NAME

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

SYNOPSIS

        tie my(%inbox), 'Mail::Box::Tie::HASH', $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.

METHODS

   Constructors
       TIEHASH('Mail::Box::Tie::HASH', FOLDER)
           Connects the FOLDER object to a HASH.

           example:

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

   Tied Interface
       $obj->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

       $obj->DELETE($message_id)
           Remove the message with the specified $message_id.

           example:

            delete $inbox{$msgid};

       $obj->EXISTS($message_id)
           Check whether a message with a certain $message_id exists.

           example:

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

       $obj->FETCH($message_id)
           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.

           example:

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

       $obj->FIRSTKEY()
           See NEXTKEY().

       $obj->NEXTKEY($previous)
           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  not  be returned. See the Mail::Box::messages() method of the
           folder type for more information about the folder message order.

           example:

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

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

       $obj->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 well.

           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;

SEE ALSO

       This module is  part  of  Mail-Box  distribution  version  3.011,  built  on  April  18,  2025.  Website:
       http://perl.overmeer.net/CPAN/

LICENSE

       Copyrights 2001-2025 by [Mark Overmeer]. For other contributors see ChangeLog.

       This  program  is  free  software;  you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl
       itself.  See http://dev.perl.org/licenses/

perl v5.40.1                                       2025-04-25                          Mail::Box::Tie::HASH(3pm)