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      1 :mod:`MimeWriter` --- Generic MIME file writer
      2 ==============================================
      3 
      4 .. module:: MimeWriter
      5    :synopsis: Write MIME format files.
      6    :deprecated:
      7 
      8 .. sectionauthor:: Christopher G. Petrilli <petrilli (a] amber.org>
      9 
     10 
     11 .. deprecated:: 2.3
     12    The :mod:`email` package should be used in preference to the :mod:`MimeWriter`
     13    module.  This module is present only to maintain backward compatibility.
     14 
     15 This module defines the class :class:`~MimeWriter.MimeWriter`.  The :class:`~MimeWriter.MimeWriter`
     16 class implements a basic formatter for creating MIME multi-part files.  It
     17 doesn't seek around the output file nor does it use large amounts of buffer
     18 space. You must write the parts out in the order that they should occur in the
     19 final file. :class:`~MimeWriter.MimeWriter` does buffer the headers you add, allowing you
     20 to rearrange their order.
     21 
     22 
     23 .. class:: MimeWriter(fp)
     24 
     25    Return a new instance of the :class:`~MimeWriter.MimeWriter` class.  The only argument
     26    passed, *fp*, is a file object to be used for writing. Note that a
     27    :class:`~StringIO.StringIO` object could also be used.
     28 
     29 
     30 .. _mimewriter-objects:
     31 
     32 MimeWriter Objects
     33 ------------------
     34 
     35 :class:`~MimeWriter.MimeWriter` instances have the following methods:
     36 
     37 
     38 .. method:: MimeWriter.addheader(key, value[, prefix])
     39 
     40    Add a header line to the MIME message. The *key* is the name of the header,
     41    where the *value* obviously provides the value of the header. The optional
     42    argument *prefix* determines where the header  is inserted; ``0`` means append
     43    at the end, ``1`` is insert at the start. The default is to append.
     44 
     45 
     46 .. method:: MimeWriter.flushheaders()
     47 
     48    Causes all headers accumulated so far to be written out (and forgotten). This is
     49    useful if you don't need a body part at all, e.g. for a subpart of type
     50    :mimetype:`message/rfc822` that's (mis)used to store some header-like
     51    information.
     52 
     53 
     54 .. method:: MimeWriter.startbody(ctype[, plist[, prefix]])
     55 
     56    Returns a file-like object which can be used to write to the body of the
     57    message.  The content-type is set to the provided *ctype*, and the optional
     58    parameter *plist* provides additional parameters for the content-type
     59    declaration. *prefix* functions as in :meth:`addheader` except that the default
     60    is to insert at the start.
     61 
     62 
     63 .. method:: MimeWriter.startmultipartbody(subtype[, boundary[, plist[, prefix]]])
     64 
     65    Returns a file-like object which can be used to write to the body of the
     66    message.  Additionally, this method initializes the multi-part code, where
     67    *subtype* provides the multipart subtype, *boundary* may provide a user-defined
     68    boundary specification, and *plist* provides optional parameters for the
     69    subtype. *prefix* functions as in :meth:`startbody`.  Subparts should be created
     70    using :meth:`nextpart`.
     71 
     72 
     73 .. method:: MimeWriter.nextpart()
     74 
     75    Returns a new instance of :class:`~MimeWriter.MimeWriter` which represents an individual
     76    part in a multipart message.  This may be used to write the  part as well as
     77    used for creating recursively complex multipart messages. The message must first
     78    be initialized with :meth:`startmultipartbody` before using :meth:`nextpart`.
     79 
     80 
     81 .. method:: MimeWriter.lastpart()
     82 
     83    This is used to designate the last part of a multipart message, and should
     84    *always* be used when writing multipart messages.
     85 
     86