \class{MIMEText}
instances. See the \refmodule{email.Encoders} module for more
details.
\subsection{Exception classes}
\input{emailexc}
All of the class exceptions that the \module{email} package can raise
are available in the \refmodule{email.Errors} module.
\subsection{Miscellaneous utilities}
\input{emailutil}
Some miscellaneous utility functions are available in the
\refmodule{email.Utils} module.
Iterating over a message object tree is easy with the
\method{Message.walk()} method; some additional helper iterators are
available in the \refmodule{email.Iterators} module.
\subsection{Iterators}
\input{emailiter}
\subsection{Differences from \module{mimelib}}
The \module{email} package was originally prototyped as a separate
library called \module{mimelib}. Changes have been made so that
library called
\ulink{\module{mimelib}}{http://mimelib.sf.net/}.
Changes have been made so that
method names are more consistent, and some methods or modules have
either been added or removed. The semantics of some of the methods
have also changed. For the most part, any functionality available in
@ -282,7 +219,7 @@ The \class{Message} class has the following differences:
\method{get_params()}.
Also, whereas \method{getparams()} returned a list of strings,
\method{get_params()} returns a list of 2-tuples, effectively
the key/value pairs of the parameters, split on the \samp{=}
the key/value pairs of the parameters, split on the \character{=}
sign.
\item The method \method{getparam()} was renamed to \method{get_param()}.
\item The method \method{getcharsets()} was renamed to
@ -355,4 +292,3 @@ function in the \refmodule{email.Iterators} module.
\subsection{Examples}
Coming soon...

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@ -1,16 +1,10 @@
\section{\module{email.Encoders} ---
Email message payload encoders}
\declaremodule{standard}{email.Encoders}
\modulesynopsis{Encoders for email message payloads.}
\sectionauthor{Barry A. Warsaw}{barry@zope.com}
\versionadded{2.2}
When creating \class{Message} objects from scratch, you often need to
encode the payloads for transport through compliant mail servers.
This is especially true for \code{image/*} and \code{text/*} type
messages containing binary data.
This is especially true for \mimetype{image/*} and \mimetype{text/*}
type messages containing binary data.
The \module{email} package provides some convenient encodings in its
\module{Encoders} module. These encoders are actually used by the
@ -18,7 +12,7 @@ The \module{email} package provides some convenient encodings in its
encodings. All encoder functions take exactly one argument, the
message object to encode. They usually extract the payload, encode
it, and reset the payload to this newly encoded value. They should also
set the \code{Content-Transfer-Encoding:} header as appropriate.
set the \mailheader{Content-Transfer-Encoding} header as appropriate.
Here are the encoding functions provided:
@ -34,7 +28,7 @@ printable data, but contains a few unprintable characters.
\begin{funcdesc}{encode_base64}{msg}
Encodes the payload into \emph{Base64} form and sets the
\code{Content-Transfer-Encoding:} header to
\mailheader{Content-Transfer-Encoding} header to
\code{base64}. This is a good encoding to use when most of your payload
is unprintable data since it is a more compact form than
Quoted-Printable. The drawback of Base64 encoding is that it
@ -43,11 +37,11 @@ renders the text non-human readable.
\begin{funcdesc}{encode_7or8bit}{msg}
This doesn't actually modify the message's payload, but it does set
the \code{Content-Transfer-Encoding:} header to either \code{7bit} or
the \mailheader{Content-Transfer-Encoding} header to either \code{7bit} or
\code{8bit} as appropriate, based on the payload data.
\end{funcdesc}
\begin{funcdesc}{encode_noop}{msg}
This does nothing; it doesn't even set the
\code{Content-Transfer-Encoding:} header.
\mailheader{Content-Transfer-Encoding} header.
\end{funcdesc}

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@ -1,11 +1,5 @@
\section{\module{email.Errors} ---
email package exception classes}
\declaremodule{standard}{email.Exceptions}
\declaremodule{standard}{email.Errors}
\modulesynopsis{The exception classes used by the email package.}
\sectionauthor{Barry A. Warsaw}{barry@zope.com}
\versionadded{2.2}
The following exception classes are defined in the
\module{email.Errors} module:
@ -41,13 +35,14 @@ It can be raised from the \method{Parser.parse()} or
\method{Parser.parsestr()} methods.
Situations where it can be raised include not being able to find the
starting or terminating boundary in a \code{multipart/*} message.
starting or terminating boundary in a \mimetype{multipart/*} message.
