SQL Server
SQL Server
Read IMAP Email Headers
This example demonstrates how to connect to an IMAP server and download only the email headers for all messages in a mailbox. Downloading headers only is much faster and more efficient than downloading complete emails because the message bodies and attachment contents are not retrieved.
The example shows how to:
- Connect to an IMAP server using SSL/TLS
- Authenticate and select a mailbox
- Query for all messages in the mailbox
- Fetch header-only email information
- Display sender, subject, recipients, and total message size
- Retrieve attachment metadata such as filenames and sizes without downloading the actual attachments
This technique is useful for quickly scanning large mailboxes, building message summaries, or inspecting attachment information while minimizing bandwidth and memory usage.
Chilkat SQL Server Downloads
-- Important: See this note about string length limitations for strings returned by sp_OAMethod calls.
--
CREATE PROCEDURE ChilkatSample
AS
BEGIN
DECLARE @hr int
DECLARE @iTmp0 int
-- Important: Do not use nvarchar(max). See the warning about using nvarchar(max).
DECLARE @sTmp0 nvarchar(4000)
DECLARE @sTmp1 nvarchar(4000)
DECLARE @success int
SELECT @success = 0
SELECT @success = 0
-- This example assumes the Chilkat API has already been unlocked.
-- See Global Unlock Sample for example code.
DECLARE @imap int
EXEC @hr = sp_OACreate 'Chilkat.Imap', @imap OUT
IF @hr <> 0
BEGIN
PRINT 'Failed to create ActiveX component'
RETURN
END
-- Connect to the IMAP server using SSL/TLS on the standard secure IMAP port.
EXEC sp_OASetProperty @imap, 'Ssl', 1
EXEC sp_OASetProperty @imap, 'Port', 993
EXEC sp_OAMethod @imap, 'Connect', @success OUT, 'imap.example.com'
IF @success = 0
BEGIN
EXEC sp_OAGetProperty @imap, 'LastErrorText', @sTmp0 OUT
PRINT @sTmp0
EXEC @hr = sp_OADestroy @imap
RETURN
END
-- Authenticate with the IMAP server.
EXEC sp_OAMethod @imap, 'Login', @success OUT, '****', '****'
IF @success = 0
BEGIN
EXEC sp_OAGetProperty @imap, 'LastErrorText', @sTmp0 OUT
PRINT @sTmp0
EXEC @hr = sp_OADestroy @imap
RETURN
END
-- Select the mailbox (folder) to access.
EXEC sp_OAMethod @imap, 'SelectMailbox', @success OUT, 'Inbox'
IF @success = 0
BEGIN
EXEC sp_OAGetProperty @imap, 'LastErrorText', @sTmp0 OUT
PRINT @sTmp0
EXEC @hr = sp_OADestroy @imap
RETURN
END
-- Get the identifiers for all messages in the selected mailbox.
-- Setting fetchUids = cktrue causes IMAP UIDs to be returned.
-- If ckfalse, IMAP sequence numbers are returned instead.
DECLARE @fetchUids int
SELECT @fetchUids = 1
DECLARE @messageSet int
EXEC @hr = sp_OACreate 'Chilkat.MessageSet', @messageSet OUT
EXEC sp_OAMethod @imap, 'QueryMbx', @success OUT, 'ALL', @fetchUids, @messageSet
IF @success = 0
BEGIN
EXEC sp_OAGetProperty @imap, 'LastErrorText', @sTmp0 OUT
PRINT @sTmp0
EXEC @hr = sp_OADestroy @imap
EXEC @hr = sp_OADestroy @messageSet
RETURN
END
-- Download only the email headers for the messages in the set.
-- This is much faster than downloading full emails because the
-- message bodies and attachment contents are not retrieved.
--
-- Even though the attachments themselves are not downloaded,
-- Chilkat can still provide information such as attachment
-- filenames, attachment sizes, and the total message size.
