[seam-dev] Is this the mail API you always wanted?

[Daniel Hinojosa]

On Mon, Feb 7, 2011 at 11:57 AM, Dan Allen <dan.j.allen at gmail.com> wrote:

> Seam devs,
>
> Cody is looking for some feedback on the mail module [1] before he drafts a
> reference guide and puts the API on ice.
>
> Seam mail is important because, let's face it, the Java Mail API needs a
> makeover. Thankfully, the CDI programming model offers the necessary hooks
> to create a modernized mail API capable of deep integration with the Java EE
> platform (specifically the Java Mail API and container-managed sessions).
>
> Seam Mail offers a fluent API that makes sending e-mail in Java a painless
> experience. But an e-mail is nothing without the content. That's why Seam
> Mail offers several templating options, such as Velocity, as well as an
> extensible template SPI, to allow you to select your templating solution of
> choice. With Seam Mail, you'll be sending e-mail from your application in no
> time.
>
> Is this how you imagined it would be?
>
> Basic:
>
>    @Inject
>    private Instance<MailMessage> mailMessage;
>
>    @Inject
>    private Session session;
>
>    mailMessage.get()
>          .from("Seam Framework", "seam at jboss.org")
>          .to("John Smith", "john.smith at acme.com")
>          .subject("Text Message from Seam Mail - " +
> java.util.UUID.randomUUID().toString())
>          .textBody(text)
>          .send(session);
>
> Velocity:
>
>    @Inject
>    private Instance<VelocityMailMessage> velocityMailMessage;
>
>    @Inject
>    private Session session;
>
>    velocityMailMessage.get().from("Seam Framework", "seam at jboss.org")
>          .to(person.getName(), person.getEmail())
>          .subject("HTML Message from Seam Mail - " +
> java.util.UUID.randomUUID().toString())
>          .templateHTMLFromClassPath("template.html.vm")
>          .put("version", "Seam 3")
>          .importance(MessagePriority.HIGH)
>          .addAttachment(new URL("
> http://www.seamframework.org/themes/sfwkorg/img/seam_icon_large.png"),
> "seamLogo.png", ContentDisposition.INLINE);
>          .send(session);
>
> We look forward to your feedback.
>
> -Dan
>
> [1] http://github.com/seam/mail
> http://seamframework.org/Seam3/Mail
>
> --
> Dan Allen
> Principal Software Engineer, Red Hat | Author of Seam in Action
> Registered Linux User #231597
>
> http://www.google.com/profiles/dan.j.allen#about
> http://mojavelinux.com
> http://mojavelinux.com/seaminaction
>
>
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>
> Thanks, Cody.

I am user and abuser, not a contributor.  But this has been a pain point for
me on 2.2.0.GA <http://2.2.0.ga/>  I like this. I do have some constructive
criticisms.

1. javax.mail.Session is final and cannot be mocked.  An official wrapper
would be awesome! So if I try to mock this, this would happen

@Test
public void testBasicEmail() {
     Instance ins = createMock(Instance.class)
     MailMessage message = createMock(Message.class)
     expect(ins.get()).andReturn(
mailMessage)
     Session session = createMock(Session.class); //RuntimeException ,
Session is final, and static (grrr)
}


2. The Builder pattern you have and sending should be two different things.
The reason is that as a Seam power user, I really want to mock out the
session and the message, and although it looks like you can do with this
here, it seems that I would have a hard time still. Furthermore I likely
won't use the builder like you have planned here.

I likely would use your library like this:  The mailMessage being injected
would come from an outside factory that uses your builder or a mock.    That
MailMessage I assume will be an interface, that way it wouldn't matter if
the source is from Velocity, JSF transformation, XSLT transformation, JSON
Transformation or some other fun stuff. ;)

   @Inject @NewAccountMessage
   private Instance<MailMessage> mailMessage;

   @Inject
   private MailSession mailSession; //MailSession is an adapter, be nice it
be an interface.  This would be wrap the poorly engineered
javax.mail.Session class.

   public void doIt() {
       //doSomeOtherStuff
       mailSession.send(mailMessage)
   }


My 2c. Thanks Cody! ;)
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