javax.mail
Class Message

java.lang.Object
  javax.mail.Message

All Implemented Interfaces:

Part

Direct Known Subclasses:

MimeMessage

public abstract class Message
extends java.lang.Object
implements Part

This class models an email message. This is an abstract class. Subclasses provide actual implementations.

Message implements the Part interface. Message contains a set of attributes and a "content". Messages within a folder also have a set of flags that describe its state within the folder.

Message defines some new attributes in addition to those defined in the Part interface. These attributes specify meta-data for the message - i.e., addressing and descriptive information about the message.

Message objects are obtained either from a Folder or by constructing a new Message object of the appropriate subclass. Messages that have been received are normally retrieved from a folder named "INBOX".

A Message object obtained from a folder is just a lightweight reference to the actual message. The Message is 'lazily' filled up (on demand) when each item is requested from the message. Note that certain folder implementations may return Message objects that are pre-filled with certain user-specified items. To send a message, an appropriate subclass of Message (e.g., MimeMessage) is instantiated, the attributes and content are filled in, and the message is sent using the Transport.send method.

Author:

John Mani, Bill Shannon, Max Spivak

See Also:

Part

Nested Class Summary

static class

Message.RecipientType This inner class defines the types of recipients allowed by the Message class.

Field Summary

protected boolean	expunged True if this message has been expunged.
protected Folder	folder The containing folder, if this message is obtained from a folder
protected int	msgnum The number of this message within its folder, or zero if the message was not retrieved from a folder.
protected Session	session The Session object for this Message

Fields inherited from interface javax.mail.Part

ATTACHMENT, INLINE

Constructor Summary

protected	Message() No-arg version of the constructor.
protected	Message(Folder folder, int msgnum) Constructor that takes a Folder and a message number.
protected	Message(Session session) Constructor that takes a Session.

Method Summary

abstract void	addFrom(Address[] addresses) Add these addresses to the existing "From" attribute
void	addRecipient(Message.RecipientType type, Address address) Add this recipient address to the existing ones of the given type.
abstract void	addRecipients(Message.RecipientType type, Address[] addresses) Add these recipient addresses to the existing ones of the given type.
Address[]	getAllRecipients() Get all the recipient addresses for the message.
abstract Flags	getFlags() Returns a Flags object containing the flags for this message.
Folder	getFolder() Get the folder from which this message was obtained.
abstract Address[]	getFrom() Returns the "From" attribute.
int	getMessageNumber() Get the Message number for this Message.
abstract java.util.Date	getReceivedDate() Get the date this message was received.
abstract Address[]	getRecipients(Message.RecipientType type) Get all the recipient addresses of the given type.
Address[]	getReplyTo() Get the addresses to which replies should be directed.
abstract java.util.Date	getSentDate() Get the date this message was sent.
abstract java.lang.String	getSubject() Get the subject of this message.
boolean	isExpunged() Checks whether this message is expunged.
boolean	isSet(Flags.Flag flag) Check whether the flag specified in the flag argument is set in this message.
boolean	match(SearchTerm term) Apply the specified Search criterion to this message.
abstract Message	reply(boolean replyToAll) Get a new Message suitable for a reply to this message.
abstract void	saveChanges() Save any changes made to this message into the message-store when the containing folder is closed, if the message is contained in a folder.
protected void	setExpunged(boolean expunged) Sets the expunged flag for this Message.
void	setFlag(Flags.Flag flag, boolean set) Set the specified flag on this message to the specified value.
abstract void	setFlags(Flags flag, boolean set) Set the specified flags on this message to the specified value.
abstract void	setFrom() Set the "From" attribute in this Message.
abstract void	setFrom(Address address) Set the "From" attribute in this Message.
protected void	setMessageNumber(int msgnum) Set the Message number for this Message.
void	setRecipient(Message.RecipientType type, Address address) Set the recipient address.
abstract void	setRecipients(Message.RecipientType type, Address[] addresses) Set the recipient addresses.
void	setReplyTo(Address[] addresses) Set the addresses to which replies should be directed.
abstract void	setSentDate(java.util.Date date) Set the sent date of this message.
abstract void	setSubject(java.lang.String subject) Set the subject of this message.

