(MFC) Reading Unread POP3 Email

The POP3 protocol does not provide the ability to ask the server which emails are "unread". Furthermore, a pure POP3 server does not even keep this information. Some servers, such as Exchange Server, expose both POP3 and IMAP interfaces. In these cases, information about read/unread status exists on the server, but it is only available via the IMAP protocol. Email clients such as Outlook and Thunderbird keep read/unread information on the client computer. This example demonstrates how UIDLs can be saved to track and read "unread" email.

Chilkat C/C++ Library Downloads MS Visual C/C++ Libs

See Also: Using MFC CString in Chilkat

#include <CkMailMan.h>
#include <CkStringArray.h>
#include <CkEmailBundle.h>
#include <CkEmail.h>

void ChilkatSample(void)
    {
    CkString strOut;

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

    // The mailman object is used for receiving (POP3) 
    // and sending (SMTP) email.
    CkMailMan mailman;

    // Set the POP3 server's hostname
    mailman.put_MailHost("pop.someMailServer.com");

    // Set the POP3 login/password.
    mailman.put_PopUsername("***");
    mailman.put_PopPassword("***");

    // You may keep a list of already-seen UIDLs in a text file:
    // If this is the first time you're running this example,
    // create an empty text file named "seenUidls.txt"
    CkStringArray saSeenUidls;
    bool success = saSeenUidls.LoadFromFile("seenUidls.txt");
    if (success != true) {
        strOut.append("failed to load seenUidls.txt");
        strOut.append("\r\n");
        SetDlgItemText(IDC_EDIT1,strOut.getUnicode());
        return;
    }

    // Get the complete list of UIDLs on the mail server.
    CkStringArray *saUidls = mailman.GetUidls();
    if (mailman.get_LastMethodSuccess() == false) {
        strOut.append(mailman.lastErrorText());
        strOut.append("\r\n");
        SetDlgItemText(IDC_EDIT1,strOut.getUnicode());
        return;
    }

    // Create a new string array object (it's an object, not an actual array)
    // and add the UIDLs from saUidls that aren't already seen.
    CkStringArray saUnseenUidls;

    int i = 0;
    int n = saUidls->get_Count();
    while (i < n) {
        if (saSeenUidls.Contains(saUidls->getString(i)) != true) {
            success = saUnseenUidls.Append(saUidls->getString(i));
        }

        i = i + 1;
    }

    if (saUnseenUidls.get_Count() == 0) {
        strOut.append("No unseen emails!");
        strOut.append("\r\n");
        delete saUidls;
        SetDlgItemText(IDC_EDIT1,strOut.getUnicode());
        return;
    }

    // Download in full the unseen emails:
    CkEmailBundle *bundle = mailman.FetchMultiple(saUnseenUidls);
    if (mailman.get_LastMethodSuccess() == false) {
        strOut.append(mailman.lastErrorText());
        strOut.append("\r\n");
        delete saUidls;
        SetDlgItemText(IDC_EDIT1,strOut.getUnicode());
        return;
    }

    CkEmail *email = 0;
    i = 0;
    while (i < bundle->get_MessageCount()) {
        email = bundle->GetEmail(i);
        strOut.append(email->ck_from());
        strOut.append("\r\n");
        strOut.append(email->subject());
        strOut.append("\r\n");
        strOut.append("----");
        strOut.append("\r\n");
        delete email;
        i = i + 1;
    }

    // Save saUidls to "seenUidls.txt"
    success = saUidls->SaveToFile("seenUidls.txt");

    delete saUidls;


    SetDlgItemText(IDC_EDIT1,strOut.getUnicode());

    }