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Posted to dev@poi.apache.org by "A. Rothman" <am...@amichais.net> on 2003/06/20 13:34:19 UTC
POI TNEF Contribution
Hi!
I'm developing a Java implementation for MS-TNEF mail extraction. TNEF, even
though not based on the POIFS (it's a different format), does seem to belong
with the rest of the POI packages - it's an obscure MS format used by
Office's Outlook and Outlook Express and Exchange servers, for sending mail
whenever formatting (rich text) or MS-specific mail extensions (like voting
buttons) are added to a mail. The problem is, as with the other MS formats,
that the rest of the world can't read those mails - once TNEF is used, the
entire mail contents other than the basic headers, including all
attachments, are added into the TNEF file (usually named WINMAIL.DAT - run a
web search to see how much trouble this causes people...).
I've found several C/C++ utilities to extract the attachments (and other
contents) out of the TNEF file, but couldn't find any Java implementation.
So I decided to write one as an open source project
(http://www.freeutils.net/source/jtnef/), and I would like to contribute it
to the POI project, which seems like the perfect place for it, where it can
both grow and reach all those developers seeking a solution to yet another
MS conundrum...
Please let me know what you think. I hope this is the right forum for my
suggestion - if not, please accept my appologies and direct me to the right
one :)
Thanx!
Amichai
Re: POI TNEF Contribution
Posted by "Andrew C. Oliver" <ac...@apache.org>.
HMMF? Humph is a sound of disgust, etc...MM = Mail Message
So lets hold a vote. Note that you should go ahead and fax this:
http://jakarta.apache.org/site/agreement.html
If the vote is positive, refactor to: org.apache.poi.hmmf as your root
package.
Are there any dependencies? Are all dependencies ASL, BSD license?
Jim, let us know when that's in, pretty please. :-)
-Andy
On 6/27/03 6:41 AM, "A. Rothman" <am...@amichais.net> wrote:
> I used nothing beyond what's available on the MSDN site, dumps of messages
> sent from Outlook, and debugging.
>
> As for the API, as I said before I'd be happy to hear suggestions regarding
> the high level API - both of what interface would be most comfortable and
> useful for users, and how it might fit in with POI - the naming suggestion,
> for one, sounds good to me!
>
> Amichai
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Rainer Klute" <ra...@epost.de>
> To: "POI Developers List" <po...@jakarta.apache.org>
> Cc: <kl...@rainer-klute.de>; <am...@amichais.net>
> Sent: Thursday, June 26, 2003 8:16 AM
> Subject: Re: POI TNEF Contribution
>
>
>> On Fri, 20 Jun 2003 13:34:19 +0200 "A. Rothman" <am...@amichais.net>
> wrote:
>>
>>> Please let me know what you think.
>>
>> I think this is a very good idea and a very useful tool. Besides the
> conditions Glen mentioned there is also the constraint that you may not have
> used any documentation from Microsoft which you received under a
> non-disclosure agreement.
>>
>> Otherwise you should create an API that fits into POI somehow without
> relying on POIFS. Of course you contribution will have its own package, like
> org.apache.poi.hmef (HMEF = Horrible Mail Extensions Format - just a
> suggestion, pick something else if you don't like it.)
>>
>> Best regards
>> Rainer Klute
>>
>> Rainer Klute IT-Consulting GmbH
>> Dipl.-Inform.
>> Rainer Klute E-Mail: klute@rainer-klute.de
>> Körner Grund 24 Telefon: +49 172 2324824
>> D-44143 Dortmund Telefax: +49 231 5349423
>>
>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>> To unsubscribe, e-mail: poi-dev-unsubscribe@jakarta.apache.org
>> For additional commands, e-mail: poi-dev-help@jakarta.apache.org
>>
>
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> To unsubscribe, e-mail: poi-dev-unsubscribe@jakarta.apache.org
> For additional commands, e-mail: poi-dev-help@jakarta.apache.org
>
--
Andrew C. Oliver
http://www.superlinksoftware.com/poi.jsp
Custom enhancements and Commercial Implementation for Jakarta POI
http://jakarta.apache.org/poi
For Java and Excel, Got POI?
Re: POI TNEF Contribution
Posted by "A. Rothman" <am...@amichais.net>.
I used nothing beyond what's available on the MSDN site, dumps of messages
sent from Outlook, and debugging.
