VB6-pop3 email

[mebhas]

Hey, thanx to all the guys in here, i have done some code for retrieving email messages from a pop3 server. this is just a part of my new project. i just put it here so people can see what to do and not to fall into stupid traps i fell in. so here it goes.

1. in a module, create these enums and types.
Public Enum POP_STATUS 'this is for the status of the pop getter
pop_Connect
pop_User
pop_Password
pop_Stat
pop_List
pop_Retr
pop_CRetr
pop_Delete
pop_Quit
End Enum

Public Type MSG_STATS 'this is for the messages in the server
msg_Len As Long
msg_ThisLen As Long
msg_Body As String
msg_File As String
End Type

Public Type POP_SERVER 'this is for the pop server settings
srv_Name As String
srv_Address As String
srv_Port As Long
srv_User As String
srv_Password As String
srv_Messages As Long
End Type

then there are some variable declarations, name it whatever u want but here is what i have done.
Public pStat As POP_STATUS
Public myMsg() As MSG_STATS
Public myServer As POP_SERVER


Public mError As Long
Public curMsg As Long

Public myMsgList As String
Public myMsgListNum As Long

Public fso As New FileSystemObject' use this if u want to save data using the file system objects, or omit the 2 lines here.
Public ***ile As TextStream

now for the settings part, as we already have some settings put up as a datatype, we will access it here.
With myServer
.srv_Address = "<your pop3 server>"
.srv_Name = "<Name of your ISP, not needed explicitly>"
.srv_User = "<your pop3 username>"
.srv_Password = "<your pop3 password>"
.srv_Port = 110 'this is the default pop3 port.
End With

and then the connection part. u know the drill
pStat = pop_Connect 'we set the status enum to connecting stage
With myServer
ws.Connect .srv_Address, .srv_Port
End With

[mebhas]

2. Now comes the real part of retrieving mail. the code
Private Sub ws_DataArrival(ByVal bytesTotal As Long)
Dim myData As String

ws.GetData myData

Select Case pStat
Case Is = pop_Connect
'this is still in connection state
showprint myData
If Left(myData, 1) = "+" Then
'we got a +OK message, now for user authentication
pStat = pop_User
sSend "user " & myServer.srv_User
ElseIf Left(myData, 1) = "-" Then
'oops we got a -ERR message means we have an error of some sorts
mError = 1
End If

Case Is = pop_User
showprint myData
'we are now in user authentication stage
If Left(myData, 1) = "+" Then
'we got a +OK message, now for password authentication
pStat = pop_Password
sSend "pass " & myServer.srv_Password
ElseIf Left(myData, 1) = "-" Then
'oops we got a -ERR message means we have an error of some sorts
mError = 2
End If

Case Is = pop_Password
'we are now in password authentication stage
showprint myData
If Left(myData, 1) = "+" Then
'we got a +OK message, now for checking number of emails in the server
pStat = pop_Stat
sSend "stat"
ElseIf Left(myData, 1) = "-" Then
'oops we got a -ERR message means we have an error of some sorts
mError = 3
End If

Case Is = pop_Stat
'we are now checking for number of messages
showprint myData
If Left(myData, 1) = "+" Then
'we got a +OK message, now for checking individual messages

myServer.srv_Messages = getMsgNum(myData) 'we got the number of messages in the server

If myServer.srv_Messages > 0 Then
'we have messages
curMsg = 1
pStat = pop_List
sSend "list " & curMsg
Else
'we have no messages just quit
pStat = pop_Quit
sSend "quit"
End If
ElseIf Left(myData, 1) = "-" Then
'oops we got a -ERR message means we have an error of some sorts
mError = 4
End If

Case Is = pop_List
'we are checking individual messages
showprint myData
If Left(myData, 1) = "+" Then
If curMsg > 0 And curMsg <= myServer.srv_Messages Then
'we are ready to recieve messages
ReDim Preserve myMsg(curMsg) As MSG_STATS
With myMsg(curMsg)
.msg_Body = ""
.msg_File = getMsgFile(curMsg)
.msg_Len = thisMsgLen(myData)
.msg_ThisLen = 0
End With

'send command to recieve the particular message
pStat = pop_Retr
sSend "retr " & curMsg
ElseIf curMsg > myServer.srv_Messages Then
'all messages have been downloaded
pStat = pop_Quit
sSend "quit"
End If
ElseIf Left(myData, 1) = "-" Then
'oops we got a -ERR message means we have an error of some sorts
mError = 5
End If

Case Is = pop_Retr
'we recieve the actual message here
showprint myData
If Left(myData, 1) = "+" Then
'straight write to file
Open_And_Write_File myMsg(curMsg).msg_File, myData

'calculate the size recieved
With myMsg(curMsg)
.msg_ThisLen = bytesTotal + .msg_ThisLen
End With

If Mid(myData, Len(myData) - 2, 1) = "." Then
Close_And_Save_File
pStat = pop_Delete
sSend "dele " & curMsg
Else
pStat = pop_CRetr
End If

ElseIf Left(myData, 1) = "-" Then
'oops we got a -ERR message means we have an error of some sorts
mError = 6
End If

Case Is = pop_CRetr
Just_Write_To_File myData
showprint myData

With myMsg(curMsg)
.msg_ThisLen = bytesTotal + .msg_ThisLen
End With

If Mid(myData, Len(myData) - 2, 1) = "." Then
Close_And_Save_File
pStat = pop_Delete
sSend "dele " & curMsg
End If


Case Is = pop_Delete
'we just recieved the delete command's reply
showprint myData
If Left(myData, 1) = "+" Then
If CheckForMore(curMsg) = True Then
pStat = pop_List
curMsg = curMsg + 1
sSend "list " & curMsg
Else
pStat = pop_Quit
sSend "quit"
End If
ElseIf Left(myData, 1) = "-" Then
'oops we got a -ERR message means we have an error of some sorts
mError = 7
End If

Case Is = pop_Quit
showprint myData
If Left(myData, 1) = "-" Then
mError = 8
End If

End Select
End Sub

[mebhas]

if you have an idea of how pop3 works, u will know these simple facts.

