MIME::Parser parse

boosth has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

HI, I'm stumped on how to resolve this issue. I have an email parser which uses MIME:Parser. It works most of the time but sometimes with some emails I get behaviour which seems to be unintended.

$parser = MIME::Parser->new( );
$parser->ignore_errors(1);
$parser->extract_uuencode(1);
$parser->extract_nested_messages(1);
$parser->output_to_core(1); # don't write attachments to disk


my $tmpMessage = $parser->parse_data($body);
my $tmp_num_parts = $tmpMessage->parts;

                        for (my $ii=0; $ii < $tmp_num_parts; $ii++)
                        {
                                my $tmp_part = $tmpMessage->parts($i);
                                my $tmp_content_type = $tmp_part->mime
+_type;
                                my $tmp_body = $tmp_part->as_string;
[download]

Sometimes this works: A)


if ($tmp_body =~ /Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64/i)
                                        {
                                                $MessageBody = "  ". $
+tmp_part->bodyhandle->as_string;
                                        }
[download]

and sometimes this works: B)


if ($tmp_body =~ /Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64/i)
                                        {
                                                $MessageBody = "  ". d
+ecode('UTF-8',decode_base64($tmp_part->bodyhandle->as_string));
                                        }
[download]

What I am finding difficult to figure out is how do I handle both cases gracefully. Afaict it is one or the other without some hideous method to check if the text is somehow readable for a human.

Comment on MIME::Parser parse_data Select or Download Code

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: MIME::Parser parse_data by Corion (Patriarch) on Jan 17, 2013 at 17:20 UTC
I think the content encoding after base64 decoding is in the `Content-Encoding` header. Or at least, it should be, if the sending MUA adds it. Otherwise, you have to ass-u-me some default encoding.	[reply] [d/l]
Re^2: MIME::Parser parse_data by boosth (Initiate) on Jan 17, 2013 at 18:19 UTC
An example that I have that is working with option A. Even though the raw data is clearly base64 encoded it is being parsed as a human readable string `$tmp_part->bodyhandle->as_string` [download] There is no "Content-Encoding" header in the raw mail. Here's the relevant part of the header: X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft Exchange V6.5 Content-class: urn:cont +ent-classes:message MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/related; type="multipart/alternative"; boundary="----_=NextPart001_01CDF2E2.B6A090C6" This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------_=NextPart001_01CDF2E2.B6A090C6 Content-Type: multipart/alternat +ive; boundary="----_=NextPart002_01CDF2E2.B6A090C6" ------_=NextPart002_01CDF2E2.B6A090C6 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64 SGkgU3VlICwKCldpbGwgYmUgaW4gdG91Y2ggaSBhbSB0aGlua2luZyBvZiBkb2luZyBhIH +RyaXAg dG8gSXRhbH ... [download]	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^3: MIME::Parser parse_data by Corion (Patriarch) on Jan 17, 2013 at 18:25 UTC
`Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"` [download] That's a good hint for that part...	[reply] [d/l]
Re^4: MIME::Parser parse_data by boosth (Initiate) on Jan 17, 2013 at 18:57 UTC
Re^5: MIME::Parser parse_data by Corion (Patriarch) on Jan 17, 2013 at 19:08 UTC
Re^4: MIME::Parser parse_data by boosth (Initiate) on Jan 17, 2013 at 20:42 UTC
Re^5: MIME::Parser parse_data by boosth (Initiate) on Jan 17, 2013 at 23:15 UTC