Mail::Box::Dbx - read Outlook Express folders

NAME

Mail::Box::Dbx - read Outlook Express folders

INHERITANCE

 Mail::Box::Dbx
   is a Mail::Box::File
   is a Mail::Box
   is a Mail::Reporter

SYNOPSIS

 use Mail::Box::Dbx;
 my $folder = Mail::Box::Dbx->new(...);

DESCRIPTION

This documentation describes how to read from Outlook Express (dbx) folders. Even on Unix/Linux, you can access these folders to read the data, or copy it to a different format. Modifying of xbd files is not supported.

These dbx folders are accessed using Mail::Transport::Dbx which is distributed via CPAN as separate package. This MAil::Transport::Dbx module is based on the open source library named libdbx, which can be found at http://sourceforge.net/project/ol2mbox/. The library does not support writing of dbx files, and therefore limits the possibilities of this package.

OVERLOADED

overload: ``''

See OVERLOADED in the Mail::Box manpage

overload: @{}

See OVERLOADED in the Mail::Box manpage

overload: cmp

See OVERLOADED in the Mail::Box manpage

METHODS

Constructors

Mail::Box::Dbx->new(OPTIONS)

 Option             Defined in       Default                                                         
 access             L<Mail::Box>     always C<'r'>                                                   
 body_delayed_type  L<Mail::Box>     L<Mail::Message::Body::Delayed|Mail::Message::Body::Delayed>    
 body_type          L<Mail::Box::File>  <see description>                                               
 coerce_options     L<Mail::Box>     C<[]>                                                           
 create             L<Mail::Box>     C<not implemented>                                              
 extract            L<Mail::Box>     C<10240>                                                        
 field_type         L<Mail::Box>     undef                                                           
 fix_headers        L<Mail::Box>     <false>                                                         
 folder             L<Mail::Box>     C<=Folders.dbx>                                                 
 folderdir          L<Mail::Box>     C<.>                                                            
 head_delayed_type  L<Mail::Box>     L<Mail::Message::Head::Delayed|Mail::Message::Head::Delayed>    
 head_type          L<Mail::Box>     L<Mail::Message::Head::Complete|Mail::Message::Head::Complete>  
 keep_dups          L<Mail::Box>     <false>                                                         
 lock_extension     L<Mail::Box::File>  C<'.lock'>                                                      
 lock_file          L<Mail::Box>     <foldername>.<lock-extension>                                   
 lock_timeout       L<Mail::Box>     1 hour                                                          
 lock_type          L<Mail::Box>     C<'NONE'>                                                       
 lock_wait          L<Mail::Box>     10 seconds                                                      
 locker             L<Mail::Box>     undef                                                           
 log                L<Mail::Reporter>  C<'WARNINGS'>                                                   
 manager            L<Mail::Box>     undef                                                           
 message_type       L<Mail::Box>     L<Mail::Box::Dbx::Message|Mail::Box::Dbx::Message>              
 multipart_type     L<Mail::Box>     L<Mail::Message::Body::Multipart|Mail::Message::Body::Multipart>
 remove_when_empty  L<Mail::Box>     C<not implemented>                                              
 save_on_exit       L<Mail::Box>     C<not implemented>                                              
 trace              L<Mail::Reporter>  C<'WARNINGS'>                                                   
 trusted            L<Mail::Box>     <depends on folder location>                                    
 write_policy       L<Mail::Box::File>  C<not implemented>

. access MODE

. body_delayed_type CLASS

. body_type CLASS|CODE

. coerce_options ARRAY

. create BOOLEAN

. extract INTEGER | CODE | METHOD | 'LAZY'|'ALWAYS'

. field_type CLASS

. fix_headers BOOLEAN

. folder FOLDERNAME

. folderdir DIRECTORY

. head_delayed_type CLASS

. head_type CLASS

. keep_dups BOOLEAN

. lock_extension FILENAME|STRING

. lock_file FILENAME

. lock_timeout SECONDS

. lock_type CLASS|STRING|ARRAY

. lock_wait SECONDS

. locker OBJECT

. log LEVEL

. manager MANAGER

. message_type CLASS

. multipart_type CLASS

. remove_when_empty BOOLEAN

. save_on_exit BOOLEAN

. trace LEVEL

. trusted BOOLEAN

. write_policy 'REPLACE'|'INPLACE'|undef

The folder

$obj->addMessage(MESSAGE, OPTIONS)

See The folder in the Mail::Box manpage

$obj->addMessages(MESSAGE [, MESSAGE, ...])