As for the API, as I said before I'd be happy to hear suggestions regarding
the high level API - both of what interface would be most comfortable and
useful for users, and how it might fit in with POI - the naming suggestion,
for one, sounds good to me!
Amichai
----- Original Message -----
From: "Rainer Klute" <ra...@epost.de>
To: "POI Developers List" <po...@jakarta.apache.org>
Cc: <kl...@rainer-klute.de>; <am...@amichais.net>
Sent: Thursday, June 26, 2003 8:16 AM
Subject: Re: POI TNEF Contribution
> On Fri, 20 Jun 2003 13:34:19 +0200 "A. Rothman" <am...@amichais.net>
wrote:
>
> > Please let me know what you think.
>
> I think this is a very good idea and a very useful tool. Besides the
conditions Glen mentioned there is also the constraint that you may not have
used any documentation from Microsoft which you received under a
non-disclosure agreement.
>
> Otherwise you should create an API that fits into POI somehow without
relying on POIFS. Of course you contribution will have its own package, like
org.apache.poi.hmef (HMEF = Horrible Mail Extensions Format - just a
suggestion, pick something else if you don't like it.)
>
> Best regards
> Rainer Klute
>
> Rainer Klute IT-Consulting GmbH
> Dipl.-Inform.
> Rainer Klute E-Mail: klute@rainer-klute.de
> Körner Grund 24 Telefon: +49 172 2324824
> D-44143 Dortmund Telefax: +49 231 5349423
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> To unsubscribe, e-mail: poi-dev-unsubscribe@jakarta.apache.org
> For additional commands, e-mail: poi-dev-help@jakarta.apache.org
>
Re: POI TNEF Contribution
Posted by Rainer Klute <ra...@epost.de>.
On Fri, 20 Jun 2003 13:34:19 +0200 "A. Rothman" <am...@amichais.net> wrote:
> Please let me know what you think.
I think this is a very good idea and a very useful tool. Besides the conditions Glen mentioned there is also the constraint that you may not have used any documentation from Microsoft which you received under a non-disclosure agreement.
Otherwise you should create an API that fits into POI somehow without relying on POIFS. Of course you contribution will have its own package, like org.apache.poi.hmef (HMEF = Horrible Mail Extensions Format - just a suggestion, pick something else if you don't like it.)
Best regards
Rainer Klute
Rainer Klute IT-Consulting GmbH
Dipl.-Inform.
Rainer Klute E-Mail: klute@rainer-klute.de
Körner Grund 24 Telefon: +49 172 2324824
D-44143 Dortmund Telefax: +49 231 5349423
Re: POI TNEF Contribution
Posted by "A. Rothman" <am...@amichais.net>.
1. Of course.
2. I'll do my best. However, I'll be happy to see others take a good look at
the code, which is pretty straightforward I think, and share their insight.
My hunch is that there may be some initial structural/high level API
changes, but once an initial release is made it won't require too much
maintenance - the TNEF format itself is pretty stale as far as I can tell,
and since it's based on 'transparent' encapsulation of MAPI properties it
will not require any modification with new MS-Office releases (new MAPI
props may be transported, but the interpretation of these props are up to
the implementation anyway - the JTNEF package simply provides access to
them).
The only other major issue I can think of is that it currently only supports
reading TNEF streams, not writing them. However it seems to me most Java
developers would only need to open received TNEF email messages (both client
and server side), while writing a Java email client that sends messages that
can be read only by MS products sounds a bit awkward.
But of course we'll give the people whatever they need :)
3.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/mapi/html/_mapi1book_transport_neutral_encapsulation_format_tnef_.asp .
Some of the descriptions are a bit vague but working with real streams and
the C headers sorted it out.
4. Sure, though I may need a little help till I get the hang of it - I
haven't been active in any Apache project before.
Amichai
----- Original Message -----
From: "Glen Stampoultzis" <gs...@iinet.net.au>
To: "POI Developers List" <po...@jakarta.apache.org>
Sent: Saturday, June 21, 2003 6:11 AM
Subject: Re: POI TNEF Contribution
>
> Sounds like a reasonable fit. Some questions/issues:
>
> 1. I noticed it's GPL. Are you willing to change the license to the
Apache
> license and assign copyright to the Apache Foundation? I think there's
> some paper work to be signed.
> 2. Do you come with this source code and are you willing to hang around
for
> the long term to help support this code?
