(PowerBuilder) Processing a multipart/report Delivery Status Notification (Bounce Notification)

See more Email Object Examples

This example discusses the format of Delivery Status Notification emails and how to process them.

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integer li_rc
integer li_Success
oleobject loo_Email
oleobject loo_H2t
oleobject loo_Sa
integer li_NumFinalRecipients
integer i
string ls_HeadersText
oleobject loo_Mime
oleobject loo_OrigEmail

// Here are the MIME structures, showing the content-type and nesting of the MIME parts of three sample
// multipart/report DSN (Delivery Status Notification) emails.

// This 1st sample includes a "text/rfc822-headers" MIME subpart. 

// multipart/report
//     text/plain
//     message/delivery-status
//     text/rfc822-headers
//     message/rfc822

// This 2nd sample lacks the text/rfc-headers part, but the "report type" information
// is offered in both plain-text and HTML formats.

// multipart/report
//     multipart/alternative
//         text/plain
//         text/html
//     message/delivery-status
//     message/rfc822

// ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

// A multipart/report MIME delivery status notification follows a specific format defined by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) in RFC 3464, 
// which outlines the "An Extensible Message Format for Delivery Status Notifications" standard. The format consists of multiple parts within a 
// multipart/report structure. Here's an overview of the main parts involved:
// 
// The 1st sub-part under multipart/report is the body of the DSN to be displayed by the email client (such as Outlook).
// It can be a simple text/plain body, or it can be multipart/alternative and offer a few alternative format, typically plain-text and HTML.
// HTML is best for viewing a program such as Outlook. 
// This part of the multipart/report is not structured for programmatic processing.  It's meant to be viewed by a human.

// --------------------
// The "message/delivery-status" part within a multipart/report MIME structure follows a specific format to provide details about the delivery status
// of an email message.  Here's an overview of the format and the key components within the "message/delivery-status" part:
// 
// (1) Content-Type and Reporting-UA:
// The "message/delivery-status" part begins with the Content-Type header specifying "message/delivery-status". 
// It may also include a Reporting-UA (Reporting User Agent) field that identifies the software or system generating the delivery status notification.
// 
// For example:
// 
// Content-Type: message/delivery-status
// Reporting-UA: Example Mail System 1.0
// 
// (2) Fields:
// The "message/delivery-status" part contains a series of fields, each providing specific information about the delivery status. 
// These fields are structured as key-value pairs.
// 
// Common fields include:
// 
//     Final-Recipient: Specifies the recipient for whom the delivery status is being reported.
//     Action: Describes the action performed by the reporting system (e.g., failed, delivered, delayed, etc.).
//     Status: Indicates the status code or reason for the delivery attempt result.
//     Remote-MTA: Specifies the host or system that attempted the delivery.
//     Diagnostic-Code: Provides additional diagnostic information, such as error codes or explanations.
// 
// For example:
// 
// Final-Recipient: rfc822; john.doe@example.com
// Action: failed
// Status: 5.1.1
// Remote-MTA: smtp.example.com
// Diagnostic-Code: smtp; 550 Requested action not taken: mailbox unavailable
// 
// (3) Additional Fields:
// Additional fields may be included in the "message/delivery-status" part to provide further information about the delivery attempt. 
// These fields can vary depending on the implementation or specific needs of the system generating the delivery status notification.
// For example:
// 
// X-Spam-Flag: YES
// X-Spam-Score: 7.2
// 
// Note: The specific fields and their values within the "message/delivery-status" part can vary depending on the implementation
// or the email server/application generating the delivery status notification. The structure described above represents the standard format
// as defined in RFC 3464, but variations may exist in practice.

// --------------------

// The "text/rfc822-headers" MIME part, if included, contains the headers of the original email message
// for which the delivery status notification is being generated. It provides a subset of the headers from the original message,
// typically excluding the message body and attachments.
// 
// The purpose of including the "text/rfc822-headers" part is to provide contextual information about the original message.
// It allows the recipient to review the original headers, such as the subject, sender, recipients, date, and other relevant information,
// in order to understand the context and details of the email message for which the delivery status notification is being generated.
// 
// Note that the specific headers included in the "text/rfc822-headers" part can vary based on the implementation or requirements
// of the system generating the delivery status notification.