\end{excclassdesc}
\begin{excclassdesc}{MultipartConversionError}{}
Raised when a payload is added to a \class{Message} object using
\method{add_payload()}, but the payload is already a scalar and the
message's \code{Content-Type:} main type is not either \code{multipart}
or missing. \exception{MultipartConversionError} multiply inherits
from \exception{MessageError} and the built-in \exception{TypeError}.
message's \mailheader{Content-Type} main type is not either
\mimetype{multipart} or missing. \exception{MultipartConversionError}
multiply inherits from \exception{MessageError} and the built-in
\exception{TypeError}.
\end{excclassdesc}

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@ -1,17 +1,24 @@
\section{\module{email.Generator} ---
Generating flat text from an email message object tree}
\declaremodule{standard}{email.Generator}
\modulesynopsis{Generate flat text email messages to from a message
object tree.}
\sectionauthor{Barry A. Warsaw}{barry@zope.com}
\modulesynopsis{Generate flat text email messages from a message object tree.}
\versionadded{2.2}
One of the most common tasks is to generate the flat text of the email
message represented by a message object tree. You will need to do
this if you want to send your message via the \refmodule{smtplib}
module or the \refmodule{nntplib} module, or print the message on the
console. Taking a message object tree and producing a flat text
document is the job of the \class{Generator} class.
The \class{Generator} class is used to render a message object model
into its flat text representation, including MIME encoding any
sub-messages, generating the correct \rfc{2822} headers, etc. Here
are the public methods of the \class{Generator} class.
Again, as with the \refmodule{email.Parser} module, you aren't limited
to the functionality of the bundled generator; you could write one
from scratch yourself. However the bundled generator knows how to
generate most email in a standards-compliant way, should handle MIME
and non-MIME email messages just fine, and is designed so that the
transformation from flat text, to an object tree via the
\class{Parser} class,
and back to flat text, be idempotent (the input is identical to the
output).
Here are the public methods of the \class{Generator} class:
\begin{classdesc}{Generator}{outfp\optional{, mangle_from_\optional{,
maxheaderlen}}}
@ -25,8 +32,9 @@ character in front of any line in the body that starts exactly as
\samp{From } (i.e. \code{From} followed by a space at the front of the
line). This is the only guaranteed portable way to avoid having such
lines be mistaken for \emph{Unix-From} headers (see
\url{http://home.netscape.com/eng/mozilla/2.0/relnotes/demo/content-length.html}
for details).
\ulink{WHY THE CONTENT-LENGTH FORMAT IS BAD}
{http://home.netscape.com/eng/mozilla/2.0/relnotes/demo/content-length.html}
for details).
Optional \var{maxheaderlen} specifies the longest length for a
non-continued header. When a header line is longer than

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@ -1,11 +1,5 @@
\section{\module{email.Iterators} ---
Message object tree iterators}
\declaremodule{standard}{email.Iterators}
\modulesynopsis{Iterate over a message object tree.}
\sectionauthor{Barry A. Warsaw}{barry@zope.com}
\versionadded{2.2}
Iterating over a message object tree is fairly easy with the
\method{Message.walk()} method. The \module{email.Iterators} module
@ -29,9 +23,9 @@ subparts that match the MIME type specified by \var{maintype} and
Note that \var{subtype} is optional; if omitted, then subpart MIME
type matching is done only with the main type. \var{maintype} is
optional too; it defaults to \code{text}.
optional too; it defaults to \mimetype{text}.
Thus, by default \function{typed_subpart_iterator()} returns each
subpart that has a MIME type of \code{text/*}.
subpart that has a MIME type of \mimetype{text/*}.
\end{funcdesc}

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@ -1,30 +1,37 @@
\section{\module{email.Message} ---
The Message class}
\declaremodule{standard}{email.Message}
\modulesynopsis{The base class representing email messages.}
\sectionauthor{Barry A. Warsaw}{barry@zope.com}
\versionadded{2.2}
The central class in the \module{email} package is the
\class{Message} class; it is the base class for the \module{email}
object model. \class{Message} provides the core functionality for
setting and querying header fields, and for accessing message bodies.
The \module{Message} module provides a single class, the
\class{Message} class. This class is the base class for the
\module{email} package object model. It has a fairly extensive set of
methods to get and set email headers and email payloads. For an
introduction of the \module{email} package, please read the
\refmodule{email} package overview.
Conceptually, a \class{Message} object consists of \emph{headers} and
\emph{payloads}. Headers are \rfc{2822} style field names and
values where the field name and value are separated by a colon. The
colon is not part of either the field name or the field value.
