Java Email: Getting the name to print next to the email address - jakarta-mail

Question

Using Java to send an email, how would I get the name to print next to email address, preferably in this style?:
Joe A. Blow <joe.a.blow#host.org>
I have my email lists in in a *.properties file with the data like this:
email_list_3 = Bob Smith<bob.smith#acme.com>,Jane Doe<jane.doe#acme.com, Betty Crocker<betty.crocker#acme.com
I'm using this function to return each email list in the properties file, like "email_list_3", as an array list:
private static ArrayList setEmailList(String email_list_name)throws Exception {
Properties props = new Properties();
ArrayList email_list = new ArrayList();
try {
props.load(MailSender.class.getResourceAsStream("/email_lists.properties"));
email_list.addAll(Arrays.asList(props.getProperty(email_list_name).split(",")));
}// end try
catch (Exception e) {
logger.error("Failure populating email list: " + email_list_name + "\n",e);
}
return email_list;
}// end function setEmailLists()
Next I will collect the email addresses ( Im assuming the names are still with them? ) into an array of InternetAddresses like this
ArrayList<String> recipientsArray = null;
ArrayList<InternetAddress> addressTo = new ArrayList<InternetAddress>();
recipientsArray = getAnArrayListOfEmailAddresses();
for (String tempAddress: recipientsArray) {
if (tempAddress != null) {
addressTo.add(new InternetAddress(tempAddress));
}
}
And this is how I would plug my addresses into a email message:
InternetAddress[] to = new InternetAddress[addressTo.size()];
to = addressTo.toArray(to);
// processed in a for loop
tempAddress = (to[i]).getAddress();
MimeMessage msg = null;
msg = new MimeMessage(session);
msg.setSubject(subject);
msg.setFrom(new InternetAddress(fromAddressStringl));
msg.setRecipients(Message.RecipientType.TO, tempAddress);
To me, right now, it looks like to get the names displayed next to the email addresses I have use the other constructor for InternetAddress, that takes two arguments, address and name.
Is that right or is there a setting I can change such that when Java parses the name + address combination items out of my file it will do it automagically?
Thanks much in advance
Steve

Answer 1

You're making this too complicated.
You have a bunch of InternetAddress objects, just use them directly to set the recipients:
InternetAddress[] to = new InternetAddress[addressTo.size()];
to = addressTo.toArray(to);
MimeMessage msg = new MimeMessage(session);
msg.setSubject(subject);
msg.setFrom(new InternetAddress(fromAddressStringl));
msg.setRecipients(Message.RecipientType.TO, to);
It's your use of getAddress() that separates the address field from the personal name field; don't do that.
Also, you can use the InternetAddress.parse() method to parse your property into an array of InternetAddress objects, rather than splitting on commas yourself.