Box::Tie::HASH(3)

NAME
Mail::Box::Tie::HASH - access an existing message folder as a hash

SYNOPSIS
 tie my(%inbox), 'Mail::Box::Tie', $folder;

 foreach my $msgid (keys %inbox)
 {   print $inbox{$msgid};
     delete $inbox{$msgid};
 }

 $inbox{$msg->messageId} = $msg;

DESCRIPTION
Certainly when you look at a folder as being a set of related messages based on message-id, it is logical to access the folder through a hash.

For a tied hash, the message-id is used as the key. The message-id is usually unique, but when two or more instances of the same message are in the same folder, one will be flagged for deletion and the other will be returned.

This implementation uses basic folder access routines which are related to the message-id.

METHOD INDEX
The general methods for "Mail::Box::Tie::HASH" objects:

      CLEAR                                FIRSTKEY
      DELETE MESSAGE-ID                    NEXTKEY
      EXISTS MESSAGE-ID                    STORE undef, MESSAGE
      FETCH MESSAGEID                      TIEHASH ...

METHODS

TIEHASH FOLDERTYPE, INIT-PARAMETERS
TIEHASH 'Mail::Box::Tie', FOLDER
    Connects the folder object to a hash.

    Examples:

        my $mgr    = Mail::Box::Manager->new;
        my $folder = $mgr->open(access => 'rw');
        tie my(%inbox), 'Mail::Box::Tie', $folder;

FETCH MESSAGEID
    Get the message with the specified id. The returned message may be a dummy if message thread detection is used. Returns "undef" when there is no message with the specified id.

    Examples:

        my $msg = $inbox{$msgid};
        if($inbox{$msgid}->isDummy)  ...

STORE undef, MESSAGE
    Store a message in the folder. The key must be "undef", because the message-id of the specified message is taken. This is shown in the first example. However, as you see, it is a bit complicated to specify "undef", therefore the string "undef" is accepted as weel.

    The message may be converted into something which can be stored in the folder type which is at stake. The added instance is returned.

    Example:

        $inbox{ (undef) } = $msg;
        $inbox{undef} = $msg;

FIRSTKEY
NEXTKEY
    FIRSTKEY returns the first message-id/message pair from the folder, and NEXTKEY returns the message-id/message pair for the next message, in the order in which the message is stored in the folder. Messages flagged for deletion WILL be returned. See the "messages" method of the folder type for more information about the folder message order.

    Examples:

        foreach my $msgid (keys %inbox) ...
        foreach my $msg (values %inbox) ...

        while(my ($msgid, $msg) = each %inbox) {
            $msg->print unless $msg->deleted;
        }

EXISTS MESSAGE-ID
    Check whether a message with a certain MESSAGE-ID exists.

    Example:

        if(exists $inbox{$msgid}) ...

DELETE MESSAGE-ID
    Remove the message with the specified MESSAGE-ID.

    Example:

        delete $inbox{$msgid};

CLEAR
    Remove the contents of the hash. This is not really possible, but all the messages will be flagged for deletion.

    Example:

       %inbox = ();
       %inbox = ($msg->messageId, $msg); #before adding msg

SEE ALSO
Mail::Box-Overview

For support and additional documentation, see http://perl.overmeer.net/mailbox/

AUTHOR
Mark Overmeer (mailbox@overmeer.net). All rights reserved. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

VERSION
This code is beta, version 2.018.

Copyright (c) 2001-2002 Mark Overmeer. All rights reserved. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.