\class{Message} instances can be created either directly, or
indirectly by using a \refmodule{email.Parser}. \class{Message}
objects provide a mapping style interface for accessing the message
headers, and an explicit interface for accessing both the headers and
the payload. It provides convenience methods for generating a flat
text representation of the message object tree, for accessing commonly
used header parameters, and for recursively walking over the object
tree.
Headers are stored and returned in case-preserving form but are
matched case-insensitively. There may also be a single
\emph{Unix-From} header, also known as the envelope header or the
\code{From_} header. The payload is either a string in the case of
simple message objects, a list of \class{Message} objects for
multipart MIME documents, or a single \class{Message} instance for
\mimetype{message/rfc822} type objects.
\class{Message} objects provide a mapping style interface for
accessing the message headers, and an explicit interface for accessing
both the headers and the payload. It provides convenience methods for
generating a flat text representation of the message object tree, for
accessing commonly used header parameters, and for recursively walking
over the object tree.
Here are the methods of the \class{Message} class:
\begin{classdesc}{Message}{}
The constructor takes no arguments.
\end{classdesc}
\begin{methoddesc}[Message]{as_string}{\optional{unixfrom}}
Return the entire formatted message as a string. Optional
\var{unixfrom}, when true, specifies to include the \emph{Unix-From}
@ -66,8 +73,9 @@ For any other type of existing payload, \method{add_payload()} will
transform the new payload into a list consisting of the old payload
and \var{payload}, but only if the document is already a MIME
multipart document. This condition is satisfied if the message's
\code{Content-Type:} header's main type is either \var{multipart}, or
there is no \code{Content-Type:} header. In any other situation,
\mailheader{Content-Type} header's main type is either
\mimetype{multipart}, or there is no \mailheader{Content-Type}
header. In any other situation,
\exception{MultipartConversionError} is raised.
\end{methoddesc}
@ -83,18 +91,18 @@ string or a single \class{Message} instance) when
With optional \var{i}, \method{get_payload()} will return the
\var{i}-th element of the payload, counting from zero, if
\method{is_multipart()} returns 1. An \code{IndexError} will be raised
\method{is_multipart()} returns 1. An \exception{IndexError} will be raised
if \var{i} is less than 0 or greater than or equal to the number of
items in the payload. If the payload is scalar
(i.e. \method{is_multipart()} returns 0) and \var{i} is given, a
\code{TypeError} is raised.
\exception{TypeError} is raised.
Optional \var{decode} is a flag indicating whether the payload should be
decoded or not, according to the \code{Content-Transfer-Encoding:} header.
decoded or not, according to the \mailheader{Content-Transfer-Encoding} header.
When true and the message is not a multipart, the payload will be
decoded if this header's value is \samp{quoted-printable} or
\samp{base64}. If some other encoding is used, or
\code{Content-Transfer-Encoding:} header is
\mailheader{Content-Transfer-Encoding} header is
missing, the payload is returned as-is (undecoded). If the message is
a multipart and the \var{decode} flag is true, then \code{None} is
returned.
@ -137,7 +145,7 @@ if 'message-id' in myMessage:
\begin{methoddesc}[Message]{__getitem__}{name}
Return the value of the named header field. \var{name} should not
include the colon field separator. If the header is missing,
\code{None} is returned; a \code{KeyError} is never raised.
\code{None} is returned; a \exception{KeyError} is never raised.
Note that if the named field appears more than once in the message's
headers, exactly which of those field values will be returned is
@ -243,10 +251,11 @@ Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="bud.gif"
\begin{methoddesc}[Message]{get_type}{\optional{failobj}}
Return the message's content type, as a string of the form
``maintype/subtype'' as taken from the \code{Content-Type:} header.
\mimetype{maintype/subtype} as taken from the
\mailheader{Content-Type} header.
The returned string is coerced to lowercase.
If there is no \code{Content-Type:} header in the message,
If there is no \mailheader{Content-Type} header in the message,
\var{failobj} is returned (defaults to \code{None}).
\end{methoddesc}
@ -263,46 +272,46 @@ same semantics for \var{failobj}.
\end{methoddesc}
\begin{methoddesc}[Message]{get_params}{\optional{failobj\optional{, header}}}
Return the message's \code{Content-Type:} parameters, as a list. The
Return the message's \mailheader{Content-Type} parameters, as a list. The
elements of the returned list are 2-tuples of key/value pairs, as
split on the \samp{=} sign. The left hand side of the \samp{=} is the
key, while the right hand side is the value. If there is no \samp{=}
sign in the parameter the value is the empty string. The value is
always unquoted with \method{Utils.unquote()}.
split on the \character{=} sign. The left hand side of the
\character{=} is the key, while the right hand side is the value. If
there is no \character{=} sign in the parameter the value is the empty
string. The value is always unquoted with \method{Utils.unquote()}.
