You can enable your Java™ Platform,
Enterprise Edition (Java EE)
applications to use mail resources with the JavaMail API.
Before you begin
Using the JavaMail API, a code segment can be embedded in
any Java EE application component,
such as an Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) application or a servlet, allowing
the application to send a message and save a copy of the mail to the
Sent folder.The following is a code sample that you would embed in a Java EE
application:
javax.naming.InitialContext ctx = new javax.naming.InitialContext();
javax.mail.Session mail_session = (javax.mail.Session) ctx.lookup("java:comp/env/mail/MailSession3");
MimeMessage msg = new MimeMessage(mail_session);
msg.setRecipients(Message.RecipientType.TO, InternetAddress.parse("bob@coldmail.net"));
msg.setFrom(new InternetAddress("alice@mail.eedge.com"));
msg.setSubject("Important message from eEdge.com");
msg.setText(msg_text);
Transport.send(msg);
Store store = mail_session.getStore();
store.connect();
Folder f = store.getFolder("Sent");
if (!f.exists()) f.create(Folder.HOLDS_MESSAGES);
f.appendMessages(new Message[] {msg});
About this task
Java EE applications can use JavaMail APIs by looking
up references to logically named mail connection factories through the
java:comp/env/mail subcontext that is declared in the application deployment
descriptor and mapped to installation specific mail session resources. As in the case of other Java EE resources, this can be done in order to eliminate the need
for the application to hard code references to external resources.
Procedure
- Locate a resource through Java Naming
and Directory Interface (JNDI).
The Java EE specification considers a mail session
instance as a resource, or a factory from which mail transport and
store connections can be obtained. Do not hard code mail sessions
(namely, fill up a Properties object, then use it to create a javax.mail.Session
object). Instead, you must follow the Java EE
programming model of configuring resources through the system facilities
and then locating them through JNDI lookups.
In the previous sample
code, the line javax.mail.Session mail_session = (javax.mail.Session)
ctx.lookup("java:comp/env/mail/MailSession3");
is an example
of not hard coding a mail session and using a resource name located
through JNDI. You can consider the lookup name, mail/MailSession3
,
as an indirect reference to the real resource.
- Define resource references while assembling your application.
You must define a resource reference for the mail resource in the deployment descriptor of the
component, because a mail session is referenced in the JNDI lookup. Typically, you can use an
assembly tool that shipped with the application server.
When you create this reference, be sure
that the name of the reference matches the name used in the code. For example, the previous code
uses
java:comp/env/mail/MailSession3
in its lookup. Therefore, the name of this
reference must be
mail/MailSession3
and the type of the resource must be
javax.mail.Session
. After configuration, the deployment descriptor contains the
following entry for the mail resource reference:
<resource-ref>
<description>description</description>
<res-ref-name>mail/MailSession3</res-ref-name>
<res-type>javax.mail.Session</res-type>
<res-auth>Container</res-auth>
</resource-ref>
-
Configure mail providers and sessions.
The sample code references a mail resource, the deployment descriptor declares the reference,
but the resource itself does not exist yet. Now you need to configure the mail resource that is
referenced by your application component. Notice that the mail session you configure must have both
its transport and mail access portions defined; the former required because the code is sending a
message, the latter because it also saves a copy to the local mail store. When you configure the
mail session, you need to specify a JNDI name. This is an important name for installing your
application and linking up the resource references in your application with the real resources that
you configure.
- Install your application.
You can install your
application using either the administrative console or the scripting
tool. During installation, the application server inspects all resource
references and requires you to supply a JNDI name for each of them.
This is not an arbitrary JNDI name, but the JNDI name given to a particular,
configured resource that is the target of the reference.
- Manage existing mail providers and sessions.
You can update and remove mail
providers and sessions.
- Open the administrative console.
- Click in the console navigation tree.
- Select the appropriate Java Mail resource to
modify by clicking either Mail Providers or Mail
Sessions.
- Select the specific resource to modify.
To remove a mail provider or mail
session, select the check box next to the appropriate resource and click
Delete.
- Click Apply or OK.
- Save the configuration.
- Optional: Debug a mail session.
What to do next
If your application has a client, you can update mail providers
and mail sessions using the Application Client Resource Configuration
Tool (ACRCT).