(Delphi DLL) Search IMAP Mailbox for Email Matching Criteria

Searching an IMAP mailbox for messages that match search criteria.

Note: This example requires Chilkat v11.0.0 or greater.

Chilkat for Delphi Downloads Chilkat non-ActiveX DLL for Delphi Chilkat ActiveX DLL for Delphi * The examples here use the non-ActiveX DLL.

uses
    Winapi.Windows, Winapi.Messages, System.SysUtils, System.Variants, System.Classes, Vcl.Graphics,
    Vcl.Controls, Vcl.Forms, Vcl.Dialogs, Vcl.StdCtrls, EmailBundle, Imap, Email, MessageSet;

...

procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
var
success: Boolean;
imap: HCkImap;
fetchUids: Boolean;
allMsgs: PWideChar;
answered: PWideChar;
onDate: PWideChar;
betweenDates: PWideChar;
complexSearch1: PWideChar;
bodySearch: PWideChar;
orSearch: PWideChar;
fromSearch: PWideChar;
johnSearch: PWideChar;
recentSearch: PWideChar;
notRecentSearch: PWideChar;
oldSearch: PWideChar;
markedForDeleteSearch: PWideChar;
headerSearch: PWideChar;
headerExistsSearch: PWideChar;
newSearch: PWideChar;
sizeLargerSearch: PWideChar;
seenSearch: PWideChar;
notSeenSearch: PWideChar;
toSearch: PWideChar;
toSearch2: PWideChar;
smallerSearch: PWideChar;
fullSubstringSearch: PWideChar;
messageSet: HCkMessageSet;
bundle: HCkEmailBundle;
headersOnly: Boolean;
email: HCkEmail;
i: Integer;

begin
success := False;

// This example requires the Chilkat API to have been previously unlocked.
// See Global Unlock Sample for sample code.

imap := CkImap_Create();

// Connect to an IMAP server.
// Use TLS
CkImap_putSsl(imap,True);
CkImap_putPort(imap,993);
success := CkImap_Connect(imap,'imap.someMailServer.com');
if (success = False) then
  begin
    Memo1.Lines.Add(CkImap__lastErrorText(imap));
    Exit;
  end;

// Login
success := CkImap_Login(imap,'myLogin','myPassword');
if (success = False) then
  begin
    Memo1.Lines.Add(CkImap__lastErrorText(imap));
    Exit;
  end;

// Select an IMAP mailbox
success := CkImap_SelectMailbox(imap,'Inbox');
if (success = False) then
  begin
    Memo1.Lines.Add(CkImap__lastErrorText(imap));
    Exit;
  end;

// We can choose to fetch UIDs or sequence numbers.
fetchUids := True;

// Here are examples of different search criteria:

// Return all messages.
allMsgs := 'ALL';

// Search for already-answered emails.
answered := 'ANSWERED';

// Search for messages on a specific date.
// The date string is DD-Month-YYYY where Month is
// Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, or Dec.
onDate := 'SENTON 05-Mar-2007';

// Search for messages between two dates.  SENTBEFORE
// finds emails sent before a date, and SENTSINCE finds
// email sent on or after a date.  The "AND" operation
// is implied by joining criteria, separated by spaces.
betweenDates := 'SENTSINCE 01-Mar-2007 SENTBEFORE 05-Mar-2007';

// Another example of AND: find all unanswered emails
// sent after 04-Mar-2007 with "Problem" in the subject:
complexSearch1 := 'UNANSWERED SENTSINCE 04-Mar-2007 Subject "Problem"';

// Find messages with a specific string in the body:
bodySearch := 'BODY "problem solved"';

// Using OR.  The syntax is OR <criteria1> <criteria2>. 
// The "OR" comes first, followed by each criteria.
// For example, to match all emails with "Help" or "Question" in the subject.
// You'll notice that literal strings may be quoted or unquoted.
// If a literal contains SPACE characters, quote it:
orSearch := 'OR SUBJECT Help SUBJECT Question';

// ----------------------------------------------
// Strings are case-insensitive when searching....
// ----------------------------------------------

// Find all emails sent from yahoo.com addresses:
fromSearch := 'FROM yahoo.com';
// Find all emails sent from anyone with "John" in their name:
johnSearch := 'FROM John';

// Find emails with the RECENT flag set:
recentSearch := 'RECENT';

// Find emails that don't have the recent flag set:
notRecentSearch := 'NOT RECENT';
// This is synonymous with "OLD":
oldSearch := 'OLD';

// Find all emails marked for deletion:
markedForDeleteSearch := 'DELETED';

// Find all emails having a specified header field with a value
// containing a substring:
headerSearch := 'HEADER DomainKey-Signature paypal.com';

// Find any emails having a specific header field.  If the 
// 2nd argument to the "HEADER" criteria is an empty string,
// any email having the header field is returned regardless
// of the header field's content.
// Find any emails with a DomainKey-Signature field:
headerExistsSearch := 'HEADER DomainKey-Signature ""';

// Find NEW emails: these are emails that have the RECENT flag
// set, but not the SEEN flag:
newSearch := 'NEW';

// Find emails larger than a certain number of bytes:
sizeLargerSearch := 'LARGER 500000';

// Find emails marked as seen or not already seen:
seenSearch := 'SEEN';
notSeenSearch := 'NOT SEEN';

// Find emails having a given substring in the TO header field:
toSearch := 'TO support@chilkatsoft.com';
// A more long-winded way to do the same thing:
toSearch2 := 'HEADER TO support@chilkatsoft.com';

// Find emails smaller than a size in bytes:
smallerSearch := 'SMALLER 30000';

// Find emails that have a substring anywhere in the header
// or body:
fullSubstringSearch := 'TEXT "Zip Component"';

// Pass any of the above strings here to test a search:
messageSet := CkMessageSet_Create();
success := CkImap_QueryMbx(imap,orSearch,fetchUids,messageSet);
if (success = False) then
  begin
    Memo1.Lines.Add(CkImap__lastErrorText(imap));
    Exit;
  end;

// Fetch the email headers into a bundle object:
bundle := CkEmailBundle_Create();
headersOnly := True;
success := CkImap_FetchMsgSet(imap,headersOnly,messageSet,bundle);
if (success = False) then
  begin
    Memo1.Lines.Add(CkImap__lastErrorText(imap));
    Exit;
  end;

// Display the Subject and From of each email.
email := CkEmail_Create();
i := 0;
while i < CkEmailBundle_getMessageCount(bundle) do
  begin
    CkEmailBundle_EmailAt(bundle,i,email);

    Memo1.Lines.Add(CkEmail__getHeaderField(email,'Date'));
    Memo1.Lines.Add(CkEmail__subject(email));
    Memo1.Lines.Add(CkEmail__from(email));
    Memo1.Lines.Add('--');

    i := i + 1;
  end;

// Disconnect from the IMAP server.
success := CkImap_Disconnect(imap);

CkImap_Dispose(imap);
CkMessageSet_Dispose(messageSet);
CkEmailBundle_Dispose(bundle);
CkEmail_Dispose(email);

end;