Doc/lib/libmimewriter.tex

   1 \section{\module{MimeWriter} ---
   2          Generic MIME file writer}
   3
   4 \declaremodule{standard}{MimeWriter}
   5
   6 \modulesynopsis{Generic MIME file writer.}
   7 \sectionauthor{Christopher G. Petrilli}{petrilli@amber.org}
   8
   9 \deprecated{2.3}{The \refmodule{email} package should be used in
  10                  preference to the \module{MimeWriter} module.  This
  11                  module is present only to maintain backward
  12                  compatibility.}
  13
  14 This module defines the class \class{MimeWriter}.  The
  15 \class{MimeWriter} class implements a basic formatter for creating
  16 MIME multi-part files.  It doesn't seek around the output file nor
  17 does it use large amounts of buffer space. You must write the parts
  18 out in the order that they should occur in the final
  19 file. \class{MimeWriter} does buffer the headers you add, allowing you
  20 to rearrange their order.
  21
  22 \begin{classdesc}{MimeWriter}{fp}
  23 Return a new instance of the \class{MimeWriter} class.  The only
  24 argument passed, \var{fp}, is a file object to be used for
  25 writing. Note that a \class{StringIO} object could also be used.
  26 \end{classdesc}
  27
  28
  29 \subsection{MimeWriter Objects \label{MimeWriter-objects}}
  30
  31
  32 \class{MimeWriter} instances have the following methods:
  33
  34 \begin{methoddesc}{addheader}{key, value\optional{, prefix}}
  35 Add a header line to the MIME message. The \var{key} is the name of
  36 the header, where the \var{value} obviously provides the value of the
  37 header. The optional argument \var{prefix} determines where the header
  38 is inserted; \samp{0} means append at the end, \samp{1} is insert at
  39 the start. The default is to append.
  40 \end{methoddesc}
  41
  42 \begin{methoddesc}{flushheaders}{}
  43 Causes all headers accumulated so far to be written out (and
  44 forgotten). This is useful if you don't need a body part at all,
  45 e.g.\ for a subpart of type \mimetype{message/rfc822} that's (mis)used
  46 to store some header-like information.
  47 \end{methoddesc}
  48
  49 \begin{methoddesc}{startbody}{ctype\optional{, plist\optional{, prefix}}}
  50 Returns a file-like object which can be used to write to the
  51 body of the message.  The content-type is set to the provided
  52 \var{ctype}, and the optional parameter \var{plist} provides
  53 additional parameters for the content-type declaration. \var{prefix}
  54 functions as in \method{addheader()} except that the default is to
  55 insert at the start.
  56 \end{methoddesc}
  57
  58 \begin{methoddesc}{startmultipartbody}{subtype\optional{,
  59                    boundary\optional{, plist\optional{, prefix}}}}
  60 Returns a file-like object which can be used to write to the
  61 body of the message.  Additionally, this method initializes the
  62 multi-part code, where \var{subtype} provides the multipart subtype,
  63 \var{boundary} may provide a user-defined boundary specification, and
  64 \var{plist} provides optional parameters for the subtype.
  65 \var{prefix} functions as in \method{startbody()}.  Subparts should be
  66 created using \method{nextpart()}.
  67 \end{methoddesc}
  68
  69 \begin{methoddesc}{nextpart}{}
  70 Returns a new instance of \class{MimeWriter} which represents an
  71 individual part in a multipart message.  This may be used to write the
  72 part as well as used for creating recursively complex multipart
  73 messages. The message must first be initialized with
  74 \method{startmultipartbody()} before using \method{nextpart()}.
  75 \end{methoddesc}
  76
  77 \begin{methoddesc}{lastpart}{}
  78 This is used to designate the last part of a multipart message, and
  79 should \emph{always} be used when writing multipart messages.
  80 \end{methoddesc}