javax.mail

Interface Part

Known Subinterfaces:
MimePart
Known Implementing Classes:
BodyPart, IMAPBodyPart, IMAPMessage, MaildirMessage, MboxMessage, Message, MimeBodyPart, MimeMessage, NNTPMessage, POP3Message

public interface Part

A part consists of a set of attributes and a content. Some of the attributes provide metadata describing the content and its encoding, others may describe how to process the part. The Part interface is the common base interface for Messages and BodyParts.

The content of a part is available in various forms:

The writeTo method can be used to write the part to a byte stream in mail-safe form suitable for transmission.

In MIME terms, Part models an Entity (RFC 2045, Section 2.4).

Version:
1.4
Author:
Chris Burdess

Field Summary

static String
ATTACHMENT
This part should be presented as an attachment.
static String
INLINE
This part should be presented inline.

Method Summary

void
addHeader(String name, String value)
Adds the specified value to the existing values for this header name.
Enumeration
getAllHeaders()
Returns all the headers from this part.
Object
getContent()
Returns the content of this part as a Java object.
String
getContentType()
Returns the content-type of the content of this part, or null if the content-type could not be determined.
DataHandler
getDataHandler()
Returns a data handler for the content of this part.
String
getDescription()
Returns the description of this part.
String
getDisposition()
Returns the disposition of this part.
String
getFileName()
Returns the filename associated with this part, if available.
String[]
getHeader(String name)
Returns all the values for the specified header name, or null if no such headers are available.
InputStream
getInputStream()
Returns an input stream for reading the content of this part.
int
getLineCount()
Returns the number of lines in the content of this part, or -1 if the number cannot be determined.
Enumeration
getMatchingHeaders(String[] names)
Returns the matching headers from this part.
Enumeration
getNonMatchingHeaders(String[] names)
Returns the non-matching headers from this part.
int
getSize()
Returns the size of the content of this part in bytes, or -1 if the size cannot be determined.
boolean
isMimeType(String mimeType)
Is this part of the specified MIME type? This method compares only the primary type and subtype.
void
removeHeader(String name)
Removes all headers of the specified name.
void
setContent(Object obj, String type)
Sets the content of this part using the specified object.
void
setContent(Multipart mp)
Sets the multipart content of this part.
void
setDataHandler(DataHandler dh)
Sets the content of this part using the specified data handler.
void
setDescription(String description)
Sets the description of this part.
void
setDisposition(String disposition)
Sets the disposition of this part.
void
setFileName(String filename)
Sets the filename associated with this part.
void
setHeader(String name, String value)
Sets the value for the specified header name.
void
setText(String text)
Sets the textual content of this part, using a MIME type of text/plain.
void
writeTo(OutputStream os)
Writes this part to the specified byte stream.

Field Details

ATTACHMENT

public static final String ATTACHMENT
This part should be presented as an attachment.

INLINE

public static final String INLINE
This part should be presented inline.

Method Details

addHeader

public void addHeader(String name,
                      String value)
            throws MessagingException
Adds the specified value to the existing values for this header name.
Parameters:
name - the header name
value - the value to add

getAllHeaders

public Enumeration getAllHeaders()
            throws MessagingException
Returns all the headers from this part.
Returns:
an enumeration of Header

getContent

public Object getContent()
            throws IOException,
                   MessagingException
Returns the content of this part as a Java object. The type of the returned object is of course dependent on the content itself. For instance, the object returned for "text/plain" content is usually a String object. The object returned for a "multipart" content is always a Multipart subclass. For content-types that are unknown to the data handler system, an input stream is returned.

getContentType

public String getContentType()
            throws MessagingException
Returns the content-type of the content of this part, or null if the content-type could not be determined.

The MIME typing system is used to name content-types.


getDataHandler

public DataHandler getDataHandler()
            throws MessagingException
Returns a data handler for the content of this part.

getDescription

public String getDescription()
            throws MessagingException
Returns the description of this part.

getDisposition

public String getDisposition()
            throws MessagingException
Returns the disposition of this part. The disposition describes how the part should be presented to the user (see RFC 2183). Return values are not case sensitive.

getFileName

public String getFileName()
            throws MessagingException
Returns the filename associated with this part, if available.

getHeader

public String[] getHeader(String name)
            throws MessagingException
Returns all the values for the specified header name, or null if no such headers are available.
Parameters:
name - the header name

getInputStream

public InputStream getInputStream()
            throws IOException,
                   MessagingException
Returns an input stream for reading the content of this part. Any mail-specific transfer encodings will be decoded by the implementation.

getLineCount

public int getLineCount()
            throws MessagingException
Returns the number of lines in the content of this part, or -1 if the number cannot be determined. Note that this number may not be an exact measure.

getMatchingHeaders

public Enumeration getMatchingHeaders(String[] names)
            throws MessagingException
Returns the matching headers from this part.
Parameters:
names - the header names to match
Returns:
an enumeration of Header

getNonMatchingHeaders

public Enumeration getNonMatchingHeaders(String[] names)
            throws MessagingException
Returns the non-matching headers from this part.
Parameters:
names - the header names to ignore
Returns:
an enumeration of Header

getSize

public int getSize()
            throws MessagingException
Returns the size of the content of this part in bytes, or -1 if the size cannot be determined.

Note that the size may not be an exact measure of the content size, but will be suitable for display in a user interface to give the user an idea of the size of this part.


isMimeType

public boolean isMimeType(String mimeType)
            throws MessagingException
Is this part of the specified MIME type? This method compares only the primary type and subtype. The parameters of the content types are ignored.

If the subtype of mimeType is the special character '*', then the subtype is ignored during the comparison.


removeHeader

public void removeHeader(String name)
            throws MessagingException
Removes all headers of the specified name.
Parameters:
name - the header name

setContent

public void setContent(Object obj,
                       String type)
            throws MessagingException
Sets the content of this part using the specified object. The type of the supplied argument must be known to the data handler system.
Parameters:
obj - a Java object
type - the MIME content-type of this object

setContent

public void setContent(Multipart mp)
            throws MessagingException
Sets the multipart content of this part.
Parameters:
mp - the multipart content

setDataHandler

public void setDataHandler(DataHandler dh)
            throws MessagingException
Sets the content of this part using the specified data handler.
Parameters:
dh - the data handler for the content

setDescription

public void setDescription(String description)
            throws MessagingException
Sets the description of this part.
Parameters:
description - the description of this part

setDisposition

public void setDisposition(String disposition)
            throws MessagingException
Sets the disposition of this part.
Parameters:
disposition - the disposition of this part

setFileName

public void setFileName(String filename)
            throws MessagingException
Sets the filename associated with this part.
Parameters:
filename - the filename to associate with this part

setHeader

public void setHeader(String name,
                      String value)
            throws MessagingException
Sets the value for the specified header name.
Parameters:
name - the header name
value - the new value

setText

public void setText(String text)
            throws MessagingException
Sets the textual content of this part, using a MIME type of text/plain.
Parameters:
text - the textual content

writeTo

public void writeTo(OutputStream os)
            throws IOException,
                   MessagingException
Writes this part to the specified byte stream.
Throws:
MessagingException - if an error occurs fetching the data to be written

© Copyright 2003, 2004 The Free Software Foundation, All rights reserved