


mime(n)                        Mime                       mime(n)


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NAME
       mime - Manipulation of MIME body parts

SYNOPSIS
       package require Tcl

       package require mime  ?1.5.4?

       ::mime::initialize  ?-canonical  type/subtype  ?-param  {key value}...?
       ?-encoding value? ?-header {key value}...?? (-file name | -string value
       | -part {token1 ... tokenN})

       ::mime::finalize token ?-subordinates all | dynamic | none?

       ::mime::getproperty token ?property | -names?

       ::mime::getheader token ?key | -names?

       ::mime::setheader token key value ?-mode write | append | delete?

       ::mime::getbody token ?-decode? ?-command callback ?-blocksize octets??

       ::mime::copymessage token channel

       ::mime::buildmessage token

       ::mime::parseaddress string

       ::mime::parsedatetime (string | -now) property

       ::mime::mapencoding encoding_name

       ::mime::reversemapencoding charset_type

_________________________________________________________________

DESCRIPTION
       The mime library package provides the commands to create and manipulate
       MIME body parts.

       ::mime::initialize ?-canonical type/subtype ?-param {key value}...?
       ?-encoding value? ?-header {key value}...?? (-file name | -string value
       |  -part  {token1 ... tokenN})
              This  command creates a MIME part and returns a token represent-
              ing it.

              o      If the -canonical option is present, then the body is  in
                     canonical  (raw)  form  and is found by consulting either
                     the -file, -string, or -part option.

                     In addition, both the  -param  and  -header  options  may
                     occur   zero   or  more  times  to  specify  Content-Type



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mime(n)                        Mime                       mime(n)


                     parameters  (e.g.,  charset)  and  header  keyword/values
                     (e.g., Content-Disposition), respectively.

                     Also, -encoding, if present, specifies the Content-Trans-
                     fer-Encoding when copying the body.

              o      If the -canonical option is not present,  then  the  MIME
                     part  contained in either the -file or the -string option
                     is parsed, dynamically generating subordinates as  appro-
                     priate.

       ::mime::finalize token ?-subordinates all | dynamic | none?
              This  command  destroys  the  MIME part represented by token. It
              returns an empty string.

              If the -subordinates option is present, it specifies which  sub-
              ordinates  should  also  be  destroyed.  The  default  value  is
              dynamic, destroying  all  subordinates  which  were  created  by
              ::mime::initialize together with the containing body part.

       ::mime::getproperty token ?property | -names?
              This  command  returns  a string or a list of strings containing
              the properties of a MIME part. If the command  is  invoked  with
              the name of a specific property, then the corresponding value is
              returned; instead, if -names is specified, a list of all proper-
              ties  is  returned;  otherwise, a serialized array of properties
              and values is returned.

              The possible properties are:

              content
                     The type/subtype describing the content

              encoding
                     The "Content-Transfer-Encoding"

              params A list of "Content-Type" parameters

              parts  A list of tokens for the part's subordinates.  This prop-
                     erty is present only if the MIME part has subordinates.

              size   The approximate size of the content (unencoded)

       ::mime::getheader token ?key | -names?
              This  command  returns  the  header of a MIME part, as a list of
              strings.

              A header consists of zero or more key/value pairs. Each value is
              a list containing one or more strings.

              If this command is invoked with the name of a specific key, then
              a  list  containing  the  corresponding  value(s)  is  returned;
              instead, if -names is specified, a list of all keys is returned;
              otherwise, a serialized array of keys and  values  is  returned.



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mime(n)                        Mime                       mime(n)


              Note  that  when  a key is specified (e.g., "Subject"), the list
              returned usually contains exactly one string; however, some keys
              (e.g.,  "Received")  often  occur  more than once in the header,
              accordingly the list returned usually  contains  more  than  one
              string.

       ::mime::setheader token key value ?-mode write | append | delete?
              This command writes, appends to, or deletes the value associated
              with a key in the header. It returns a list of strings  contain-
              ing the previous value associated with the key.

              The value for -mode is one of:

              write  The  key/value  is  either  created  or  overwritten (the
                     default).

              append A new value is appended for the key (creating it as  nec-
                     essary).

              delete All values associated with the key are removed (the value
                     parameter is ignored).

       ::mime::getbody token ?-decode? ?-command callback ?-blocksize octets??
              This  command  returns  a string containing the body of the leaf
              MIME part represented by token in canonical form.

              If the -command option is present, then it is repeatedly invoked
              with a fragment of the body as this:

                uplevel #0 $callback [list "data" $fragment]


              (The  -blocksize  option, if present, specifies the maximum size
              of each fragment passed to the callback.)

