buildmail
Low level rfc2822 message composer that streams output. Define your own mime tree, no magic included.
Ported from MailBuild of the emailjs.org project. This port uses similar API but is for Node only and streams the output.
Usage
Install with npm
npm install buildmail
Require in your scripts
var BuildMail = require('buildmail');
API
Create a new BuildMail
object with
var builder = new BuildMail(contentType [, options]);
Where
- contentType - define the content type for created node. Can be left blank for attachments (content type derived from
filename
option if available) - options - an optional options object
- filename - String filename for an attachment node
- baseBoundary - String shared part of the unique multipart boundary (generated randomly if not set)
- keepBcc - Boolean If true keep the Bcc value in generated headers (default is to remove it)
Methods
The same methods apply to the root node created with new BuildMail()
and to any child nodes.
createChild
Creates and appends a child node to the node object
node.createChild(contentType, options)
The same arguments apply as with new BuildMail()
. Created node object is returned.
Example
new BuildMail('multipart/mixed').
createChild('multipart/related').
createChild('text/plain');
Generates the following mime tree:
multipart/mixed
↳ multipart/related
↳ text/plain
appendChild
Appends an existing child node to the node object. Removes the node from an existing tree if needed.
node.appendChild(childNode)
Where
- childNode - child node to be appended
Method returns appended child node.
Example
var childNode = new BuildMail('text/plain'),
rootNode = new BuildMail('multipart/mixed');
rootnode.appendChild(childNode);
Generates the following mime tree:
multipart/mixed
↳ text/plain
replace
Replaces current node with another node
node.replace(replacementNode)
Where
- replacementNode - node to replace the current node with
Method returns replacement node.
Example
var rootNode = new BuildMail('multipart/mixed'),
childNode = rootNode.createChild('text/plain');
childNode.replace(new BuildMail('text/html'));
Generates the following mime tree:
multipart/mixed
↳ text/html
remove
Removes current node from the mime tree. Does not make a lot of sense for a root node.
node.remove();
Method returns removed node.
Example
var rootNode = new BuildMail('multipart/mixed'),
childNode = rootNode.createChild('text/plain');
childNode.remove();
Generates the following mime tree:
multipart/mixed
Sets a header value. If the value for selected key exists, it is overwritten.
You can set multiple values as well by using [{key:'', value:''}]
or
{key: 'value'}
structures as the first argument.
node.setHeader(key, value);
Where
- key - String|Array|Object Header key or a list of key value pairs
- value - String Header value
Method returns current node.
Example
new BuildMail('text/plain').
setHeader('content-disposition', 'inline').
setHeader({
'content-transfer-encoding': '7bit'
}).
setHeader([
{key: 'message-id', value: 'abcde'}
Generates the following header:
Content-type: text/plain
Content-Disposition: inline
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Message-Id: <abcde>
Adds a header value. If the value for selected key exists, the value is appended
as a new field and old one is not touched.
You can set multiple values as well by using [{key:'', value:''}]
or
{key: 'value'}
structures as the first argument.
node.addHeader(key, value);
Where
- key - String|Array|Object Header key or a list of key value pairs
- value - String Header value
Method returns current node.
Example
new BuildMail('text/plain').
addHeader('X-Spam', '1').
setHeader({
'x-spam': '2'
}).
setHeader([
{key: 'x-spam', value: '3'}
]);
Generates the following header:
Content-type: text/plain
X-Spam: 1
X-Spam: 2
X-Spam: 3
Retrieves the first mathcing value of a selected key
node.getHeader(key)
Where
- key - String Key to search for
Example
new BuildMail('text/plain').getHeader('content-type');
Builds the current header info into a header block that can be used in an e-mail
var headers = node.buildHeaders()
Example
new BuildMail('text/plain').
addHeader('X-Spam', '1').
setHeader({
'x-spam': '2'
}).
setHeader([
{key: 'x-spam', value: '3'}
]).buildHeaders();
returns the following String
Content-Type: text/plain
X-Spam: 3
Date: Sat, 21 Jun 2014 10:52:44 +0000
Message-Id: <1403347964894-790a5296-0eb7c7c7-6440334f@localhost>
MIME-Version: 1.0
If the node is the root node, then Date
and Message-Id
values are generated automatically if missing
setContent
Sets body content for current node. If the value is a string and Content-Type is text/* then charset is set automatically.