// --------------------

// If the message/rfc822 part is present, it contains the full MIME of the email that was not delivered.
// In Chilkat terminology, this is an attached message.

// OK, let's write code to process a multipart/report email.

loo_Email = create oleobject
// Use "Chilkat_9_5_0.Email" for versions of Chilkat < 10.0.0
li_rc = loo_Email.ConnectToNewObject("Chilkat.Email")
if li_rc < 0 then
    destroy loo_Email
    MessageBox("Error","Connecting to COM object failed")
    return
end if
li_Success = loo_Email.LoadEml("qa_data/eml/deliveryStatus.eml")
// success = email.LoadEml("qa_data/eml/sample_multipart_report.eml");
if li_Success = 0 then
    Write-Debug loo_Email.LastErrorText
    destroy loo_Email
    return
end if

// Verify this is a multipart/report email..
if loo_Email.IsMultipartReport() = 0 then
    Write-Debug "Not a multipart/report email."
    destroy loo_Email
    return
end if

// Get the body that is to be displayed to a human in an email program (such as Outlook).
if loo_Email.HasPlainTextBody() = 1 then
    Write-Debug "Plain text body:"
    // println email.GetPlainTextBody();
else
    if loo_Email.HasHtmlBody() = 1 then
        // Convert HTML to plain-text..
        loo_H2t = create oleobject
        // Use "Chilkat_9_5_0.HtmlToText" for versions of Chilkat < 10.0.0
        li_rc = loo_H2t.ConnectToNewObject("Chilkat.HtmlToText")

        Write-Debug "HTML body converted to plain-text:"
        Write-Debug loo_H2t.ToText(loo_Email.GetHtmlBody())
    else
        Write-Debug "Has no plain-text or HTML body..."
    end if

end if

Write-Debug "---------------------------------"

// Now get information from the message/delivery-status part (or the message/disposition-notification part)
Write-Debug "--- Delivery Status Information:"
Write-Debug "Status: " + loo_Email.GetDeliveryStatusInfo("Status")
Write-Debug "Action: " + loo_Email.GetDeliveryStatusInfo("Action")
Write-Debug "Reporting-MTA: " + loo_Email.GetDeliveryStatusInfo("Reporting-MTA")

loo_Sa = loo_Email.GetDsnFinalRecipients()
li_NumFinalRecipients = loo_Sa.Count
i = 0
do while i < li_NumFinalRecipients
    Write-Debug "final recipient: " + loo_Sa.GetString(i)
    i = i + 1
loop
destroy loo_Sa

Write-Debug "---------------------------------"

// If the multipart/report contains a text/rfc822-headers, it can be retrieved like this:
ls_HeadersText = loo_Email.GetNthTextPartOfType(0,"text/rfc822-headers",0,0)
if loo_Email.LastMethodSuccess = 1 then
    Write-Debug "The text/rfc822-headers part exists.."
    Write-Debug ""
    Write-Debug ls_HeadersText

    // If you wish to process the headers, you can load them into a MIME object and use the Chilkat MIME functionality to examine the headers.
    loo_Mime = create oleobject
    // Use "Chilkat_9_5_0.Mime" for versions of Chilkat < 10.0.0
    li_rc = loo_Mime.ConnectToNewObject("Chilkat.Mime")

    loo_Mime.LoadMime(ls_HeadersText)

    // Do whatever you want.. 
    // For example, look at the "To" header.
    Write-Debug "MIME To header:"
    Write-Debug loo_Mime.GetHeaderField("To")
end if

Write-Debug "---------------------------------"

// Finally, if the original email was attached, you can load it into another Chilkat Email object instance and
// do what you want with it..

if loo_Email.NumAttachedMessages > 0 then
    // Get the 1st attachment message (assume we don't have more than one attached message)
    loo_OrigEmail = loo_Email.GetAttachedMessage(0)
    if loo_Email.LastMethodSuccess = 1 then
        Write-Debug "Attached message subject: " + loo_OrigEmail.Subject
        // Do whatever else you want..
        destroy loo_OrigEmail
    end if

end if



destroy loo_Email
destroy loo_H2t
destroy loo_Mime