(Visual FoxPro) IMAP Find Emails by Date

See more IMAP Examples

Explains how to find emails by date using the IMAP protocol.

Chilkat ActiveX Downloads ActiveX for 32-bit and 64-bit Windows

LOCAL loImap
LOCAL lnSuccess
LOCAL lcOnDate
LOCAL lcBetweenDates
LOCAL lnFetchUids
LOCAL loMessageSet
LOCAL loEmail
LOCAL lnMessageCount
LOCAL i

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

* For versions of Chilkat < 10.0.0, use CreateObject('Chilkat_9_5_0.Imap')
loImap = CreateObject('Chilkat.Imap')

* Connect to an IMAP server.
loImap.Ssl = 1
loImap.Port = 993
lnSuccess = loImap.Connect("imap.example.com")
IF (lnSuccess <> 1) THEN
    ? loImap.LastErrorText
    RELEASE loImap
    CANCEL
ENDIF

* Login
lnSuccess = loImap.Login("myLogin","myPassword")
IF (lnSuccess <> 1) THEN
    ? loImap.LastErrorText
    RELEASE loImap
    CANCEL
ENDIF

* Select an IMAP mailbox
lnSuccess = loImap.SelectMailbox("Inbox")
IF (lnSuccess <> 1) THEN
    ? loImap.LastErrorText
    RELEASE loImap
    CANCEL
ENDIF

* In the IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) protocol, criteria strings are used to search for emails matching specific criteria on the mail server. 
* When searching for emails by date, you can use criteria strings to specify the date range you're interested in.
* 
* IMAP provides several options for searching emails by date using criteria strings. Here are the commonly used ones:
* 
* 1. BEFORE: Searches for emails sent before a specific date.
*    Example: BEFORE 01-Apr-2022
* 
* 2. ON: Searches for emails sent on a specific date.
*    Example: ON 01-Apr-2022
* 
* 3. SINCE: Searches for emails sent after a specific date.
*    Example: SINCE 01-Apr-2022
* 
* 4. SENTBEFORE: Searches for emails whose date header (sent date) is before a specific date.
*    Example: SENTBEFORE 01-Apr-2022
* 
* 5. SENTON: Searches for emails whose date header (sent date) is on a specific date.
*    Example: SENTON 01-Apr-2022
* 
* 6. SENTSINCE: Searches for emails whose date header (sent date) is after a specific date.
*    Example: SENTSINCE 01-Apr-2022
* 

* 
* The date format used in IMAP criteria strings is typically a specific format like "DD-Mon-YYYY" (e.g., "01-Apr-2022"), but some servers may also accept other formats 
* such as "YYYY-MM-DD". It's essential to check the documentation or specifications of the IMAP server you're working with to ensure compatibility with the 
* date format you're using.
* 
* By combining these date criteria strings with other search criteria (such as sender, recipient, subject, etc.), 
* you can effectively filter and retrieve emails based on various conditions.
* 

* 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.
lcOnDate = "SENTON 15-Apr-2024"

* 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.
lcBetweenDates = "SENTSINCE 12-Apr-2024 SENTBEFORE 15-Apr-2024"

* We can choose to fetch UIDs or sequence numbers.
lnFetchUids = 1
loMessageSet = loImap.Search(lcBetweenDates,lnFetchUids)
IF (loImap.LastMethodSuccess = 0) THEN
    ? loImap.LastErrorText
    RELEASE loImap
    CANCEL
ENDIF

? loMessageSet.ToCompactString()

* Download each email in the message set.

lnMessageCount = loMessageSet.Count
i = 0
DO WHILE i < lnMessageCount
    loEmail = loImap.FetchSingle(loMessageSet.GetId(i),lnFetchUids)
    IF (loImap.LastMethodSuccess = 0) THEN
        ? loImap.LastErrorText
        RELEASE loMessageSet
        RELEASE loImap
        CANCEL
    ENDIF

    ? loEmail.Subject
    * ...
    RELEASE loEmail
    i = i + 1
ENDDO

* Disconnect from the IMAP server.
lnSuccess = loImap.Disconnect()

RELEASE loMessageSet

RELEASE loImap