Object oriented mail server framework mechanism

A computer system comprising:

• a central processing unit;
• a user interface;
• a network interface through which e-mail messages are received:
• and
• a main memory having an operating system that supports an object-oriented programming environment containing a framework that defines a message center object that controls message processing, a message class that contains a set of message objects that define originator, recipient, and message content information contained in a received e-mail message, and a set of object methods that are used by the message center object to place the information contained in the received e-mail message into the message objects according to a message processing protocol of the e-mail message and process it accordingly;
• wherein the message objects include objects belonging to classes comprising a message originator list that identifies the network address of the originating network user, a recipient list that identifies intended recipients of the e-mail message, and an envelope list that contains message attribute information for a message protocol such that the mail server processing system can be configured to support a plurality of e-mail message protocol standards or mail server functions.

A program product for use in a computer system having an operating system that supports an object-oriented programming environment, the program product comprising:

• a recordable media;
• and
• a framework recorded on the recordable media the framework providing an extensible network mail server processing system that receives an e-mail message from an originating network user and transfers the e-mail message to one or more destination addresses of network users who are intended recipients of the e-mail message;
• wherein the framework defines a message center object that controls message processing, a message class that contains a set of message objects that comprise originator, recipient, and message content information contained in the e-mail message, and a set of object methods that are used by the message center object to place the information of the e-mail message into the message objects according to a message processing protocol of the e-mail message and process it accordingly;
• and
• wherein the message class objects include objects belonging to classes comprising a message originator list that identifies the network address of the originating network user, a recipient list that identifies intended recipients of the e-mail message, and an envelope list that contains message attribute information for a message protocol, such that the mail server processing system can be configured to support a plurality of e-mail message protocol standards or mail server functions.