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait

Methods inherited from interface javax.mail.Part

addHeader, getAllHeaders, getContent, getContentType, getDataHandler, getDescription, getDisposition, getFileName, getHeader, getInputStream, getLineCount, getMatchingHeaders, getNonMatchingHeaders, getSize, isMimeType, removeHeader, setContent, setContent, setDataHandler, setDescription, setDisposition, setFileName, setHeader, setText, writeTo

Field Detail

msgnum

protected int msgnum

The number of this message within its folder, or zero if the message was not retrieved from a folder.

expunged

protected boolean expunged

True if this message has been expunged.

folder

protected Folder folder

The containing folder, if this message is obtained from a folder

session

protected Session session

The Session object for this Message

Constructor Detail

Message

protected Message()

No-arg version of the constructor.

Message

protected Message(Folder folder,
                  int msgnum)

Constructor that takes a Folder and a message number. Used by Folder implementations.

Parameters:

folder - containing folder

msgnum - this message's sequence number within this folder

Message

protected Message(Session session)

Constructor that takes a Session. Used for client created Message objects.

Parameters:

session - A Session object

Method Detail

getFrom

public abstract Address[] getFrom()
                           throws MessagingException

Returns the "From" attribute. The "From" attribute contains the identity of the person(s) who wished this message to be sent.

In certain implementations, this may be different from the entity that actually sent the message.

This method returns null if this attribute is not present in this message. Returns an empty array if this attribute is present, but contains no addresses.

Returns:

array of Address objects

Throws:

MessagingException

setFrom

public abstract void setFrom()
                      throws MessagingException

Set the "From" attribute in this Message. The value of this attribute is obtained from the property "mail.user". If this property is absent, the system property "user.name" is used.

Throws:

MessagingException

IllegalWriteException - if the underlying implementation does not support modification of existing values

IllegalStateException - if this message is obtained from a READ_ONLY folder.

setFrom

public abstract void setFrom(Address address)
                      throws MessagingException

Set the "From" attribute in this Message.

Parameters:

address - the sender

Throws:

MessagingException

IllegalWriteException - if the underlying implementation does not support modification of existing values

IllegalStateException - if this message is obtained from a READ_ONLY folder.

addFrom

public abstract void addFrom(Address[] addresses)
                      throws MessagingException

Add these addresses to the existing "From" attribute

Parameters:

addresses - the senders

Throws:

IllegalWriteException - if the underlying implementation does not support modification of existing values

IllegalStateException - if this message is obtained from a READ_ONLY folder.

MessagingException

getRecipients

public abstract Address[] getRecipients(Message.RecipientType type)
                                 throws MessagingException

Get all the recipient addresses of the given type.

This method returns null if no recipients of the given type are present in this message. It may return an empty array if the header is present, but contains no addresses.

Parameters:

type - the recipient type

Returns:

array of Address objects

Throws:

MessagingException

See Also:

Message.RecipientType.TO, Message.RecipientType.CC, Message.RecipientType.BCC

getAllRecipients

public Address[] getAllRecipients()
                           throws MessagingException

Get all the recipient addresses for the message. The default implementation extracts the TO, CC, and BCC recipients using the getRecipients method.

This method returns null if none of the recipient headers are present in this message. It may Return an empty array if any recipient header is present, but contains no addresses.

Returns:

array of Address objects

Throws:

MessagingException

See Also:

Message.RecipientType.TO, Message.RecipientType.CC, Message.RecipientType.BCC, getRecipients(javax.mail.Message.RecipientType)

setRecipients

public abstract void setRecipients(Message.RecipientType type,
                                   Address[] addresses)
                            throws MessagingException

Set the recipient addresses. All addresses of the specified type are replaced by the addresses parameter.

Parameters:

type - the recipient type

addresses - the addresses

Throws:

MessagingException

IllegalWriteException - if the underlying implementation does not support modification of existing values

IllegalStateException - if this message is obtained from a READ_ONLY folder.

setRecipient

public void setRecipient(Message.RecipientType type,
                         Address address)
                  throws MessagingException

Set the recipient address. All addresses of the specified type are replaced by the address parameter.

