=head1 NAME

Mail::Identity - an e-mail role

=head1 INHERITANCE

 Mail::Identity
   is an User::Identity::Item

=head1 SYNOPSIS

 use User::Identity;
 use Mail::Identity;
 my $me   = User::Identity->new(...);
 my $addr = Mail::Identity->new(address => 'x@y');
 $me->add(email => $addr);

 # Simpler

 use User::Identity;
 my $me   = User::Identity->new(...);
 my $addr = $me->add(email => 'x@y');
 my $addr = $me->add( email => 'home'
                    , address => 'x@y');

 # Conversion
 my $ma   = Mail::Address->new(...);
 my $mi   = Mail::Identity->coerce($ma);

=head1 DESCRIPTION

The C<Mail::Identity> object contains the description of role played by
a human when sending e-mail.  Most people have more than one role these
days: for instance, a private and a company role with different e-mail
addresses.

An C<Mail::Identity> object combines an e-mail address, user description
("phrase"), a signature, pgp-key, and so on.  All fields are optional,
and some fields are smart.  One such set of data represents one role.
C<Mail::Identity> is therefore the smart cousine of the Mail::Address
object.

=head1 METHODS

=head2 Constructors

$obj-E<gt>B<from>(OBJECT)

=over 4

Convert an OBJECT into a C<Mail::Identity>.  On the moment, you can
specify Mail::Address and L<User::Identity|User::Identity> objects.  In the
former case, a new C<Mail::Identity> is created containing the same
information.  In the latter, the first address of the user is picked
and returned.

=back

Mail::Identity-E<gt>B<new>([NAME], OPTIONS)

=over 4

 Option      --Defined in     --Default
 address                        <username@domain or name>
 charset                        <user's charset>
 comment                        <user's fullname if phrase is different>
 description   User::Identity::Item  undef
 domain                         <from email or localhost>
 language                       <from user>
 location                       <random user's location>
 name          User::Identity::Item  <phrase or user's fullName>
 organization                   <location's organization>
 parent        User::Identity::Item  undef
 pgp_key                        undef
 phrase                         <user's fullName>
 signature                      undef
 username                       <from address or user's nickname>

. address => STRING

=over 4

The e-mail address is constructed from the username/domain, but
when both do not exist, the name is taken.

=back

. charset => STRING

. comment => STRING

. description => STRING

. domain => STRING

. language => STRING

. location => NAME|OBJECT

=over 4

The user's location which relates to this mail identity.  This can be
specified as location name (which will be looked-up when needed), or
as L<User::Identity::Location|User::Identity::Location> object.

=back

. name => STRING

. organization => STRING

=over 4

Usually defined for e-mail addresses which are used by a company or
other organization, but less common for personal addresses.  This
value will be used to fill the C<Organization> header field of messages.

=back

. parent => OBJECT

. pgp_key => STRING|FILENAME

. phrase => STRING

. signature => STRING

. username => STRING

=back

=head2 Attributes

$obj-E<gt>B<address>

=over 4

Returns the e-mail address for this role.  If none was specified, it will
be constructed from the username and domain.  If those are not present
as well, then the L<name()|User::Identity::Item/"Attributes"> is used when it contains a C<@>, else the
user's nickname is taken.

=back

$obj-E<gt>B<charset>

=over 4

Returns the character set used in comment and phrase.  When set to
C<undef>, the strings (are already encoded to) contain only ASCII
characters.  This defaults to the value of the user's charset, if a user
is defined.

=back

$obj-E<gt>B<comment>([STRING])

=over 4

E-mail address -when included in message MIME headers- can contain a comment.
The RFCs advice not to store useful information in these comments, but it
you really want to, you can do it.  The comment defaults to the user's
fullname if the phrase is not the fullname and there is a user defined.

Comments will be enclosed in parenthesis when used. Parenthesis (matching)
or non-matching) which are already in the string will carefully escaped
when needed.  You do not need to worry.