Optional \var{failobj} is the object to return if there is no
\code{Content-Type:} header. Optional \var{header} is the header to
search instead of \code{Content-Type:}.
\mailheader{Content-Type} header. Optional \var{header} is the header to
search instead of \mailheader{Content-Type}.
\end{methoddesc}
\begin{methoddesc}[Message]{get_param}{param\optional{,
failobj\optional{, header}}}
Return the value of the \code{Content-Type:} header's parameter
\var{param} as a string. If the message has no \code{Content-Type:}
Return the value of the \mailheader{Content-Type} header's parameter
\var{param} as a string. If the message has no \mailheader{Content-Type}
header or if there is no such parameter, then \var{failobj} is
returned (defaults to \code{None}).
Optional \var{header} if given, specifies the message header to use
instead of \code{Content-Type:}.
instead of \mailheader{Content-Type}.
\end{methoddesc}
\begin{methoddesc}[Message]{get_charsets}{\optional{failobj}}
Return a list containing the character set names in the message. If
the message is a \code{multipart}, then the list will contain one
the message is a \mimetype{multipart}, then the list will contain one
element for each subpart in the payload, otherwise, it will be a list
of length 1.
Each item in the list will be a string which is the value of the
\code{charset} parameter in the \code{Content-Type:} header for the
\code{charset} parameter in the \mailheader{Content-Type} header for the
represented subpart. However, if the subpart has no
\code{Content-Type:} header, no \code{charset} parameter, or is not of
the \code{text} main MIME type, then that item in the returned list
\mailheader{Content-Type} header, no \code{charset} parameter, or is not of
the \mimetype{text} main MIME type, then that item in the returned list
will be \var{failobj}.
\end{methoddesc}
\begin{methoddesc}[Message]{get_filename}{\optional{failobj}}
Return the value of the \code{filename} parameter of the
\code{Content-Disposition:} header of the message, or \var{failobj} if
\mailheader{Content-Disposition} header of the message, or \var{failobj} if
either the header is missing, or has no \code{filename} parameter.
The returned string will always be unquoted as per
\method{Utils.unquote()}.
@ -310,25 +319,25 @@ The returned string will always be unquoted as per
\begin{methoddesc}[Message]{get_boundary}{\optional{failobj}}
Return the value of the \code{boundary} parameter of the
\code{Content-Type:} header of the message, or \var{failobj} if either
\mailheader{Content-Type} header of the message, or \var{failobj} if either
the header is missing, or has no \code{boundary} parameter. The
returned string will always be unquoted as per
\method{Utils.unquote()}.
\end{methoddesc}
\begin{methoddesc}[Message]{set_boundary}{boundary}
Set the \code{boundary} parameter of the \code{Content-Type:} header
Set the \code{boundary} parameter of the \mailheader{Content-Type} header
to \var{boundary}. \method{set_boundary()} will always quote
\var{boundary} so you should not quote it yourself. A
\code{HeaderParseError} is raised if the message object has no
\code{Content-Type:} header.
\exception{HeaderParseError} is raised if the message object has no
\mailheader{Content-Type} header.
Note that using this method is subtly different than deleting the old
\code{Content-Type:} header and adding a new one with the new boundary
\mailheader{Content-Type} header and adding a new one with the new boundary
via \method{add_header()}, because \method{set_boundary()} preserves the
order of the \code{Content-Type:} header in the list of headers.
order of the \mailheader{Content-Type} header in the list of headers.
However, it does \emph{not} preserve any continuation lines which may
have been present in the original \code{Content-Type:} header.
have been present in the original \mailheader{Content-Type} header.
\end{methoddesc}
\begin{methoddesc}[Message]{walk}{}

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@ -1,24 +1,30 @@
\section{\module{email.Parser} ---
Parsing flat text email messages}
\declaremodule{standard}{email.Parser}
\modulesynopsis{Parse flat text email messages to produce a message
object tree.}
\sectionauthor{Barry A. Warsaw}{barry@zope.com}
\versionadded{2.2}
Message object trees can be created in one of two ways: they can be
created from whole cloth by instantiating \class{Message} objects and
stringing them together via \method{add_payload()} and
\method{set_payload()} calls, or they can be created by parsing a flat text
representation of the email message.