DECLARE @bundle int
EXEC @hr = sp_OACreate 'Chilkat.EmailBundle', @bundle OUT
DECLARE @headersOnly int
SELECT @headersOnly = 1
EXEC sp_OAMethod @imap, 'FetchMsgSet', @success OUT, @headersOnly, @messageSet, @bundle
IF @success = 0
BEGIN
EXEC sp_OAGetProperty @imap, 'LastErrorText', @sTmp0 OUT
PRINT @sTmp0
EXEC @hr = sp_OADestroy @imap
EXEC @hr = sp_OADestroy @messageSet
EXEC @hr = sp_OADestroy @bundle
RETURN
END
-- Iterate over each email in the bundle and display summary information.
DECLARE @email int
EXEC @hr = sp_OACreate 'Chilkat.Email', @email OUT
DECLARE @name nvarchar(4000)
DECLARE @addr nvarchar(4000)
DECLARE @i int
SELECT @i = 0
DECLARE @j int
SELECT @j = 0
EXEC sp_OAGetProperty @bundle, 'MessageCount', @iTmp0 OUT
WHILE @i < @iTmp0
BEGIN
EXEC sp_OAMethod @bundle, 'EmailAt', @success OUT, @i, @email
-- Display the sender and subject line.
EXEC sp_OAGetProperty @email, 'From', @sTmp0 OUT
PRINT @sTmp0
EXEC sp_OAGetProperty @email, 'Subject', @sTmp0 OUT
PRINT @sTmp0
-- Display all "To" recipients.
SELECT @j = 0
EXEC sp_OAGetProperty @email, 'NumTo', @iTmp0 OUT
WHILE @j < @iTmp0
BEGIN
EXEC sp_OAMethod @email, 'GetToName', @sTmp0 OUT, @j
EXEC sp_OAMethod @email, 'GetToAddr', @sTmp1 OUT, @j
PRINT 'TO: ' + @sTmp0 + ', ' + @sTmp1
SELECT @j = @j + 1
END
-- Display all "CC" recipients.
SELECT @j = 0
EXEC sp_OAGetProperty @email, 'NumCC', @iTmp0 OUT
WHILE @j < @iTmp0
BEGIN
EXEC sp_OAMethod @email, 'GetCcName', @sTmp0 OUT, @j
EXEC sp_OAMethod @email, 'GetCcAddr', @sTmp1 OUT, @j
PRINT 'CC: ' + @sTmp0 + ', ' + @sTmp1
SELECT @j = @j + 1
END
-- Display the total size of the email message, including
-- the body and all attachments, even though only headers
-- were downloaded.
EXEC sp_OAGetProperty @email, 'Size', @iTmp0 OUT
PRINT @iTmp0
-- When full emails are downloaded, attachment information
-- is accessed using the email.NumAttachments property and
-- the email.GetMailAttach* methods.
--
-- However, because this example downloaded headers only,
-- attachment metadata must be obtained using the IMAP object.
DECLARE @numAttach int
EXEC sp_OAMethod @imap, 'GetMailNumAttach', @numAttach OUT, @email
SELECT @j = 0
WHILE @j < @numAttach
BEGIN
-- Display the attachment filename.
EXEC sp_OAMethod @imap, 'GetMailAttachFilename', @sTmp0 OUT, @email, @j
PRINT @sTmp0
-- Display the attachment size in bytes.
DECLARE @attachSize int
EXEC sp_OAMethod @imap, 'GetMailAttachSize', @attachSize OUT, @email, @j
PRINT ' size = ' + @attachSize + ' bytes'
SELECT @j = @j + 1
END
PRINT '--'
SELECT @i = @i + 1
END
-- Disconnect from the IMAP server.
EXEC sp_OAMethod @imap, 'Disconnect', @success OUT
EXEC @hr = sp_OADestroy @imap
EXEC @hr = sp_OADestroy @messageSet
EXEC @hr = sp_OADestroy @bundle
EXEC @hr = sp_OADestroy @email
END
GO