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'}, \code{'uuencode'},
  33 \code{'x-uuencode'}, \code{'uue'}, \code{'x-uue'}, \code{'7bit'}, and
  34 \code{'8bit'}.  Decoding messages encoded in \code{'7bit'} or \code{'8bit'}
  35 has no effect.  The input is simply copied to the output.
  36 \end{funcdesc}
  37
  38 \begin{funcdesc}{encode}{input, output, encoding}
  39 Read data from open file object \var{input} and write it encoded using
  40 the allowed MIME \var{encoding} to open file object \var{output}.
  41 Valid values for \var{encoding} are the same as for \method{decode()}.
  42 \end{funcdesc}
  43
  44 \begin{funcdesc}{copyliteral}{input, output}
  45 Read lines from open file \var{input} until \EOF{} and write them to
  46 open file \var{output}.
  47 \end{funcdesc}
  48
  49 \begin{funcdesc}{copybinary}{input, output}
  50 Read blocks until \EOF{} from open file \var{input} and write them to
  51 open file \var{output}.  The block size is currently fixed at 8192.
  52 \end{funcdesc}
  53
  54
  55 \begin{seealso}
  56   \seemodule{rfc822}{Provides the base class for
  57                      \class{mimetools.Message}.}
  58   \seemodule{multifile}{Support for reading files which contain
  59                         distinct parts, such as MIME data.}
  60   \seeurl{http://www.cs.uu.nl/wais/html/na-dir/mail/mime-faq/.html}{
  61           The MIME Frequently Asked Questions document.  For an
  62           overview of MIME, see the answer to question 1.1 in Part 1
  63           of this document.}
  64 \end{seealso}
  65
  66
  67 \subsection{Additional Methods of Message Objects
  68             \label{mimetools-message-objects}}
  69
  70 The \class{Message} class defines the following methods in
  71 addition to the \class{rfc822.Message} methods:
  72
  73 \begin{methoddesc}{getplist}{}
  74 Return the parameter list of the \mailheader{Content-Type} header.
  75 This is a list of strings.  For parameters of the form
  76 \samp{\var{key}=\var{value}}, \var{key} is converted to lower case but
  77 \var{value} is not.  For example, if the message contains the header
  78 \samp{Content-type: text/html; spam=1; Spam=2; Spam} then
  79 \method{getplist()} will return the Python list \code{['spam=1',
  80 'spam=2', 'Spam']}.
  81 \end{methoddesc}
  82
  83 \begin{methoddesc}{getparam}{name}
  84 Return the \var{value} of the first parameter (as returned by
  85 \method{getplist()} of the form \samp{\var{name}=\var{value}} for the
  86 given \var{name}.  If \var{value} is surrounded by quotes of the form
  87 `\code{<}...\code{>}' or `\code{"}...\code{"}', these are removed.
  88 \end{methoddesc}
  89
  90 \begin{methoddesc}{getencoding}{}
  91 Return the encoding specified in the
  92 \mailheader{Content-Transfer-Encoding} message header.  If no such
  93 header exists, return \code{'7bit'}.  The encoding is converted to
  94 lower case.
  95 \end{methoddesc}
  96
  97 \begin{methoddesc}{gettype}{}
  98 Return the message type (of the form \samp{\var{type}/\var{subtype}})
  99 as specified in the \mailheader{Content-Type} header.  If no such
 100 header exists, return \code{'text/plain'}.  The type is converted to
 101 lower case.
 102 \end{methoddesc}
 103
 104 \begin{methoddesc}{getmaintype}{}
 105 Return the main type as specified in the \mailheader{Content-Type}
 106 header.  If no such header exists, return \code{'text'}.  The main
 107 type is converted to lower case.
 108 \end{methoddesc}
 109
 110 \begin{methoddesc}{getsubtype}{}
 111 Return the subtype as specified in the \mailheader{Content-Type}
 112 header.  If no such header exists, return \code{'plain'}.  The subtype
 113 is converted to lower case.
 114 \end{methoddesc}