The default implementation uses the setRecipients method.

Parameters:

type - the recipient type

address - the address

Throws:

MessagingException

IllegalWriteException - if the underlying implementation does not support modification of existing values

addRecipients

public abstract void addRecipients(Message.RecipientType type,
                                   Address[] addresses)
                            throws MessagingException

Add these recipient addresses to the existing ones of the given type.

Parameters:

type - the recipient type

addresses - the addresses

Throws:

MessagingException

IllegalWriteException - if the underlying implementation does not support modification of existing values

IllegalStateException - if this message is obtained from a READ_ONLY folder.

addRecipient

public void addRecipient(Message.RecipientType type,
                         Address address)
                  throws MessagingException

Add this recipient address to the existing ones of the given type.

The default implementation uses the addRecipients method.

Parameters:

type - the recipient type

address - the address

Throws:

MessagingException

IllegalWriteException - if the underlying implementation does not support modification of existing values

getReplyTo

public Address[] getReplyTo()
                     throws MessagingException

Get the addresses to which replies should be directed. This will usually be the sender of the message, but some messages may direct replies to a different address.

The default implementation simply calls the getFrom method.

This method returns null if the corresponding header is not present. Returns an empty array if the header is present, but contains no addresses.

Returns:

addresses to which replies should be directed

Throws:

MessagingException

See Also:

getFrom()

setReplyTo

public void setReplyTo(Address[] addresses)
                throws MessagingException

Set the addresses to which replies should be directed. (Normally only a single address will be specified.) Not all message types allow this to be specified separately from the sender of the message.

The default implementation provided here just throws the MethodNotSupportedException.

Parameters:

addresses - addresses to which replies should be directed

Throws:

MessagingException

IllegalWriteException - if the underlying implementation does not support modification of existing values

IllegalStateException - if this message is obtained from a READ_ONLY folder.

MethodNotSupportedException - if the underlying implementation does not support setting this attribute

getSubject

public abstract java.lang.String getSubject()
                                     throws MessagingException

Get the subject of this message.

Returns:

the subject

Throws:

MessagingException

setSubject

public abstract void setSubject(java.lang.String subject)
                         throws MessagingException

Set the subject of this message.

Parameters:

subject - the subject

Throws:

MessagingException

IllegalWriteException - if the underlying implementation does not support modification of existing values

IllegalStateException - if this message is obtained from a READ_ONLY folder.

getSentDate

public abstract java.util.Date getSentDate()
                                    throws MessagingException

Get the date this message was sent.

Returns:

the date this message was sent

Throws:

MessagingException

setSentDate

public abstract void setSentDate(java.util.Date date)
                          throws MessagingException

Set the sent date of this message.

Parameters:

date - the sent date of this message

Throws:

MessagingException

IllegalWriteException - if the underlying implementation does not support modification of existing values

IllegalStateException - if this message is obtained from a READ_ONLY folder.

getReceivedDate

public abstract java.util.Date getReceivedDate()
                                        throws MessagingException

Get the date this message was received.

Returns:

the date this message was received

Throws:

MessagingException

getFlags

public abstract Flags getFlags()
                        throws MessagingException

Returns a Flags object containing the flags for this message.

Modifying any of the flags in this returned Flags object will not affect the flags of this message. Use setFlags() to do that.

Returns:

Flags object containing the flags for this message

Throws:

MessagingException

See Also:

Flags, setFlags(javax.mail.Flags, boolean)

isSet

public boolean isSet(Flags.Flag flag)
              throws MessagingException

Check whether the flag specified in the flag argument is set in this message.

The default implementation uses getFlags.

Parameters:

flag - the flag

Returns:

value of the specified flag for this message

Throws:

MessagingException

See Also:

Flags.Flag, Flags.Flag.ANSWERED, Flags.Flag.DELETED, Flags.Flag.DRAFT, Flags.Flag.FLAGGED, Flags.Flag.RECENT, Flags.Flag.SEEN

setFlags

public abstract void setFlags(Flags flag,
                              boolean set)
                       throws MessagingException

Set the specified flags on this message to the specified value. Note that any flags in this message that are not specified in the given Flags object are unaffected.