              When the end of the body is reached, the callback is invoked as:

                  uplevel #0 $callback "end"


              Alternatively, if an error occurs, the callback is invoked as:

                  uplevel #0 $callback [list "error" reason]


              Regardless,  the  return  value  of  the final invocation of the
              callback is propagated upwards by ::mime::getbody.

              If the -command option is  absent,  then  the  return  value  of
              ::mime::getbody  is  a  string containing the MIME part's entire
              body.

              If the option -decode is absent the return value computed  above
              is  returned  as  is.  This means that it will be in the charset



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mime(n)                        Mime                       mime(n)


              specified for the token and not the usual utf-8.  If the  option
              -decode  is  present  however  the  command will use the charset
              information associated with the token to convert the string from
              its encoding into utf-8 before returning it.

       ::mime::copymessage token channel
              This  command  copies  the MIME represented by token part to the
              specified channel. The command operates synchronously, and  uses
              fileevent  to  allow asynchronous operations to proceed indepen-
              dently. It returns an empty string.

       ::mime::buildmessage token
              This command returns the MIME part represented  by  token  as  a
              string.   It  is similar to ::mime::copymessage, only it returns
              the data as a return string instead of writing to a channel.

       ::mime::parseaddress string
              This command takes a string containing  one  or  more  822-style
              address  specifications and returns a list of serialized arrays,
              one element for each address specified in the argument.  If  the
              string  contains more than one address they will be separated by
              commas.

              Each serialized array contains the properties below.  Note  that
              one or more of these properties may be empty.

              address
                     local@domain

              comment
                     822-style comment

              domain the domain part (rhs)

              error  non-empty on a parse error

              group  this address begins a group

              friendly
                     user-friendly rendering

              local  the local part (lhs)

              memberP
                     this address belongs to a group

              phrase the phrase part

              proper 822-style address specification

              route  822-style route specification (obsolete)

       ::mime::parsedatetime (string | -now) property
              This  command  takes  a string containing an 822-style date-time



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mime(n)                        Mime                       mime(n)


              specification and returns the specified property as a serialized
              array.

              The list of properties and their ranges are:

              hour   0 .. 23

              lmonth January, February, ..., December

              lweekday
                     Sunday, Monday, ... Saturday

              mday   1 .. 31

              min    0 .. 59

              mon    1 .. 12

              month  Jan, Feb, ..., Dec

              proper 822-style date-time specification

              rclock elapsed seconds between then and now

              sec    0 .. 59

              wday   0 .. 6 (Sun .. Mon)

              weekday
                     Sun, Mon, ..., Sat

              yday   1 .. 366

              year   1900 ...

              zone   -720 .. 720 (minutes east of GMT)

       ::mime::mapencoding encoding_name
              This commansd maps tcl encodings onto the proper names for their
              MIME charset type.   This  is  only  done  for  encodings  whose
              charset types were known.  The remaining encodings return "" for
              now.

       ::mime::reversemapencoding charset_type
              This command maps MIME charset types onto  tcl  encoding  names.
              Those that are unknown return "".


KNOWN BUGS
       SourceForge Tcllib Bug #447037
              This problem affects only people which are using Tcl and Mime on
              a 64-bit system. The currently recommended fix for this  problem
              is  to  upgrade to Tcl version 8.4. This version has extended 64
              bit support and the bug does not appear anymore.



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mime(n)                        Mime                       mime(n)


              The problem could have been generally solved  by  requiring  the
              use  of  Tcl 8.4 for this package. We decided against this solu-
              tion as it would force a large number  of  unaffected  users  to
              upgrade their Tcl interpreter for no reason.

              See                                               http://source-
              forge.net/tracker/?func=detail&aid=447037&group_id=12883&atid=112883
              for additional information.


BUGS, IDEAS, FEEDBACK
       This  document,  and the package it describes, will undoubtedly contain
       bugs and other problems.  Please report such in the  category  mime  of
       the          Tcllib         SF         Trackers         [http://source-
       forge.net/tracker/?group_id=12883].  Please also report any  ideas  for
       enhancements you may have for either package and/or documentation.

SEE ALSO
       ftp, http, pop3, smtp

KEYWORDS
       email,  internet,  mail,  mime,  net, rfc 2045, rfc 2046, rfc 2049, rfc
       821, rfc 822, smtp

CATEGORY
       Text processing

COPYRIGHT
       Copyright (c) 1999-2000 Marshall T. Rose




























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