The \module{Parser} module provides a single class, the \class{Parser}
class, which is used to take a message in flat text form and create
the associated object model. The resulting object tree can then be
manipulated using the \class{Message} class interface as described in
\refmodule{email.Message}, and turned over
to a generator (as described in \refmodule{emamil.Generator}) to
return the textual representation of the message. It is intended that
the \class{Parser} to \class{Generator} path be idempotent if the
object model isn't modified in between.
The \module{email} package provides a standard parser that understands
most email document structures, including MIME documents. You can
pass the parser a string or a file object, and the parser will return
to you the root \class{Message} instance of the object tree. For
simple, non-MIME messages the payload of this root object will likely
be a string (e.g. containing the text of the message). For MIME
messages, the root object will return 1 from its
\method{is_multipart()} method, and the subparts can be accessed via
the \method{get_payload()} and \method{walk()} methods.
\subsection{Parser class API}
Note that the parser can be extended in limited ways, and of course
you can implement your own parser completely from scratch. There is
no magical connection between the \module{email} package's bundled
parser and the \class{Message} class, so your custom parser can create
message object trees in any way it find necessary.
\subsubsection{Parser class API}
\begin{classdesc}{Parser}{\optional{_class}}
The constructor for the \class{Parser} class takes a single optional
@ -75,22 +81,22 @@ prompt:
>>> msg = email.message_from_string(myString)
\end{verbatim}
\subsection{Additional notes}
\subsubsection{Additional notes}
Here are some notes on the parsing semantics:
\begin{itemize}
\item Most non-\code{multipart} type messages are parsed as a single
\item Most non-\mimetype{multipart} type messages are parsed as a single
message object with a string payload. These objects will return
0 for \method{is_multipart()}.
\item One exception is for \code{message/delivery-status} type
messages. Because such the body of such messages consist of
\item One exception is for \mimetype{message/delivery-status} type
messages. Because the body of such messages consist of
blocks of headers, \class{Parser} will create a non-multipart
object containing non-multipart subobjects for each header
block.
\item Another exception is for \code{message/*} types (i.e. more
general than \code{message/delivery-status}. These are
typically \code{message/rfc822} type messages, represented as a
\item Another exception is for \mimetype{message/*} types (i.e. more
general than \mimetype{message/delivery-status}). These are
typically \mimetype{message/rfc822} type messages, represented as a
non-multipart object containing a singleton payload, another
non-multipart \class{Message} instance.
\end{itemize}

View File

@ -1,11 +1,5 @@
\section{\module{email.Utils} ---
Miscellaneous email package utilities}
\declaremodule{standard}{email.Utils}
\modulesynopsis{Miscellaneous email package utilities.}
\sectionauthor{Barry A. Warsaw}{barry@zope.com}
\versionadded{2.2}
There are several useful utilities provided with the \module{email}
package.
@ -24,8 +18,8 @@ are stripped off.
\begin{funcdesc}{parseaddr}{address}
Parse address -- which should be the value of some address-containing
field such as \code{To:} or \code{Cc:} -- into its constituent
``realname'' and ``email address'' parts. Returns a tuple of that
field such as \mailheader{To} or \mailheader{Cc} -- into its constituent
\emph{realname} and \emph{email address} parts. Returns a tuple of that
information, unless the parse fails, in which case a 2-tuple of
\code{(None, None)} is returned.
\end{funcdesc}
@ -33,7 +27,7 @@ information, unless the parse fails, in which case a 2-tuple of
\begin{funcdesc}{dump_address_pair}{pair}
The inverse of \method{parseaddr()}, this takes a 2-tuple of the form
\code{(realname, email_address)} and returns the string value suitable
for a \code{To:} or \code{Cc:} header. If the first element of
for a \mailheader{To} or \mailheader{Cc} header. If the first element of
\var{pair} is false, then the second element is returned unmodified.
\end{funcdesc}
@ -68,9 +62,9 @@ in the \var{charset} character set (Python can't reliably guess what
character set a string might be encoded in). The default
\var{charset} is \samp{iso-8859-1}.
\var{encoding} must be either the letter \samp{q} for
Quoted-Printable or \samp{b} for Base64 encoding. If
neither, a \code{ValueError} is raised. Both the \var{charset} and
\var{encoding} must be either the letter \character{q} for
Quoted-Printable or \character{b} for Base64 encoding. If
neither, a \exception{ValueError} is raised. Both the \var{charset} and
the \var{encoding} strings are case-insensitive, and coerced to lower
case in the returned string.
\end{funcdesc}