> 3. Is there any documentation on the TNEF format? If not are you looking
> at writing some?
> 4. Are you willing a abide by the apache constitution?
> (http://java.apache.org/main/constitution.html)
>
> Well done on unlocking this format for Java programmers. The more MS
> formats we can unlock the better.
>
> Regards,
>
> Glen Stampoultzis
>
>
>
> At 09:34 PM 20/06/2003, you wrote:
> >Hi!
> >
> >I'm developing a Java implementation for MS-TNEF mail extraction. TNEF,
even
> >though not based on the POIFS (it's a different format), does seem to
belong
> >with the rest of the POI packages - it's an obscure MS format used by
> >Office's Outlook and Outlook Express and Exchange servers, for sending
mail
> >whenever formatting (rich text) or MS-specific mail extensions (like
voting
> >buttons) are added to a mail. The problem is, as with the other MS
formats,
> >that the rest of the world can't read those mails - once TNEF is used,
the
> >entire mail contents other than the basic headers, including all
> >attachments, are added into the TNEF file (usually named WINMAIL.DAT -
run a
> >web search to see how much trouble this causes people...).
> >
> >I've found several C/C++ utilities to extract the attachments (and other
> >contents) out of the TNEF file, but couldn't find any Java
implementation.
> >So I decided to write one as an open source project
> >(http://www.freeutils.net/source/jtnef/), and I would like to contribute
it
> >to the POI project, which seems like the perfect place for it, where it
can
> >both grow and reach all those developers seeking a solution to yet
another
> >MS conundrum...
> >
> >Please let me know what you think. I hope this is the right forum for my
> >suggestion - if not, please accept my appologies and direct me to the
right
> >one :)
> >
> >Thanx!
> >
> >Amichai
> >
> >
> >---------------------------------------------------------------------
> >To unsubscribe, e-mail: poi-dev-unsubscribe@jakarta.apache.org
> >For additional commands, e-mail: poi-dev-help@jakarta.apache.org
>
>
> Glen Stampoultzis
> gstamp@iinet.net.au
> http://members.iinet.net.au/~gstamp/glen/
>
Re: POI TNEF Contribution
Posted by Glen Stampoultzis <gs...@iinet.net.au>.
Sounds like a reasonable fit. Some questions/issues:
1. I noticed it's GPL. Are you willing to change the license to the Apache
license and assign copyright to the Apache Foundation? I think there's
some paper work to be signed.
2. Do you come with this source code and are you willing to hang around for
the long term to help support this code?
3. Is there any documentation on the TNEF format? If not are you looking
at writing some?
4. Are you willing a abide by the apache constitution?
(http://java.apache.org/main/constitution.html)
Well done on unlocking this format for Java programmers. The more MS
formats we can unlock the better.
Regards,
Glen Stampoultzis
At 09:34 PM 20/06/2003, you wrote:
>Hi!
>
>I'm developing a Java implementation for MS-TNEF mail extraction. TNEF, even
>though not based on the POIFS (it's a different format), does seem to belong
>with the rest of the POI packages - it's an obscure MS format used by
>Office's Outlook and Outlook Express and Exchange servers, for sending mail
>whenever formatting (rich text) or MS-specific mail extensions (like voting
>buttons) are added to a mail. The problem is, as with the other MS formats,
>that the rest of the world can't read those mails - once TNEF is used, the
>entire mail contents other than the basic headers, including all
>attachments, are added into the TNEF file (usually named WINMAIL.DAT - run a
>web search to see how much trouble this causes people...).
>
>I've found several C/C++ utilities to extract the attachments (and other
>contents) out of the TNEF file, but couldn't find any Java implementation.
>So I decided to write one as an open source project
>(http://www.freeutils.net/source/jtnef/), and I would like to contribute it
>to the POI project, which seems like the perfect place for it, where it can
>both grow and reach all those developers seeking a solution to yet another
>MS conundrum...
>
>Please let me know what you think. I hope this is the right forum for my
>suggestion - if not, please accept my appologies and direct me to the right
>one :)
>
>Thanx!
>
>Amichai
>
>
>---------------------------------------------------------------------
>To unsubscribe, e-mail: poi-dev-unsubscribe@jakarta.apache.org
>For additional commands, e-mail: poi-dev-help@jakarta.apache.org
Glen Stampoultzis
gstamp@iinet.net.au
http://members.iinet.net.au/~gstamp/glen/