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

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

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

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 CWMAil::Transport::Dbx module is based on the open source library named CWlibpst, which can be found at <http://alioth.debian.org/projects/libpst/>. The library does not support writing of dbx files, and therefore limits the possibilities of this package.

overload: "" See OVERLOADED in Mail::Box

overload: @{} See OVERLOADED in Mail::Box

overload: cmp See OVERLOADED in Mail::Box

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>

$obj->addMessage(MESSAGE, OPTIONS) See The folder in Mail::Box

$obj->addMessages(MESSAGE [, MESSAGE, ...]) See The folder in Mail::Box

Mail::Box::Dbx->appendMessages(OPTIONS) See METHODS in Mail::Box::File

$obj->close(OPTIONS) See The folder in Mail::Box

$obj->copyTo(FOLDER, OPTIONS) See The folder in Mail::Box

$obj->delete(OPTIONS) See The folder in Mail::Box

$obj->filename See The folder in Mail::Box::File

$obj->folderdir([DIRECTORY]) See The folder in Mail::Box

$obj->name See The folder in Mail::Box

$obj->organization See The folder in Mail::Box

$obj->size See The folder in Mail::Box

$obj->type See The folder in Mail::Box

$obj->update(OPTIONS) See The folder in Mail::Box

$obj->url See The folder in Mail::Box

$obj->access See Folder flags in Mail::Box

$obj->isModified See Folder flags in Mail::Box

$obj->modified([BOOLEAN]) See Folder flags in Mail::Box

$obj->writable See Folder flags in Mail::Box

$obj->current([NUMBER|MESSAGE|MESSAGE-ID]) See The messages in Mail::Box

$obj->find(MESSAGE-ID) See The messages in Mail::Box

$obj->findFirstLabeled(LABEL, [BOOLEAN, [ARRAY-OF-MSGS]]) See The messages in Mail::Box

$obj->message(INDEX [,MESSAGE]) See The messages in Mail::Box

$obj->messageId(MESSAGE-ID [,MESSAGE]) See The messages in Mail::Box

$obj->messageIds See The messages in Mail::Box

$obj->messages(['ALL',RANGE,'ACTIVE','DELETED',LABEL,!LABEL,FILTER]) See The messages in Mail::Box

$obj->nrMessages(OPTIONS) See The messages in Mail::Box

$obj->scanForMessages(MESSAGE, MESSAGE-IDS, TIMESPAN, WINDOW) See The messages in Mail::Box

$obj->listSubFolders(OPTIONS)

Mail::Box::Dbx->listSubFolders(OPTIONS) It is adviced to set the CWcheck 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>

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

Mail::Box::Dbx->nameOfSubFolder(SUBNAME, [PARENTNAME]) See Sub-folders in Mail::Box

$obj->openRelatedFolder(OPTIONS) See Sub-folders in Mail::Box

$obj->openSubFolder(SUBNAME, OPTIONS) See Sub-folders in Mail::Box

$obj->topFolderWithMessages

Mail::Box::Dbx->topFolderWithMessages See Sub-folders in Mail::Box

$obj->coerce(MESSAGE, OPTIONS) See Internals in Mail::Box

$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

$obj->determineBodyType(MESSAGE, HEAD) See Internals in Mail::Box

$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 CW=.

Mail::Box::Dbx->foundIn([FOLDERNAME], [OPTIONS]) If no FOLDERNAME is specified, then the value of the CWfolder option is taken. A dbx folder is a file which name ends on CW.dbx (case insensitive).

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

$obj->lineSeparator([STRING|'CR'|'LF'|'CRLF']) See Internals in Mail::Box

$obj->locker See Internals in Mail::Box

$obj->messageCreateOptions([TYPE, CONFIG]) See Internals in Mail::Box::File

$obj->moveAwaySubFolder(DIRECTORY, EXTENSION) See Internals in Mail::Box::File

$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 Mail::Box

$obj->readMessages(OPTIONS) See Internals in Mail::Box

$obj->storeMessage(MESSAGE) See Internals in Mail::Box

$obj->toBeThreaded(MESSAGES) See Internals in Mail::Box

$obj->toBeUnthreaded(MESSAGES) See Internals in Mail::Box

$obj->updateMessages(OPTIONS) See Internals in Mail::Box::File

$obj->write(OPTIONS) See Internals in Mail::Box::File

$obj->writeMessages(OPTIONS) See Internals in Mail::Box

File based folders

$obj->timespan2seconds(TIME)

Mail::Box::Dbx->timespan2seconds(TIME) See Other methods in Mail::Box

$obj->AUTOLOAD See Error handling in Mail::Reporter

$obj->addReport(OBJECT) See Error handling in Mail::Reporter

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

Mail::Box::Dbx->defaultTrace([LEVEL]|[LOGLEVEL, TRACELEVEL]|[LEVEL, CALLBACK]) See Error handling in Mail::Reporter

$obj->errors See Error handling in Mail::Reporter

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

Mail::Box::Dbx->log([LEVEL [,STRINGS]]) See Error handling in Mail::Reporter

$obj->logPriority(LEVEL)

Mail::Box::Dbx->logPriority(LEVEL) See Error handling in Mail::Reporter

$obj->logSettings See Error handling in Mail::Reporter

$obj->notImplemented See Error handling in Mail::Reporter

$obj->report([LEVEL]) See Error handling in Mail::Reporter

$obj->reportAll([LEVEL]) See Error handling in Mail::Reporter

$obj->trace([LEVEL]) See Error handling in Mail::Reporter

$obj->warnings See Error handling in Mail::Reporter

$obj->DESTROY See Cleanup in Mail::Box

$obj->inGlobalDestruction See Cleanup in Mail::Reporter

Error: Cannot append messages to folder file CW$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 CW$dir

Error: Cannot read dbx folder file CW$filename.

Warning: Cannot remove folder CW$name file CW$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 CW$name file CW$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 (CW0) may be needed to avoid this message.

Error: Cannot replace CW$filename by CW$tempname, to update folder CW$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 CW$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 CWNEVER.

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 CW$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 CW$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 CW$nr ($size, CW$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 CW$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 CWdelete 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 CW@, and then a domain name. This is made to avoid the creation of two messages with the same id. The warning emerges when the CW@ is missing from the string.

Error: Package CW$package does not implement CW$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 CW$name of CW$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 CW$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.

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 CWFolders.dbx file. This folder contains names of sub-folders. Each folder can either contain messages, or contains sub-folders. Combinations are not possible.

The ol2mbox project (see <http://sourceforge.net/project/ol2mbox/>) has created a CWlibdbx 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.

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);

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

Distribution version 2.063. 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.