Message object returns SharedByteArrayInputStream instead of Multipart.

Question

Dear friends,
I am using java Mail API v 1.3.1 to access POP3 server.
I am getting problem while I try to read an RTF message from POP3 server.
When I try to access the data through getContent() method on javax.mail.Message Object, it sometimes gives me correct result as a Multipart data, while sometimes, it returns an object of type com.sun.mail.util.SharedByteArrayInputStream.
Although it returns SharedByteArrayInputStream object, when I invoke getContentType() on Message Object, it returns Multipart as correct.
I think this is some problem with the JavaMail API.
Going specifically, I use the POP server : ksc.th.com
Waiting for reply,
-> Maulik Soni.

Answer 1

hi,
I have the same Problem,too. But now, i have found the reason.
the javamail jar delivers a file named 'mailcap' in the META-INF dir of the library jar with
the following content:
text/plain;;          x-java-content-handler=com.sun.mail.handlers.text_plain
text/html;;          x-java-content-handler=com.sun.mail.handlers.text_html
text/xml;;          x-java-content-handler=com.sun.mail.handlers.text_xml
multipart/*;;          x-java-content-handler=com.sun.mail.handlers.multipart_mixed
message/rfc822;;     x-java-content-handler=com.sun.mail.handlers.message_rfc822
now while creating the default instance of MailcapCommandMap (activation framework),
this class is searching the 'mailcap' file in the META-INF dir. if 'mailcap' is not found, the
activation framework don't map these mimetyps.
workaround:
make sure, that the MailcapCommandMap can find the mailcap file in META-INF or in user.home dir
or
map manually (javax.activation.MailcapCommandMap):
MailcapCommandMap map = (MailcapCommandMap)MailcapCommandMap.getDefaultCommandMap();
map.addMailcap("text/plain;;x-java-content-handler=com.sun.mail.handlers.text_plain");
map.addMailcap("text/html;;x-java-content-handler=com.sun.mail.handlers.text_html");
map.addMailcap("text/xml;;x-java-content-handler=com.sun.mail.handlers.text_xml");
map.addMailcap("multipart/*;;x-java-content-handler=com.sun.mail.handlers.multipart_mixed");
map.addMailcap("message/rfc822;;x-java-content-handler=com.sun.mail.handlers.message_rfc822");
simple,
if you known it.
thx, bye.
franz bartlechner