If the value is a Buffer or a Stream you need to specify the charset yourself.
node.setContent(body)
Where
- body - String|Buffer|Stream|Object body content
If the value is an object, it should include one of the following properties
- path - path to a file that will be used as the content
- href - URL that will be used as the content
Example
new BuildMail('text/plain').setContent('Hello world!');
new BuildMail('text/plain; charset=utf-8').setContent(fs.createReadStream('message.txt'));
build
Builds the rfc2822 message from the current node. If this is a root node, mandatory header fields are set if missing (Date, Message-Id, MIME-Version)
node.build(callback)
Callback returns the rfc2822 message as a Buffer
Example
new BuildMail('text/plain').setContent('Hello world!').build(function(err, mail){
console.log(mail.toString('ascii'));
});
Returns the following string:
Content-type: text/plain
Date: <current datetime>
Message-Id: <generated value>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Hello world!
createReadStream
If you manage large attachments you probably do not want to generate but stream the message.
var stream = node.createReadStream(options)
Where
- options - Object optional Stream options (ie.
highWaterMark
)
Example
var message = new BuildMail();
message.addHeader({
from: 'From <from@example.com>',
to: 'receiver1@example.com',
cc: 'receiver2@example.com'
});
message.setContent(fs.createReadStream('message.txt'));
message.createReadStream().pipe(fs.createWriteStream('message.eml'));
transform
If you want to modify the created stream, you can add transform streams that the output will be piped through.
node.transform(transformStream)
Where
- transformStream - Stream Transform streat that the output will go through before returing with
createReadStream
Example
var PassThrough = require('stream').PassThrough;
var message = new BuildMail();
message.addHeader({
from: 'From <from@example.com>',
to: 'receiver1@example.com',
cc: 'receiver2@example.com'
});
message.setContent(fs.createReadStream('message.txt'));
message.transform(new PassThrough());
message.createReadStream().pipe(fs.createWriteStream('message.eml'));
setEnvelope
Set envelope object to use. If one is not set, it is generated based ong the headers.
node.setEnvelope(envelope)
Where
- envelope is an envelope object in the form of
{from:'address', to: ['addresses']}
getEnvelope
Generates a SMTP envelope object. Makes sense only for root node.
var envelope = node.generateEnvelope()
Method returns the envelope in the form of {from:'address', to: ['addresses']}
Example
new BuildMail().
addHeader({
from: 'From <from@example.com>',
to: 'receiver1@example.com',
cc: 'receiver2@example.com'
}).
getEnvelope();
Returns the following object:
{
'from': 'from@example.com',
'to': ['receiver1@example.com', 'receiver2@example.com']
}
Notes
Addresses
When setting address headers (From
, To
, Cc
, Bcc
) use of unicode is allowed. If needed
the addresses are converted to punycode automatically.
Attachments
For attachments you should minimally set filename
option and Content-Disposition
header. If filename is specified, you can leave content type blank - if content type is not set, it is detected from the filename.
new BuildMail('multipart/mixed').
createChild(false, {filename: 'image.png'}).
setHeader('Content-Disposition', 'attachment');
Obviously you might want to add Content-Id
header as well if you want to reference this attachment from the HTML content.
MIME structure
Most probably you only need to deal with the following multipart types when generating messages:
- multipart/alternative - includes the same content in different forms (usually text/plain + text/html)
- multipart/related - includes main node and related nodes (eg. text/html + referenced attachments). Also requires a
type
parameter that indicates the Content-Type of the root element in the node - multipart/mixed - includes other multipart nodes and attachments, or single content node and attachments
Examples
One content node and an attachment
multipart/mixed
↳ text/plain
↳ image/png
Content node with referenced attachment (eg. image with Content-Type
referenced by cid:
url in the HTML)
multipart/related
↳ text/html
↳ image/png
Plaintext and HTML alternatives
multipart/alternative
↳ text/html
↳ text/plain
One content node with referenced attachment and a regular attachment
multipart/mixed
↳ multipart/related
↳ text/plain
↳ image/png
↳ application/x-zip
Alternative content with referenced attachment for HTML and a regular attachment
multipart/mixed
↳ multipart/alternative
↳ text/plain
↳ multipart/related
↳ text/html
↳ image/png
↳ application/x-zip
License
MIT