Email addresses

Addresses represent a text email address, along with some meta data about those addresses, such as their registration date, and whether and when they’ve been validated. Addresses may be linked to the users that Mailman knows about. Addresses are subscribed to mailing lists though members.

>>> from mailman.interfaces.usermanager import IUserManager
>>> from zope.component import getUtility
>>> user_manager = getUtility(IUserManager)

Creating addresses

Addresses are created directly through the user manager, which starts out with no addresses.

>>> dump_list(address.email for address in user_manager.addresses)
*Empty*

Creating an unlinked email address is straightforward.

>>> address_1 = user_manager.create_address('aperson@example.com')
>>> dump_list(address.email for address in user_manager.addresses)
aperson@example.com

However, such addresses have no real name.

>>> print(address_1.display_name)
<BLANKLINE>

You can also create an email address object with a real name.

>>> address_2 = user_manager.create_address(
...     'bperson@example.com', 'Ben Person')
>>> dump_list(address.email for address in user_manager.addresses)
aperson@example.com
bperson@example.com
>>> dump_list(address.display_name for address in user_manager.addresses)
<BLANKLINE>
Ben Person

The str() of the address is the RFC 2822 preferred originator format, while the repr() carries more information.

>>> print(str(address_2))
Ben Person <bperson@example.com>
>>> print(repr(address_2))
<Address: Ben Person <bperson@example.com> [not verified] at 0x...>

You can assign real names to existing addresses.

>>> address_1.display_name = 'Anne Person'
>>> dump_list(address.display_name for address in user_manager.addresses)
Anne Person
Ben Person

These addresses are not linked to users, and can be seen by searching the user manager for an associated user.

>>> print(user_manager.get_user('aperson@example.com'))
None
>>> print(user_manager.get_user('bperson@example.com'))
None

You can create email addresses that are linked to users by using a different interface.

>>> user_1 = user_manager.create_user(
...     'cperson@example.com', u'Claire Person')
>>> dump_list(address.email for address in user_1.addresses)
cperson@example.com
>>> dump_list(address.email for address in user_manager.addresses)
aperson@example.com
bperson@example.com
cperson@example.com
>>> dump_list(address.display_name for address in user_manager.addresses)
Anne Person
Ben Person
Claire Person

And now you can find the associated user.

>>> print(user_manager.get_user('aperson@example.com'))
None
>>> print(user_manager.get_user('bperson@example.com'))
None
>>> user_manager.get_user('cperson@example.com')
<User "Claire Person" (...) at ...>

Deleting addresses

You can remove an unlinked address from the user manager.

>>> user_manager.delete_address(address_1)
>>> dump_list(address.email for address in user_manager.addresses)
bperson@example.com
cperson@example.com
>>> dump_list(address.display_name for address in user_manager.addresses)
Ben Person
Claire Person

Deleting a linked address does not delete the user, but it does unlink the address from the user.

>>> dump_list(address.email for address in user_1.addresses)
cperson@example.com
>>> user_1.controls('cperson@example.com')
True
>>> address_3 = list(user_1.addresses)[0]
>>> user_manager.delete_address(address_3)
>>> dump_list(address.email for address in user_1.addresses)
*Empty*
>>> user_1.controls('cperson@example.com')
False
>>> dump_list(address.email for address in user_manager.addresses)
bperson@example.com

Registration and verification

Addresses have two dates, the date the address was registered on and the date the address was validated on. The former is set when the address is created, but the latter must be set explicitly.

>>> address_4 = user_manager.create_address(
...     'dperson@example.com', 'Dan Person')
>>> print(address_4.registered_on)
2005-08-01 07:49:23
>>> print(address_4.verified_on)
None

The verification date records when the user has completed a mail-back verification procedure. It takes a datetime object.

>>> from mailman.utilities.datetime import now
>>> address_4.verified_on = now()
>>> print(address_4.verified_on)
2005-08-01 07:49:23

The address shows the verified status in its representation.

>>> address_4
<Address: Dan Person <dperson@example.com> [verified] at ...>

An event is triggered when the address gets verified.

>>> saved_event = None
>>> address_5 = user_manager.create_address(
...     'eperson@example.com', 'Elle Person')
>>> def save_event(event):
...     global saved_event
...     saved_event = event
>>> from mailman.testing.helpers import event_subscribers
>>> with event_subscribers(save_event):
...     address_5.verified_on = now()
>>> print(saved_event)
<AddressVerificationEvent eperson@example.com 2005-08-01 07:49:23>

An event is also triggered when the address is unverified. In this case, check the event’s address’s verified_on attribute; if this is None, then the address is being unverified.

>>> with event_subscribers(save_event):
...     address_5.verified_on = None
>>> print(saved_event)
<AddressVerificationEvent eperson@example.com unverified>
>>> print(saved_event.address.verified_on)
None

Case-preserved addresses

Technically speaking, email addresses are case sensitive in the local part. Mailman preserves the case of addresses and uses the case preserved version when sending the user a message, but it treats addresses that are different in case equivalently in all other situations.

>>> address_6 = user_manager.create_address(
...     'FPERSON@example.com', 'Frank Person')

The str() of such an address prints the RFC 2822 preferred originator format with the original case-preserved address. The repr() contains all the gory details.

>>> print(str(address_6))
Frank Person <FPERSON@example.com>
>>> print(repr(address_6))
<Address: Frank Person <FPERSON@example.com> [not verified]
          key: fperson@example.com at 0x...>

Both the case-insensitive version of the address and the original case-preserved version are available on attributes of the IAddress object.

>>> print(address_6.email)
fperson@example.com
>>> print(address_6.original_email)
FPERSON@example.com

Because addresses are case-insensitive for all other purposes, you cannot create an address that differs only in case. You can get the address using either the lower cased version or case-preserved version. In fact, searching for an address is case insensitive.

>>> print(user_manager.get_address('fperson@example.com').email)
fperson@example.com
>>> print(user_manager.get_address('FPERSON@example.com').email)
fperson@example.com