See The folder in the Mail::Box manpage

Mail::Box::Dbx->appendMessages(OPTIONS)

See METHODS in the Mail::Box::File manpage

$obj->close(OPTIONS)

See The folder in the Mail::Box manpage

$obj->copyTo(FOLDER, OPTIONS)

See The folder in the Mail::Box manpage

$obj->delete(OPTIONS)

See The folder in the Mail::Box manpage

$obj->filename

See The folder in the Mail::Box::File manpage

$obj->folderdir([DIRECTORY])

See The folder in the Mail::Box manpage

$obj->name

See The folder in the Mail::Box manpage

$obj->organization

See The folder in the Mail::Box manpage

$obj->size

See The folder in the Mail::Box manpage

$obj->type

See The folder in the Mail::Box manpage

$obj->update(OPTIONS)

See The folder in the Mail::Box manpage

$obj->url

See The folder in the Mail::Box manpage

Folder flags

$obj->access

See Folder flags in the Mail::Box manpage

$obj->isModified

See Folder flags in the Mail::Box manpage

$obj->modified([BOOLEAN])

See Folder flags in the Mail::Box manpage

$obj->writable

See Folder flags in the Mail::Box manpage

The messages

$obj->current([NUMBER|MESSAGE|MESSAGE-ID])

See The messages in the Mail::Box manpage

$obj->find(MESSAGE-ID)

See The messages in the Mail::Box manpage

$obj->findFirstLabeled(LABEL, [BOOLEAN, [ARRAY-OF-MSGS]])

See The messages in the Mail::Box manpage

$obj->message(INDEX [,MESSAGE])

See The messages in the Mail::Box manpage

$obj->messageId(MESSAGE-ID [,MESSAGE])

See The messages in the Mail::Box manpage

$obj->messageIds

See The messages in the Mail::Box manpage

$obj->messages(['ALL',RANGE,'ACTIVE','DELETED',LABEL,!LABEL,FILTER])

See The messages in the Mail::Box manpage

$obj->nrMessages(OPTIONS)

See The messages in the Mail::Box manpage

$obj->scanForMessages(MESSAGE, MESSAGE-IDS, TIMESPAN, WINDOW)

See The messages in the Mail::Box manpage

Sub-folders

$obj->listSubFolders(OPTIONS)

Mail::Box::Dbx->listSubFolders(OPTIONS)

It is adviced to set the check flag, because dbx folder often list large amounts of folder names which do not really exist. However, checking does consume some time.

 Option      Defined in       Default              
 check       L<Mail::Box>     <false>              
 folder      L<Mail::Box>     <from calling object>
 folderdir   L<Mail::Box>     <from folder>        
 skip_empty  L<Mail::Box>     <false>

. check BOOLEAN

. folder FOLDERNAME

. folderdir DIRECTORY

. skip_empty BOOL

$obj->nameOfSubFolder(SUBNAME, [PARENTNAME])

Mail::Box::Dbx->nameOfSubFolder(SUBNAME, [PARENTNAME])

See Sub-folders in the Mail::Box manpage

$obj->openRelatedFolder(OPTIONS)

See Sub-folders in the Mail::Box manpage

$obj->openSubFolder(SUBNAME, OPTIONS)

See Sub-folders in the Mail::Box manpage

$obj->topFolderWithMessages

Mail::Box::Dbx->topFolderWithMessages

See Sub-folders in the Mail::Box manpage

Internals

$obj->coerce(MESSAGE, OPTIONS)

See Internals in the Mail::Box manpage

$obj->create(FOLDERNAME, OPTIONS)

Mail::Box::Dbx->create(FOLDERNAME, OPTIONS)

Creation is not supported for dbx folders.

 Option     Defined in    Default
 folderdir  L<Mail::Box>  undef

. folderdir DIRECTORY

$obj->determineBodyType(MESSAGE, HEAD)

See Internals in the Mail::Box manpage

$obj->folderToFilename(FOLDERNAME, FOLDERDIR)

Mail::Box::Dbx->folderToFilename(FOLDERNAME, FOLDERDIR)

Translate a folder name into a filename, using the FOLDERDIR value to replace a leading =.

