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UIDFolder.java API Doc JavaMail 1.4.3 7097 Tue Nov 17 10:38:12 GMT 2009 javax.mail

UIDFolder

public interface UIDFolder

The UIDFolder interface is implemented by Folders that can support the "disconnected" mode of operation, by providing unique-ids for messages in the folder. This interface is based on the IMAP model for supporting disconnected operation.

A Unique identifier (UID) is a positive long value, assigned to each message in a specific folder. Unique identifiers are assigned in a strictly ascending fashion in the mailbox. That is, as each message is added to the mailbox it is assigned a higher UID than the message(s) which were added previously. Unique identifiers persist across sessions. This permits a client to resynchronize its state from a previous session with the server.

Associated with every mailbox is a unique identifier validity value. If unique identifiers from an earlier session fail to persist to this session, the unique identifier validity value must be greater than the one used in the earlier session.

Refer to RFC 2060 http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2060.txt for more information.

author: John Mani

Fields Summary
public static final long
LASTUID
This is a special value that can be used as the end parameter in getMessagesByUID(start, end), to denote the UID of the last message in the folder.
Constructors Summary
Methods Summary
public Message getMessageByUID(long uid)
Get the Message corresponding to the given UID. If no such message exists, null is returned.
param
uid UID for the desired message
return
the Message object. null is returned if no message corresponding to this UID is obtained.
exception
MessagingException
public Message[] getMessagesByUID(long start, long end)
Get the Messages specified by the given range. The special value LASTUID can be used for the end parameter to indicate the UID of the last message in the folder.
Note that end need not be greater than start; the order of the range doesn't matter. Note also that, unless the folder is empty, use of LASTUID ensures that at least one message will be returned - the last message in the folder.
param
start start UID
param
end end UID
return
array of Message objects
exception
MessagingException
see
#LASTUID
public Message[] getMessagesByUID(long[] uids)
Get the Messages specified by the given array of UIDs. If any UID is invalid, null is returned for that entry.
Note that the returned array will be of the same size as the specified array of UIDs, and null entries may be present in the array to indicate invalid UIDs.
param
uids array of UIDs
return
array of Message objects
exception
MessagingException
public long getUID(Message message)
Get the UID for the specified message. Note that the message must belong to this folder. Otherwise java.util.NoSuchElementException is thrown.
param
message Message from this folder
return
UID for this message
exception
NoSuchElementException if the given Message is not in this Folder.
public long getUIDValidity()
Returns the UIDValidity value associated with this folder.
Clients typically compare this value against a UIDValidity value saved from a previous session to insure that any cached UIDs are not stale.
return
UIDValidity