JTNEF - Java TNEF package 1.6.0

(c) copyright 2003-2009 Amichai Rothman

1. What is TNEF?

    Transport-Neutral Encapsulation Format (TNEF) is Microsoft's non-standard
    format for encapsulating mail which has any non-plain-text content or
    properties (such as rich text, embedded OLE objects, voting buttons, and
    sometimes just attachments). Whether or not a given message is encoded
    using TNEF is determined by the Outlook default settings, per-recipient
    setting, Exchange Server settings, and message type and content.
   
    Once a TNEF message is used, the entire message, including all the
    original attachments and properties, is encapsulated in a single
    attachment of mime type "application/ms-tnef" added to the message to be
    sent over the Internet. This attachment is usually named "WINMAIL.DAT",
    and when sent to any non-MS mail client, is useless, and makes access to
    the original message attachments impossible.
   

2. What is the Java TNEF package?

    The Java TNEF package is an open-source implementation of a TNEF message
    handler, which can be used as a command-line utility or integrated into
    Java-based mail applications to extract the original message content.
   

3. How do I use the Java TNEF package?

    The TNEF package is written in pure Java, and thus requires no special
    installation. Just add the "tnef.jar" file to your classpath.
   
    If you are an end user getting strange attachments named "WINMAIL.DAT" or
    "ATT00001.DAT", instead of other expected attachments, you can simply run
    the net.freeutils.tnef.TNEF class from the command line to extract the original
    attachments from such a TNEF file.
   
    If you are a Java developer working on a mail client or server, and need
    to handle TNEF attachments (because whether u like it or not, they're out
    there in real-world messages), you have several choices:
   
            1.      Low-level: you can use the TNEFInputStream class to read TNEF
                    attributes, which are the basic unit in a TNEF stream, and do with
                    them as you please.
   
            2.      Middle-level: the net.freeutils.tnef package gives you access to the
                    entire TNEF content through simple Java objects representing the
                    underlying TNEF data structures. You can use these classes to
                    access all TNEF attributes and MAPI properties that were sent with
                    the message.
   
                    For example, you can choose to implement voting buttons or receipt
                    notifications in your Java application by finding and interpreting
                    the appropriate MAPI properties. This requires knowledge of the
                    MAPI properties and their meaning.
   
            3.      High-level: The net.freeutils.tnef.TNEF class is a simple example of
                    using these middle-level classes to display the message properties
                    and extract the attachments. You can use it directly from your
                    application, or just browse the source code for an example of how
                    to do things yourself.
   
                    The net.freeutils.tnef.mime package gives you high-level access to the
                    TNEF message using the JavaMail API. The TNEFMime class is a simple
                    example of using these classes, and allows you to extract a TNEF
                    attachment from a mime message (which can then be processed using the
                    TNEF or TNEFMime classes) or to convert a TNEF attachment or a message
                    containing a TNEF attachment to an equivalent standard mime message
                    with the original header fields and attachments, including read
                    receipt notification conversion and contact to vCard conversion, etc.
                    This package is still considered experimental (though  it's already
                    being used in production grade systems), so go ahead and experiment
                    with it!
                    
                    The net.freeutils.tnef.msg package contains a proof-of-concept .msg
                    file handler. The Msg class uses Jakarta's POI project and provides
                    a simple API for reading a .msg file into a net.freeutils.tnef.Message
                    instance for access to its MAPI properties and attachments.
   

4. License

    The Java TNEF package is provided under the GNU General Public License
    agreement. Please read the full license agreement in the included
    LICENSE.txt file.
   
    For non-GPL commercial licensing please contact the address below.
   

5. Contact

    Please write to support@freeutils.net with any bugs, suggestions, fixes,
    contributions, or just to drop a good word and let me know you've found
    this package useful and you'd like it to keep being maintained.
   
    Updates and additional info can be found at http://www.freeutils.net/source/jtnef/