This chapter includes the following sections:
WebLogic Server includes the JavaMail API version 1.5 reference implementation. Using the JavaMail API, you can add email capabilities to your WebLogic Server applications. JavaMail provides access from Java applications to Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP)- and Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP)-capable mail servers on your network or the Internet. It does not provide mail server functionality; you must have access to a mail server to use JavaMail.
Documentation for using the JavaMail API is available at https://javaee.github.io/javamail/
. This section describes how you can use JavaMail in the WebLogic Server environment.
The weblogic.jar
file contains the following JavaMail API packages:
javax.mail
javax.mail.event
javax.mail.internet
javax.mail.search
The weblogic.jar
also contains the Java Activation Framework (JAF) package, which JavaMail requires.
The javax.mail
package includes providers for Internet Message Access protocol (IMAP) and Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) mail servers. There is a separate POP3 provider for JavaMail, which is not included in weblogic.jar
. You can download the POP3 provider at https://maven.java.net/content/repositories/releases/com/sun/mail/pop3
and add it to the WebLogic Server classpath if you want to use it.
JavaMail depends on configuration files that define the mail transport capabilities of the system. The weblogic.jar
file contains the standard configuration files which enable IMAP and SMTP mail servers for JavaMail and define the default message types JavaMail can process.
Unless you want to extend JavaMail to support additional transports, protocols, and message types, you do not have to modify any JavaMail configuration files. If you do want to extend JavaMail, see http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javamail/third-party-136965.html
. Then add your extended JavaMail package in the WebLogic Server classpath in front of weblogic.jar.
To configure JavaMail for use in WebLogic Server, you create a mail session in the WebLogic Server Administration Console. This allows server-side modules and applications to access JavaMail services with JNDI, using session properties you preconfigure for them.
For example, by creating a mail session, you can designate the mail hosts, transport and store protocols, and the default mail user in the WebLogic Server Administration Console so that modules that use JavaMail do not have to set these properties. Applications that are heavy email users benefit because the mail session creates a single javax.mail.Session
object and makes it available via JNDI to any module that needs it.
For information on using the WebLogic Server Administration Console to create a mail session, see Configure access to JavaMail in the Oracle WebLogic Server Administration Console Online Help.
You can override any properties set in the mail session in your code by creating a java.util.Properties
object containing the properties you want to override. See Sending Messages with JavaMail. Then, after you look up the mail session object in JNDI, call the Session.getInstance()
method with your Properties
object to get a customized session.
You can send a message using JavaMail within a WebLogic Server module.
Here are the steps to send a message with JavaMail:
The JNDI lookup can throw a NamingException
on failure. JavaMail can throw a MessagingException
if there are problems locating transport classes or if communications with the mail host fails. Be sure to put your code in a try block and catch these exceptions.
The JavaMail API provides several options for reading messages, such as reading a specified message number or range of message numbers, or pre-fetching specific parts of messages into the folder's cache.
The JavaMail API allows you to connect to a message store, which could be an IMAP server or POP3 server. Messages are stored in folders. With IMAP, message folders are stored on the mail server, including folders that contain incoming messages and folders that contain archived messages. With POP3, the server provides a folder that stores messages as they arrive. When a client connects to a POP3 server, it retrieves the messages and transfers them to a message store on the client.
Folders are hierarchical structures, similar to disk directories. A folder can contain messages or other folders. The default folder is at the top of the structure. The special folder name INBOX refers to the primary folder for the user, and is within the default folder. To read incoming mail, you get the default folder from the store, and then get the INBOX folder from the default folder.
The API provides several options for reading messages. See the JavaMail API for more information.
Here are steps to read incoming messages on a POP3 server from within a WebLogic Server module:
Reading messages from an IMAP server is similar to reading messages from a POP3 server. With IMAP, however, the JavaMail API provides methods to create and manipulate folders and transfer messages between them. If you use an IMAP server, you can implement a full-featured, Web-based mail client with much less code than if you use a POP3 server. With POP3, you must provide code to manage a message store via WebLogic Server, possibly using a database or file system to represent folders.