Mail::Box::Dbx->foundIn([FOLDERNAME], [OPTIONS])

If no FOLDERNAME is specified, then the value of the folder option is taken. A dbx folder is a file which name ends on .dbx (case insensitive).

 Option     Defined in       Default
 folder                      undef  
 folderdir  L<Mail::Box>     undef

. folder FOLDERNAME

. folderdir DIRECTORY

$obj->lineSeparator([STRING|'CR'|'LF'|'CRLF'])

See Internals in the Mail::Box manpage

$obj->locker

See Internals in the Mail::Box manpage

$obj->messageCreateOptions([TYPE, CONFIG])

See Internals in the Mail::Box::File manpage

$obj->moveAwaySubFolder(DIRECTORY, EXTENSION)

See Internals in the Mail::Box::File manpage

$obj->parser

The parsing of messages is a combined job for the Mail::Transport::Dbx module (to get the right data) and read(). Asking for the parser will provide the transporter object. If asked more than once, each time the same object will be returned.

$obj->read(OPTIONS)

See Internals in the Mail::Box manpage

$obj->readMessages(OPTIONS)

See Internals in the Mail::Box manpage

$obj->storeMessage(MESSAGE)

See Internals in the Mail::Box manpage

$obj->toBeThreaded(MESSAGES)

See Internals in the Mail::Box manpage

$obj->toBeUnthreaded(MESSAGES)

See Internals in the Mail::Box manpage

$obj->updateMessages(OPTIONS)

See Internals in the Mail::Box::File manpage

$obj->write(OPTIONS)

See Internals in the Mail::Box::File manpage

$obj->writeMessages(OPTIONS)

See Internals in the Mail::Box manpage

File based folders

Other methods

$obj->timespan2seconds(TIME)

Mail::Box::Dbx->timespan2seconds(TIME)

See Other methods in the Mail::Box manpage

Error handling

$obj->AUTOLOAD

See Error handling in the Mail::Reporter manpage

$obj->addReport(OBJECT)

See Error handling in the Mail::Reporter manpage

$obj->defaultTrace([LEVEL]|[LOGLEVEL, TRACELEVEL]|[LEVEL, CALLBACK])

Mail::Box::Dbx->defaultTrace([LEVEL]|[LOGLEVEL, TRACELEVEL]|[LEVEL, CALLBACK])

See Error handling in the Mail::Reporter manpage

$obj->errors

See Error handling in the Mail::Reporter manpage

$obj->log([LEVEL [,STRINGS]])

Mail::Box::Dbx->log([LEVEL [,STRINGS]])

See Error handling in the Mail::Reporter manpage

$obj->logPriority(LEVEL)

Mail::Box::Dbx->logPriority(LEVEL)

See Error handling in the Mail::Reporter manpage

$obj->logSettings

See Error handling in the Mail::Reporter manpage

$obj->notImplemented

See Error handling in the Mail::Reporter manpage

$obj->report([LEVEL])

See Error handling in the Mail::Reporter manpage

$obj->reportAll([LEVEL])

See Error handling in the Mail::Reporter manpage

$obj->trace([LEVEL])

See Error handling in the Mail::Reporter manpage

$obj->warnings

See Error handling in the Mail::Reporter manpage

Cleanup

$obj->DESTROY

See Cleanup in the Mail::Box manpage

$obj->inGlobalDestruction

See Cleanup in the Mail::Reporter manpage

DIAGNOSTICS

Error: Cannot append messages to folder file $filename: $!

Appending messages to a not-opened file-organized folder may fail when the operating system does not allow write access to the file at hand.

Error: Cannot move away sub-folder $dir

Error: Cannot read dbx folder file $filename.

Warning: Cannot remove folder $name file $filename: $!

Writing an empty folder will usually cause that folder to be removed, which fails for the indicated reason. new(remove_when_empty)

Warning: Cannot remove folder $name file $filename: $!

Writing an empty folder will usually cause that folder to be removed, which fails for the indicated reason. new(remove_when_empty) controls whether the empty folder will removed; setting it to false (0) may be needed to avoid this message.

