Package jakarta.mail

Class Message

  • All Implemented Interfaces:
    Part
    Direct Known Subclasses:
    MimeMessage
    public abstract class Message
extends 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

    • 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

      • getSession

        public Session getSession()
        Return the Session used when this message was created.
        Returns:
        the message's Session
        Since:
        JavaMail 1.5

      • 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 - for failures

      • 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:
        IllegalWriteException - if the underlying implementation does not support modification of existing values
        IllegalStateException - if this message is obtained from a READ_ONLY folder.
        MessagingException - for other failures

      • 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:
        IllegalWriteException - if the underlying implementation does not support modification of existing values
        IllegalStateException - if this message is obtained from a READ_ONLY folder.
        MessagingException - for other failures

      • 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:
        IllegalWriteException - if the underlying implementation does not support modification of existing values
        MessagingException - for other failures

      • 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:
        IllegalWriteException - if the underlying implementation does not support modification of existing values
        MessagingException - for other failures

      • 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 - for failures
        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:
        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
        MessagingException - for other failures

      • getReceivedDate

        public abstract Date getReceivedDate()
                              throws MessagingException
        Get the date this message was received.
        Returns:
        the date this message was received
        Throws:
        MessagingException - for failures

      • 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 - for failures
        See Also:
        Flags, setFlags(jakarta.mail.Flags, boolean)

      • 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:
        IllegalWriteException - if the underlying implementation does not support modification of existing values.
        IllegalStateException - if this message is obtained from a READ_ONLY folder.
        MessagingException - for other failures
        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:
        IllegalWriteException - if the underlying implementation does not support modification of existing values.
        IllegalStateException - if this message is obtained from a READ_ONLY folder.
        MessagingException - for other failures
        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.
        Parameters:
        msgnum - the message number

      • 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.

        Returns:
        true if the message is expunged
        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 - for failures

      • 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:
        IllegalStateException - if this message is obtained from a READ_ONLY folder.
        IllegalWriteException - if the underlying implementation does not support modification of existing values.
        MessagingException - for other failures

      • 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 - for failures
        See Also:
        SearchTerm