1. connect -> returns +OK <some message>
2. user <username> -> returns +OK <some message>
3. pass <password> -> returns +OK <some message> 'we are now ready for data arrival
4. stat -> returns +OK <number of messages> <sum of size of messages>
5. list <message number> -> returns +OK <message number> <size of message in octets>
6. retr <message number> -> returns +OK followed by the contents of the message *NOTE1
7. dele <message number> -> returns +OK and queues the message for delete at user logoff
8. quit -> returns +OK <some message> and closes connection

NOTE1: all messages are ended by a ".", this, I found eventually, was undocumented.

[mebhas]

there are some parts missing in the code in post#2.

->the open_and_write_to_file procedure does nothing except do a myMsgList = wData 'wData is the string recieved

->the just_write_to_file does this myMsgList = myMsgList & wData

->the save_and _close_file does this mF = FreeFile
Open mFile for Output as #nF
Print #mF, myMsgList
Close #mF

[mebhas]

forgot to mention. when saving the files, save it with .eml extension so it can be opened by outlook/outlook express even by double clicking the file.

[mfurqan]

it says invalid outside procedure

[mfurqan]

do i need to add a componene or refrence ?

[mebhas]

exactly where does it say that?
u have to add a component, winsock, of course.

[mfurqan]

it syas user-defined type not found i added MS Winsock 6.0 component

[mfurqan]

may be there is a problem :::

Public fso As New FileSystemObject
Public ***ile As TextStream

[mebhas]

oh yeah, u need the reference to microsoft scripting object, that is if u want to use the file system object to write down the recieved data. or u can omit the two lines. i used the classic vb way to write down the data, as is stated in my post #4.

[mfurqan]

and yeh do i need to make text boxes and other things ?

can't u please provide a zip package it really difficult this way :P

[mfurqan]

okay i did it all... no errors now but now i see blank form nothin else no messages.. nothing

[mebhas]

on demand...

[mfurqan]

thanks but i get error # 11004 May be i don't have MSWINSCK.OCX it says 'Valid Name, no data record of requested type' and source is 'C;\windows\system32\MSWINSCK.OCX'

[mfurqan]

self resolved problem.

its working great :D
but it only downloads Unread Messages ?

and really don't know what that Text4 box realy is for :)

[mfurqan]

hello.. all fixed by myself... and u know i m making a mod for this ... user download all messages as .txt and a form read message, From , Subject , To, Date & Time, :) i m almost done with it :D

now can u tell me is it not possible to save message with its Subject Name ?

[mebhas]

sure, just scan the message line by line until u get the left(text,9)="<subject>" u can get the subject there. set the filename as the subject text....

[mfurqan]

well does it delete all messages from pop3 account after downloading them. ?

[mfurqan]

sure, just scan the message line by line until u get the left(text,9)="<subject>" u can get the subject there. set the filename as the subject text....

can u please post an example i really can't understand it :(

[mebhas]

yes it deletes the messages after downloading them. and for the example of the saving by subject. u'll have to wait a couple of days, i am a bit busy right now.

[mfurqan]

okay sir no problem :)

[mfurqan]

i wish if u can do it earlier because i have made .TXT email reader :D

[mebhas]

ok, here's some quick code, see if you can make it any better....

'make reference to microsoft scripting runtime, we need it for file system object
'make these variables, fso as filesystemobjects, readFile as textstream, readString as string
set readfile=fso.opentextfile "your file name", forreading
do while not readfile.eof
readfile.readline readstring
processString readstring 'processString is a sub, need some thinking for that
loop


now create a sub processString(inString as string)

some part of the code.

'i am using if statements here coz i know there are more conditions than a select case can handle.

if ucase$(left$(instring,5))="FROM:" then
'this is whom u recieved the message from. the remaining part of the line is the sender.
elseif ucase$(left$(instring,5))="DATE:" then
'this is the date u recieved the message.
elseif ucase$(left$(instring,3))="TO:" then
'this is the reciever of the message
elseif ucase$(left$(instring,8))="SUBJECT:" then
'this is the subject of the message.
elseif len(instring)=0 then
'we have reached the beginning of the message, we can now write all the remining part of the email as the body.
endif

[mebhas]

as u can see, i have just typed in the code and it should be debugged thoroughly and proper declarations should be made.

[mfurqan]

really can't understand it :( sorry...

[rory]

Very well done mebhas ... :thumb:

The zip you posted should be enough for anyone to get started ..
you did all the hard work already .. i know this thread is kind of old but just wanted to say thanks ..

[try.test.abc]

hello
I downloaded the attachment ws.zip from this thread abd try to run the project using yahoo Pop server "pop.mail.yahoo.com" and use the username and password but it gives error while checking password. Note that password which i enterd is right. i also use another Username and Password but still it shows the Password Inccorect. can u suggest waht s the problem?

[teguh123]

I tried that with a throw away hotmail and it doesn't work

daveyhoin0@hotmail.com|nzdr9p
POP server: pop3.live.com (Port 995)

POP SSL required? Yes

[martind1]

Hmm, why can't i find the winsock control?

[mebhas]

Hmm, why can't i find the winsock control?

you have to add the control to the project. hit ctrl-t and look for winsock, or try browsing for <windows folder>\system32\winsock.ocx

[martind1]

Shoot. Does this not do SSL pop?

[mebhas]

nope, just plain pop