Error: Cannot replace $filename by $tempname, to update folder $name: $!

The replace policy wrote a new folder file to update the existing, but was unable to give the final touch: replacing the old version of the folder file for the indicated reason.

Warning: Changes not written to read-only folder $self.

You have opened the folder read-only --which is the default set by new(access)--, made modifications, and now want to close it. Set close(force) if you want to overrule the access mode, or close the folder with close(write) set to NEVER.

Error: Copying failed for one message.

For some reason, for instance disc full, removed by external process, or read-protection, it is impossible to copy one of the messages. Copying will proceed for the other messages.

Warning: Dbx folders are read-only.

Error: Destination folder $name is not writable.

The folder where the messages are copied to is not opened with write access (see new(access)). This has no relation with write permission to the folder which is controled by your operating system.

Warning: Different messages with id $msgid.

The message id is discovered more than once within the same folder, but the content of the message seems to be different. This should not be possible: each message must be unique.

Error: File too short to get write message $nr ($size, $need)

Mail::Box is lazy: it tries to leave messages in the folders until they are used, which saves time and memory usage. When this message appears, something is terribly wrong: some lazy message are needed for updating the folder, but they cannot be retreived from the original file anymore. In this case, messages can be lost.

This message does appear regularly on Windows systems when using the 'replace' write policy. Please help to find the cause, probably something to do with Windows incorrectly handling multiple filehandles open in the same file.

Error: Folder $name not deleted: not writable.

The folder must be opened with write access via new(access), otherwise removing it will be refused. So, you may have write-access according to the operating system, but that will not automatically mean that this delete method permits you to. The reverse remark is valid as well.

Error: Invalid timespan '$timespan' specified.

The string does not follow the strict rules of the time span syntax which is permitted as parameter.

Warning: Message-id '$msgid' does not contain a domain.

According to the RFCs, message-ids need to contain a unique random part, then an @, and then a domain name. This is made to avoid the creation of two messages with the same id. The warning emerges when the @ is missing from the string.

Error: Package $package does not implement $method.

Fatal error: the specific package (or one of its superclasses) does not implement this method where it should. This message means that some other related classes do implement this method however the class at hand does not. Probably you should investigate this and probably inform the author of the package.

Error: Unable to create subfolder $name of $folder.

The copy includes the subfolders, but for some reason it was not possible to copy one of these. Copying will proceed for all other sub-folders.

Error: Unable to update folder $self.

When a folder is to be written, both replace and inplace write policies are tried, If both fail, the whole update fails. You may see other, related, error messages to indicate the real problem.

DETAILS

How DBX folders work

DBX files are create by Outlook Express. I can not tell you too much about it, because me (as author) never use Windows or MicroSoft tools. Still, it is possible to access some Outlook created folders from Unix.

The folder structure for dbx starts with a single Folders.dbx file. This folder contains names of sub-folders. Each folder can either contain messages, or contains sub-folders. Combinations are not possible.

This implementation

The ol2mbox project (see http://sourceforge.net/project/ol2mbox/) has created a libdbx which can read dbx files using nearly any operating system. You can simply transport a dbx file from Windows to Unix/Linux and the read all the messages from it.

Tassilo von Parseval wrote a Perl wrapper around this C-library, and distributes it as Mail::Transport::Dbx. Although it named in one the MailBox namespaces, it is a separate product, because it requires a C compiler. Besides, the module will have its own life.

Converting DBX folders to MBOX

The title of this section is to attract your attension, but is does not describe anything special related to DBX or MBOX: you can convert any kind of mail folder into an other with the following code.

Example: converting folders

 my $from = Mail::Box::Dbx->new(folder => 'Folder.dbx')
    or exit;
 my $to   = Mail::Box::Mbox->new(folder => '/tmp/mbox',
    access => 'w', create => 1) or die;
 $from->copyTo($to);

REFERENCES

See the MailBox website at http://perl.overmeer.net/mailbox/ for more details.

COPYRIGHTS

Distribution version 2.059. Written by Mark Overmeer (mark@overmeer.net) See the ChangeLog for other contributors.

Copyright (c) 2001-2003 by the author(s). All rights reserved. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

 Mail::Box::Dbx - read Outlook Express folders