Doc/lib/libmimetools.tex

   1 \section{\module{mimetools} ---
   2          Tools for parsing MIME messages}
   3
   4 \declaremodule{standard}{mimetools}
   5 \modulesynopsis{Tools for parsing MIME-style message bodies.}
   6
   7
   8 This module defines a subclass of the
   9 \refmodule{rfc822}\refstmodindex{rfc822} module's
  10 \class{Message} class and a number of utility functions that are
  11 useful for the manipulation for MIME multipart or encoded message.
  12
  13 It defines the following items:
  14
  15 \begin{classdesc}{Message}{fp\optional{, seekable}}
  16 Return a new instance of the \class{Message} class.  This is a
  17 subclass of the \class{rfc822.Message} class, with some additional
  18 methods (see below).  The \var{seekable} argument has the same meaning
  19 as for \class{rfc822.Message}.
  20 \end{classdesc}
  21
  22 \begin{funcdesc}{choose_boundary}{}
  23 Return a unique string that has a high likelihood of being usable as a
  24 part boundary.  The string has the form
  25 \code{'\var{hostipaddr}.\var{uid}.\var{pid}.\var{timestamp}.\var{random}'}.
  26 \end{funcdesc}
  27
  28 \begin{funcdesc}{decode}{input, output, encoding}
  29 Read data encoded using the allowed MIME \var{encoding} from open file
  30 object \var{input} and write the decoded data to open file object
  31 \var{output}.  Valid values for \var{encoding} include
  32 \code{'base64'}, \code{'quoted-printable'} and \code{'uuencode'}.
  33 \end{funcdesc}
  34
  35 \begin{funcdesc}{encode}{input, output, encoding}
  36 Read data from open file object \var{input} and write it encoded using
  37 the allowed MIME \var{encoding} to open file object \var{output}.
  38 Valid values for \var{encoding} are the same as for \method{decode()}.
  39 \end{funcdesc}
  40
  41 \begin{funcdesc}{copyliteral}{input, output}
  42 Read lines from open file \var{input} until \EOF{} and write them to
  43 open file \var{output}.
  44 \end{funcdesc}
  45
  46 \begin{funcdesc}{copybinary}{input, output}
  47 Read blocks until \EOF{} from open file \var{input} and write them to
  48 open file \var{output}.  The block size is currently fixed at 8192.
  49 \end{funcdesc}
  50
  51
  52 \begin{seealso}
  53   \seemodule{rfc822}{Provides the base class for
  54                      \class{mimetools.Message}.}
  55   \seemodule{multifile}{Support for reading files which contain
  56                         distinct parts, such as MIME data.}
  57   \seeurl{http://www.cs.uu.nl/wais/html/na-dir/mail/mime-faq/.html}{
  58           The MIME Frequently Asked Questions document.  For an
  59           overview of MIME, see the answer to question 1.1 in Part 1
  60           of this document.}
  61 \end{seealso}
  62
  63
  64 \subsection{Additional Methods of Message Objects
  65             \label{mimetools-message-objects}}
  66
  67 The \class{Message} class defines the following methods in
  68 addition to the \class{rfc822.Message} methods:
  69
  70 \begin{methoddesc}{getplist}{}
  71 Return the parameter list of the \code{content-type} header.  This is
  72 a list of strings.  For parameters of the form
  73 \samp{\var{key}=\var{value}}, \var{key} is converted to lower case but
  74 \var{value} is not.  For example, if the message contains the header
  75 \samp{Content-type: text/html; spam=1; Spam=2; Spam} then
  76 \method{getplist()} will return the Python list \code{['spam=1',
  77 'spam=2', 'Spam']}.
  78 \end{methoddesc}
  79
  80 \begin{methoddesc}{getparam}{name}
  81 Return the \var{value} of the first parameter (as returned by
  82 \method{getplist()} of the form \samp{\var{name}=\var{value}} for the
  83 given \var{name}.  If \var{value} is surrounded by quotes of the form
  84 `\code{<}...\code{>}' or `\code{"}...\code{"}', these are removed.
  85 \end{methoddesc}
  86
  87 \begin{methoddesc}{getencoding}{}
  88 Return the encoding specified in the \code{content-transfer-encoding}
  89 message header.  If no such header exists, return \code{'7bit'}.  The
  90 encoding is converted to lower case.
  91 \end{methoddesc}
  92
  93 \begin{methoddesc}{gettype}{}
  94 Return the message type (of the form \samp{\var{type}/\var{subtype}})
  95 as specified in the \code{content-type} header.  If no such header
  96 exists, return \code{'text/plain'}.  The type is converted to lower
  97 case.
  98 \end{methoddesc}
  99
 100 \begin{methoddesc}{getmaintype}{}
 101 Return the main type as specified in the \code{content-type} header.
 102 If no such header exists, return \code{'text'}.  The main type is
 103 converted to lower case.
 104 \end{methoddesc}
 105
 106 \begin{methoddesc}{getsubtype}{}
 107 Return the subtype as specified in the \code{content-type} header.  If
 108 no such header exists, return \code{'plain'}.  The subtype is
 109 converted to lower case.
 110 \end{methoddesc}