This will result in a MessageChangedEvent being delivered to any MessageChangedListener registered on this Message's containing folder.

Parameters:

flag - Flags object containing the flags to be set

set - the value to be set

Throws:

MessagingException

IllegalWriteException - if the underlying implementation does not support modification of existing values.

IllegalStateException - if this message is obtained from a READ_ONLY folder.

See Also:

MessageChangedEvent

setFlag

public void setFlag(Flags.Flag flag,
                    boolean set)
             throws MessagingException

Set the specified flag on this message to the specified value. This will result in a MessageChangedEvent being delivered to any MessageChangedListener registered on this Message's containing folder.

The default implementation uses the setFlags method.

Parameters:

flag - Flags.Flag object containing the flag to be set

set - the value to be set

Throws:

MessagingException

IllegalWriteException - if the underlying implementation does not support modification of existing values.

IllegalStateException - if this message is obtained from a READ_ONLY folder.

See Also:

MessageChangedEvent

getMessageNumber

public int getMessageNumber()

Get the Message number for this Message. A Message object's message number is the relative position of this Message in its Folder. Note that the message number for a particular Message can change during a session if other messages in the Folder are deleted and expunged.

Valid message numbers start at 1. Messages that do not belong to any folder (like newly composed or derived messages) have 0 as their message number.

Returns:

the message number

setMessageNumber

protected void setMessageNumber(int msgnum)

Set the Message number for this Message. This method is invoked only by the implementation classes.

getFolder

public Folder getFolder()

Get the folder from which this message was obtained. If this is a new message or nested message, this method returns null.

Returns:

the containing folder

isExpunged

public boolean isExpunged()

Checks whether this message is expunged. All other methods except getMessageNumber() are invalid on an expunged Message object.

Messages that are expunged due to an explict expunge() request on the containing Folder are removed from the Folder immediately. Messages that are externally expunged by another source are marked "expunged" and return true for the isExpunged() method, but they are not removed from the Folder until an explicit expunge() is done on the Folder.

See the description of expunge() for more details on expunge handling.

See Also:

Folder#expunge

setExpunged

protected void setExpunged(boolean expunged)

Sets the expunged flag for this Message. This method is to be used only by the implementation classes.

Parameters:

expunged - the expunged flag

reply

public abstract Message reply(boolean replyToAll)
                       throws MessagingException

Get a new Message suitable for a reply to this message. The new Message will have its attributes and headers set up appropriately. Note that this new message object will be empty, that is, it will not have a "content". These will have to be suitably filled in by the client.

If replyToAll is set, the new Message will be addressed to all recipients of this message. Otherwise, the reply will be addressed to only the sender of this message (using the value of the getReplyTo method).

The "Subject" field is filled in with the original subject prefixed with "Re:" (unless it already starts with "Re:").

The reply message will use the same session as this message.

Parameters:

replyToAll - reply should be sent to all recipients of this message

Returns:

the reply Message

Throws:

MessagingException

saveChanges

public abstract void saveChanges()
                          throws MessagingException

Save any changes made to this message into the message-store when the containing folder is closed, if the message is contained in a folder. (Some implementations may save the changes immediately.) Update any header fields to be consistent with the changed message contents. If any part of a message's headers or contents are changed, saveChanges must be called to ensure that those changes are permanent. If saveChanges is not called, any such modifications may or may not be saved, depending on the message store and folder implementation.

Messages obtained from folders opened READ_ONLY should not be modified and saveChanges should not be called on such messages.

Throws:

MessagingException

IllegalStateException - if this message is obtained from a READ_ONLY folder.

IllegalWriteException - if the underlying implementation does not support modification of existing values.

match

public boolean match(SearchTerm term)
              throws MessagingException

Apply the specified Search criterion to this message.

Parameters:

term - the Search criterion

Returns:

true if the Message matches this search criterion, false otherwise.

Throws:

MessagingException

See Also:

SearchTerm