In previous section, I introduced retrieving email from POP3 server in Delphi. In this section, I will introduce the IMAP4 server.
Sections:
IMAP4 protocol is different with POP3 protocol. First of all, IMAP4 supports retrieving email from different mail folder and folder management. Secondly, IMAP4 supports mail flags management. Therefore, we can do more things with IMAP4 server. To better understand the IMAP4 protocol, please see the following examples.
Note
Remarks: All of examples in this section are based on first section: A simple Delphi project. To compile and run the following example codes successfully, please click here to learn how to create the test project and add reference to your project.
The following example codes demonstrate how to download email from
IMAP4 server default mailbox.
In order to run it correctly, please change email server
, user
, password
, folder
, file name
values.
Note
To get the full sample projects, please refer to Samples section.
unit Unit1;
interface
uses
Windows, Messages, SysUtils, Variants, Classes, Graphics, Controls, Forms,
Dialogs, StdCtrls, EAGetMailObjLib_TLB; // Add EAGetMail unit
type
TForm1 = class(TForm)
Button1: TButton;
procedure Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
private
{ Private declarations }
public
{ Public declarations }
end;
const
MailServerPop3 = 0;
MailServerImap4 = 1;
MailServerEWS = 2;
MailServerDAV = 3;
var
Form1: TForm1;
implementation
{$R *.dfm}
procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
var
oMail: IMail;
oClient: TMailClient;
oServer: TMailServer;
oTools: TTools;
infos: OleVariant;
i, UBound, Count: integer;
oInfo: IMailInfo;
mailFolder: WideString;
fileName: WideString;
begin
try
oTools := TTools.Create(Application);
// Create a folder named "inbox" under
// current directory to store the email files
mailFolder := GetCurrentDir() + '\inbox';
oTools.CreateFolder(mailFolder);
oServer := TMailServer.Create(Application);
oServer.Server := 'imap4.emailarchitect.net';
oServer.User := 'test@emailarchitect.net';
oServer.Password := 'testpassword';
oServer.Protocol := MailServerImap4;
// Set IMAP4 port
oServer.Port := 143;
// If your server requires SSL connection
// Please add the following codes
// oServer.SSLConnection := true;
// oServer.Port := 993;
oClient := TMailClient.Create(Application);
oClient.LicenseCode := 'TryIt';
oClient.Connect1(oServer.DefaultInterface);
ShowMessage( 'Connected!' );
infos := oClient.GetMailInfos();
UBound := VarArrayHighBound( infos, 1 );
Count := UBound+1;
ShowMessage(Format('Total %d email(s)', [Count]));
for i := 0 to UBound do
begin
oInfo := IDispatch(VarArrayGet(infos, i)) as IMailInfo ;
ShowMessage(Format('Index: %d; Size: %d; UIDL: ' + oInfo.UIDL,
[oInfo.Index, oInfo.Size]));
// Generate a random file name by current local datetime,
// You can use your method to generate the filename if you do not like it
fileName := mailFolder + '\' + oTools.GenFileName(i) + '.eml';
// Receive email from IMAP4 server
oMail := oClient.GetMail( oInfo );
ShowMessage( 'From: ' + oMail.From.Address + #13#10 +
'Subject: ' + oMail.Subject );
// Save email to local disk
oMail.SaveAs( fileName, true );
// Mark email as deleted from IMAP4 server
oClient.Delete(oInfo);
end;
// Quit and purge emails marked as deleted from IMAP4 server
oClient.Quit;
except
on ep:Exception do
ShowMessage( 'Error: ' + ep.Message );
end;
end;
end.
Because IMAP4 protocol supports folder access, so we can retrieve email from other mailbox rather than default “INBOX”. POP3 protocol doesn’t support this feature.
The following example codes demonstrate how to retrieve emails
from “Deleted Items” in an IMAP4 account.
In order to run it correctly, please change email server
, user
, password
, folder
, file name
values.
