Constructing a message¶

$obj->forward(%options)

Forward the content of this message. The body of the message to be forwarded is encapsulated in some accompanying text (if you have no wish for that, than "bounce" is your choice). A Mail::Message object is returned on success.

You may forward a whole message, but also message parts. You may wish to overrule some of the default header settings for the reply immediately, or you may do that later with "set" on the header.

When a multi-part body is encountered, and the message is included to ATTACH, the parts which look like signatures will be removed. If only one message remains, it will be the added as single attachment, otherwise a nested multipart will be the result. The value of this option does not matter, as long as it is present. See "Mail::Message::Body::Multipart".

 -Option    --Default
  Bcc         undef
  Cc          undef
  Date        <now>
  From        <'to' in current>
  Message-ID  <uniquely generated>
  Subject     forwardSubject()
  To          <required>
  body        undef
  include     <if body then 'NO' else C<'INLINE'>>
  preamble    constructed from prelude and postlude
  signature   undef
    

$obj->forwardAttach(%options)

Forward the message as flat attachment to the specified "preamble". You can specify all options available to forward(), although a "preamble" which is provided as body object is required, and any specified "body" is ignored.

 -Option  --Default
  preamble  <required>
    

$obj->forwardEncapsulate(%options)

Like forwardAttach(), but in this case the original message is first encapsulated as nested message in a Mail::Message::Body::Nested, and then joint into a multipart.

You can specify all options available to forward(), although a "preamble" which is provided as body object is required, and any specified "body" is ignored. Signatures are not stripped. Signatures are not stripped.

 -Option  --Default
  preamble  <required>
    

$obj->forwardInline(%options)

This method is equivalent in behavior to forward() with the option "include" set to 'INLINE'. You can specify most of the fields which are available to forward() except "include" and "body".

 -Option         --Default
  is_attached      "[The forwarded message is attached]\n"
  max_signature    10
  postlude         undef
  prelude          undef
  quote            undef
  strip_signature  qr/^--\s/
    

$obj->forwardNo(%options)

Construct a forward, where the whole body of the message is already constructed. That complex body is usually produced in forwardInline(), forwardAttach(), or forwardEncapsulate().

The %options are the same as for forward() except that "body" is required. Some other options, like "preamble", are ignored.

 -Option--Default
  body    <required>
    

$obj->forwardPostlude()

Added after the forwarded message.

example:

 ---- END forwarded message
    

$obj->forwardPrelude()

Create a few lines to be included before the forwarded message content. The return is an array of lines.

example:

 ---- BEGIN forwarded message
 From: him@somewhere.else.nl (Original Sender)
 To: me@example.com (Me the receiver)
 Cc: the.rest@world.net
 Date: Wed, 9 Feb 2000 15:44:05 -0500
 <blank line>
    

$obj->forwardSubject(STRING)

Create a subject for a message which is a forward from this one. This routine tries to count the level of reply in subject field, and transform it into a standard form. Please contribute improvements.

example:

 subject                 --> Forw: subject
 Re: subject             --> Forw: Re: subject
 Re[X]: subject          --> Forw: Re[X]: subject
 <blank>                 --> Forwarded
    

Creating a forward¶

The main difference between bounce() and forward() is the reason for message processing. The bounce has no intention to modify the content of message: the same information is passed-on to someplace else. This may mean some conversions, but for instance, the Message-ID does not need to be changed.

The purpose of forward() is to pass on information which is modified: annotated or reduced. The information is not sent back to the author of the original message (which is implemented by reply()), but to someone else.

So: some information comes in, is modified, and than forwarded to someone else. Currently, there are four ways to get the original information included, which are explained in the next sections.

After the creation of the forward, you may want to rebuild() the message to remove unnecessary complexities. Of course, that is not required.

forward, specify a body

When you specify forward(body), you have created your own body object to be used as content of the forwarded message. This implies that forward(include) is 'NO': no automatic generation of the forwarded body.

forward, inline the original

The forward(include) is set to 'INLINE' (the default) This is the most complicated situation, but most often used by MUAs: the original message is inserted textually in the new body. You can set-up automatic stripping of signatures, the way of encapsulation, and texts which should be added before and after the encapsulated part.

However, the result may not always be what you expect. For instance, some people use very long signatures which will not be automatically stripped because the pass the threshold. So, you probably need some manual intervention after the message is created and before it is sent.

When a binary message is encountered, inlining is impossible. In that case, the message is treated as if 'ENCAPSULATE' was requested.

forward, attach the original

When forward(include) is explicitly set to 'ATTACH' the result will be a multipart which contains two parts. The first part will be your message, and the second the body of the original message.

This means that the headers of the forwarded message are used for the new message, and detached from the part which now contains the original body information. Content related headers will (of course) still be part of that part, but lines line "To" and "Subject" will not be stored with that part.

As example of the structural transformation:

 # code: $original->printStructure;
 multipart/alternative: The source message
   text/plain: content in raw text
   text/html: content as html
 # code: $fwd = $original->forward(include => 'ATTACH');
 # code: $fwd->printStructure
 multipart/mixed: The source message
   text/plain: prelude/postlude/signature
   multipart/alternative
     text/plain: content in raw text
     text/html: content as html

forward, encapsulate the original

When forward(include) is explicitly set to 'ENCAPSULATE', then the original message is left in-tact as good as possible. The lines of the original message are used in the main message header but also enclosed in the part header.

The encapsulation is implemented using a nested message, content type "message/rfc822". As example of the structural transformation:

 # code: $original->printStructure;
 multipart/alternative: The source message
   text/plain: content in raw text
   text/html: content as html
 # code: $fwd = $original->forward(include => 'ENCAPSULATE');
 # code: $fwd->printStructure
 multipart/mixed: The source message
   text/plain: prelude/postlude/signature
   message/rfc822
      multipart/alternative: The source message
         text/plain: content in raw text
         text/html: content as html

The message structure is much more complex, but no information is lost. This is probably the reason why many MUAs use this when the forward an original message as attachment.