=back

$obj-E<gt>B<description>

=over 4

See L<User::Identity::Item/"Attributes">

=back

$obj-E<gt>B<domain>

=over 4

The domain is the part of the e-mail address after the C<@>-sign.
When this is not defined, it can be deducted from the email address
(see L<address()|Mail::Identity/"Attributes">).  If nothing is known, C<localhost> is returned.

=back

$obj-E<gt>B<language>

=over 4

Returns the language which is used for the description fields of this
e-mail address, which defaults to the user's language.

=back

$obj-E<gt>B<location>

=over 4

Returns the object which describes to which location this mail address relates.
The location may be used to find the name of the organization involved, or
to create a signature.  If no location is specified, but a user is defined
which has locations, one of those is randomly chosen.

=back

$obj-E<gt>B<name>([NEWNAME])

=over 4

See L<User::Identity::Item/"Attributes">

=back

$obj-E<gt>B<organization>

=over 4

Returns the organization which relates to this e-mail identity.  If not
explicitly specified, it is tried to be found via the location.

=back

$obj-E<gt>B<phrase>

=over 4

The phrase is used in an e-mail address to explain who is sending the
message.  This usually is the fullname (the user's fullname is used by
default), description of your function (Webmaster), or any other text.

When an email string is produced, the phase will be quoted if needed.
Quotes which are within the string will automatically be escaped, so
you do no need to worry: input cannot break the outcome!

=back

$obj-E<gt>B<username>

=over 4

Returns the username of this e-mail address.  If none is specified, first
it is tried to extract it from the specified e-mail address.  If there is
also no username in the e-mail address, the user identity's nickname is
taken.

=back

=head2 Collections

$obj-E<gt>B<add>(COLLECTION, ROLE)

=over 4

See L<User::Identity::Item/"Collections">

=back

$obj-E<gt>B<addCollection>(OBJECT | ([TYPE], OPTIONS))

=over 4

See L<User::Identity::Item/"Collections">

=back

$obj-E<gt>B<collection>(NAME)

=over 4

See L<User::Identity::Item/"Collections">

=back

$obj-E<gt>B<find>(COLLECTION, ROLE)

=over 4

See L<User::Identity::Item/"Collections">

=back

$obj-E<gt>B<parent>([PARENT])

=over 4

See L<User::Identity::Item/"Collections">

=back

$obj-E<gt>B<removeCollection>(OBJECT|NAME)

=over 4

See L<User::Identity::Item/"Collections">

=back

$obj-E<gt>B<type>

Mail::Identity-E<gt>B<type>

=over 4

See L<User::Identity::Item/"Collections">

=back

$obj-E<gt>B<user>

=over 4

See L<User::Identity::Item/"Collections">

=back

=head1 DIAGNOSTICS

Error: $object is not a collection.

=over 4

The first argument is an object, but not of a class which extends
L<User::Identity::Collection|User::Identity::Collection>.

=back

Error: Cannot load collection module for $type ($class).

=over 4

Either the specified $type does not exist, or that module named $class returns
compilation errors.  If the type as specified in the warning is not
the name of a package, you specified a nickname which was not defined.
Maybe you forgot the 'require' the package which defines the nickname.

=back

Error: Creation of a collection via $class failed.

=over 4

The $class did compile, but it was not possible to create an object
of that class using the options you specified.

=back

Error: Don't know what type of collection you want to add.

=over 4

If you add a collection, it must either by a collection object or a
list of options which can be used to create a collection object.  In
the latter case, the type of collection must be specified.

=back

Warning: No collection $name

=over 4

The collection with $name does not exist and can not be created.

=back

=head1 SEE ALSO

This module is part of User-Identity distribution version 0.92,
built on July 25, 2007. Website: F<http://perl.overmeer.net/userid/>

=head1 LICENSE

Copyrights 2003,2004,2007 by Mark Overmeer <perl@overmeer.net>. For other contributors see Changes.

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
under the same terms as Perl itself.
See F<http://www.perl.com/perl/misc/Artistic.html>

