javax.mail.internet

Class MimeMultipart

Known Direct Subclasses:
IMAPMultipart

public class MimeMultipart
extends Multipart

The MimeMultipart class is an implementation of the abstract Multipart class that uses MIME conventions for the multipart data.

A MimeMultipart is obtained from a MimePart whose primary type is "multipart"(by invoking the part's getContent() method) or it can be created by a client as part of creating a new MimeMessage.

The default multipart subtype is "mixed". The other multipart subtypes, such as "alternative", "related", and so on, can be implemented as subclasses of MimeMultipart with additional methods to implement the additional semantics of that type of multipart content. The intent is that service providers, mail JavaBean writers and mail clients will write many such subclasses and their Command Beans, and will install them into the JavaBeans Activation Framework, so that any JavaMail implementation and its clients can transparently find and use these classes. Thus, a MIME multipart handler is treated just like any other type handler, thereby decoupling the process of providing multipart handlers from the JavaMail API. Lacking these additional MimeMultipart subclasses, all subtypes of MIME multipart data appear as MimeMultipart objects.

An application can directly construct a MIME multipart object of any subtype by using the MimeMultipart(String subtype) constructor. For example, to create a "multipart/alternative" object, use new MimeMultipart("alternative").

Field Summary

protected DataSource
ds
The DataSource supplying our InputStream.
protected boolean
parsed
Have we parsed the data from our InputStream yet? Defaults to true; set to false when our constructor is given a DataSource with an InputStream that we need to parse.

Fields inherited from class javax.mail.Multipart

contentType, parent, parts

Constructor Summary

MimeMultipart()
Default constructor.
MimeMultipart(DataSource ds)
Constructs a MimeMultipart object and its bodyparts from the given DataSource.
MimeMultipart(String subtype)
Construct a MimeMultipart object of the given subtype.

Method Summary

protected InternetHeaders
createInternetHeaders(InputStream is)
Create and return an InternetHeaders object that loads the headers from the given InputStream.
protected MimeBodyPart
createMimeBodyPart(InputStream is)
Create and return a MimeBodyPart object to represent a body part parsed from the InputStream.
protected MimeBodyPart
createMimeBodyPart(InternetHeaders headers, byte[] content)
Create and return a MimeBodyPart object to represent a body part parsed from the InputStream.
BodyPart
getBodyPart(String CID)
Get the MimeBodyPart referred to by the given ContentID(CID).
BodyPart
getBodyPart(int index)
Get the specified BodyPart.
int
getCount()
* Return the number of enclosed BodyPart objects.
protected void
parse()
Parse the InputStream from our DataSource, constructing the appropriate MimeBodyParts.
void
setSubType(String subtype)
Set the subtype.
protected void
updateHeaders()
Update headers.
void
writeTo(OutputStream os)
Iterates through all the parts and outputs each Mime part separated by a boundary.

Methods inherited from class javax.mail.Multipart

addBodyPart, addBodyPart, getBodyPart, getContentType, getCount, getParent, removeBodyPart, removeBodyPart, setMultipartDataSource, setParent, writeTo

Field Details

ds

protected DataSource ds
The DataSource supplying our InputStream.


parsed

protected boolean parsed
Have we parsed the data from our InputStream yet? Defaults to true; set to false when our constructor is given a DataSource with an InputStream that we need to parse.

Constructor Details

MimeMultipart

public MimeMultipart()
Default constructor. An empty MimeMultipart object is created. Its content type is set to "multipart/mixed". A unique boundary string is generated and this string is set up as the "boundary" parameter for the contentType field.

MimeBodyParts may be added later.


MimeMultipart

public MimeMultipart(DataSource ds)
            throws MessagingException
Constructs a MimeMultipart object and its bodyparts from the given DataSource.

This constructor handles as a special case the situation where the given DataSource is a MultipartDataSource object. In this case, this method just invokes the superclass(i.e., Multipart) constructor that takes a MultipartDataSource object.

Otherwise, the DataSource is assumed to provide a MIME multipart byte stream. The parsed flag is set to false. When the data for the body parts are needed, the parser extracts the "boundary" parameter from the content type of this DataSource, skips the 'preamble' and reads bytes till the terminating boundary and creates MimeBodyParts for each part of the stream.

Parameters:
ds - DataSource, can be a MultipartDataSource


MimeMultipart

public MimeMultipart(String subtype)
Construct a MimeMultipart object of the given subtype. A unique boundary string is generated and this string is set up as the "boundary" parameter for the contentType field.

MimeBodyParts may be added later.

Method Details

createInternetHeaders

protected InternetHeaders createInternetHeaders(InputStream is)
            throws MessagingException
Create and return an InternetHeaders object that loads the headers from the given InputStream. Subclasses can override this method to return a subclass of InternetHeaders, if necessary. This implementation simply constructs and returns an InternetHeaders object.

Parameters:
is - the InputStream to read the headers from


createMimeBodyPart

protected MimeBodyPart createMimeBodyPart(InputStream is)
            throws MessagingException
Create and return a MimeBodyPart object to represent a body part parsed from the InputStream. Subclasses can override this method to return a subclass of MimeBodyPart, if necessary. This implementation simply constructs and returns a MimeBodyPart object.

Parameters:
is - InputStream containing the body part


createMimeBodyPart

protected MimeBodyPart createMimeBodyPart(InternetHeaders headers,
                                          byte[] content)
            throws MessagingException
Create and return a MimeBodyPart object to represent a body part parsed from the InputStream. Subclasses can override this method to return a subclass of MimeBodyPart, if necessary. This implementation simply constructs and returns a MimeBodyPart object.

Parameters:
headers - the headers for the body part
content - the content of the body part


getBodyPart

public BodyPart getBodyPart(String CID)
            throws MessagingException
Get the MimeBodyPart referred to by the given ContentID(CID). Returns null if the part is not found.

Parameters:
CID - the ContentID of the desired part


getBodyPart

public BodyPart getBodyPart(int index)
            throws MessagingException
Get the specified BodyPart. BodyParts are numbered starting at 0.
Overrides:
getBodyPart in interface Multipart

Parameters:
index - the index of the desired BodyPart

Throws:
MessagingException - if no such BodyPart exists


getCount

public int getCount()
            throws MessagingException
* Return the number of enclosed BodyPart objects.
Overrides:
getCount in interface Multipart


parse

protected void parse()
            throws MessagingException
Parse the InputStream from our DataSource, constructing the appropriate MimeBodyParts. The parsed flag is set to true, and if true on entry nothing is done. This method is called by all other methods that need data for the body parts, to make sure the data has been parsed.


setSubType

public void setSubType(String subtype)
            throws MessagingException
Set the subtype. This method should be invoked only on a new MimeMultipart object created by the client. The default subtype of such a multipart object is "mixed".

Parameters:
subtype - Subtype


updateHeaders

protected void updateHeaders()
            throws MessagingException
Update headers. The default implementation here just calls the updateHeaders method on each of its children BodyParts.

Note that the boundary parameter is already set up when a new and empty MimeMultipart object is created.

This method is called when the saveChanges method is invoked on the Message object containing this Multipart. This is typically done as part of the Message send process, however note that a client is free to call it any number of times. So if the header updating process is expensive for a specific MimeMultipart subclass, then it might itself want to track whether its internal state actually did change, and do the header updating only if necessary.


writeTo

public void writeTo(OutputStream os)
            throws IOException,
                   MessagingException
Iterates through all the parts and outputs each Mime part separated by a boundary.
Overrides:
writeTo in interface Multipart