Note
To get the full sample projects, please refer to Samples section.
unit Unit1;
interface
uses
Windows, Messages, SysUtils, Variants, Classes, Graphics, Controls, Forms,
Dialogs, StdCtrls, EAGetMailObjLib_TLB; // Add EAGetMail unit
type
TForm1 = class(TForm)
Button1: TButton;
procedure Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
function SearchFolder(folders: OleVariant; name: WideString):IImap4Folder;
private
{ Private declarations }
public
{ Public declarations }
end;
const
MailServerPop3 = 0;
MailServerImap4 = 1;
MailServerEWS = 2;
MailServerDAV = 3;
var
Form1: TForm1;
implementation
{$R *.dfm}
function TForm1.SearchFolder(folders: OleVariant; name: WideString)
:IImap4Folder;
var
i, UBound: integer;
folder: IImap4Folder;
begin
UBound := VarArrayHighBound(folders, 1 );
for i:= 0 to UBound do
begin
folder := IDispatch(VarArrayGet(folders,i)) as IImap4Folder;
if CompareText( folder.Name, name ) = 0 then
begin
Result := folder;
exit;
end;
// Search folder in sub-folders
folder := SearchFolder( folder.SubFolders, name );
if not (folder = nil ) then
begin
Result := folder;
exit;
end;
end;
// No folder found
Result := nil;
end;
procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
var
oMail: IMail;
oClient: TMailClient;
oServer: TMailServer;
oTools: TTools;
infos: OleVariant;
i, UBound, Count: integer;
oInfo: IMailInfo;
mailFolder: WideString;
fileName: WideString;
oFolder: IImap4Folder;
begin
try
oTools := TTools.Create(Application);
// Create a folder named "inbox" under
// current directory to store the email files
mailFolder := GetCurrentDir() + '\inbox';
oTools.CreateFolder(mailFolder);
oServer := TMailServer.Create(Application);
oServer.Server := 'imap4.emailarchitect.net';
oServer.User := 'test@emailarchitect.net';
oServer.Password := 'testpassword';
oServer.Protocol := MailServerImap4;
// Set IMAP4 port
oServer.Port := 143;
// If your server requires SSL connection
// Please add the following codes
// oServer.SSLConnection := true;
// oServer.Port := 993;
oClient := TMailClient.Create(Application);
oClient.LicenseCode := 'TryIt';
oClient.Connect1(oServer.DefaultInterface);
ShowMessage( 'Connected!' );
// Search folder based on folder name
oFolder := SearchFolder( oClient.Imap4Folders, 'Deletexd Items' );
if oFolder = nil then
begin
raise Exception.Create('No folder found');
end;
// Select this folder
oClient.SelectFolder(oFolder);
infos := oClient.GetMailInfos();
UBound := VarArrayHighBound( infos, 1 );
Count := UBound+1;
ShowMessage(Format('Total %d email(s)', [Count]));
for i := 0 to UBound do
begin
oInfo := IDispatch(VarArrayGet(infos, i)) as IMailInfo ;
ShowMessage(Format('Index: %d; Size: %d; UIDL: ' + oInfo.UIDL,
[oInfo.Index, oInfo.Size]));
// Generate a random file name by current local datetime,
// You can use your method to generate the filename if you do not like it
fileName := mailFolder + '\' + oTools.GenFileName(i) + '.eml';
// Receive email from IMAP4 server
oMail := oClient.GetMail( oInfo );
ShowMessage( 'From: ' + oMail.From.Address + #13#10 +
'Subject: ' + oMail.Subject );
// Save email to local disk
oMail.SaveAs( fileName, true );
// Mark email as deleted from IMAP4 server
oClient.Delete(oInfo);
end;
// Quit and purge emails marked as deleted from IMAP4 server
oClient.Quit;
except
on ep:Exception do
ShowMessage( 'Error: ' + ep.Message );
end;
end;
end.
Next Section
At next section I will introduce how to retrieve email from Exchange Server with Web Service protocol.
Appendix
Comments
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