Tcl Requires Chilkat v11.0.0+

IMAP Search with THREAD Semantics

See more IMAP Examples

Demonstrates how to search an IMAP mailbox and return message numbers grouped together in parent/child relationships based on which messages are replies to others. Tcl

load ./chilkat.dll

set success 0

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

set imap [new_CkImap]

#  Connect to your IMAP server and authenticate..
CkImap_put_Ssl $imap 1
CkImap_put_Port $imap 993
set success [CkImap_Connect $imap "imap.mail.us-west-2.awsapps.com"]
if {$success == 0} then {
    puts [CkImap_lastErrorText $imap]
    delete_CkImap $imap
    exit
}

set success [CkImap_Login $imap "myLogin" "myPassword"]
if {$success == 0} then {
    puts [CkImap_lastErrorText $imap]
    delete_CkImap $imap
    exit
}

#  Select a mailbox
set success [CkImap_SelectMailbox $imap "Inbox"]
if {$success == 0} then {
    puts [CkImap_lastErrorText $imap]
    delete_CkImap $imap
    exit
}

#  Search for all message having the letter 'a' somewhere in the Subject,
#  and return the messages as JSON.
set json [new_CkJsonObject]

set success [CkImap_QueryThread $imap "REFERENCES" "SUBJECT a" 1 $json]
if {$success == 0} then {
    puts [CkImap_lastErrorText $imap]
    delete_CkImap $imap
    delete_CkJsonObject $json
    exit
}

#  The IMAP server will return a raw response with a format such as this:  (2)(3 6 (4 23)(44 7 96))

#  In tree form, it's like this:
#  
#              -- 2
#              -- 3
#                  \-- 6
#                     |-- 4
#                     |      \-- 23
#                     |
#                     |-- 44
#                                \-- 7
#                                        \-- 96
#  

#  It means there are 2 main threads returned, but the 2nd thread splits into two sub-threads.
#  In total, we can think of it as 3 threads -- 2 main threads (with no parents) and one sub-thread w/ a parent.
#  
#  - The 1st thread contains the message 2, and has no parent thread.
#  - The 2nd thread contains the messages 3, 6, 4, 23, and has no parent thread.
#  - The 3rd thread contains the messages 44, 7, 96 and the parent thread is message 6.
#  

#  (Yes, this is all highly confusing...)

#  Chilkat will return the above sample response as JSON that looks like this:

#  {
#    "threads": [
#      [2],
#      [3, 6, [4, 23], [44, 7, 96]]
#    ]
#  }
#  

#  Use this online tool to generate parsing code from sample JSON: 
#  Generate Parsing Code from JSON
#  In this case, the online tool can help you get a feel for how to write the JSON parsing code..

set numThreads [CkJsonObject_SizeOfArray $json "threads"]
puts "The total number of top-level threads is $numThreads"

#  Let's say we wanted to get the messages in the thread 3, 6, 4, 23.
#  We always follow the 1st branch to the bottom, ignoring the other branches.
#  For example, if we had  [3, 5, [4, 23, [55, 56, 57], [68, 69]], [44, 7, 96]]
#  then the thread would be 3, 5, 4, 43, 55, 56, 57

#  For testing, let's substitute the response from the IMAP server with this sample:
CkJsonObject_Load $json "{\"threads\": [[2], [3, 5, [4, 23, [55, 56, 57], [68, 69]], [44, 7, 96]]]}"

#  Begin with the 2nd top-level thread, which is at index 1.
puts "Following the 2nd top level thread..."
# arr is a CkJsonArray
set arr [CkJsonObject_ArrayOf $json "threads[1]"]
set threadSize [CkJsonArray_get_Size $arr]
set i 0
while {$i < $threadSize} {
    #  Do we have an array or integer at this position?
    if {[CkJsonArray_TypeAt $arr $i] == 4} then {
        #  This is a sub-array.
        # subArr is a CkJsonArray
        set subArr [CkJsonArray_ArrayAt $arr $i]
        delete_CkJsonArray $arr

        #  Follow the sub-array starting at the 1st position..
        set arr $subArr
        set i 0
        set threadSize [CkJsonArray_get_Size $arr]
    }     else {
        #  Must be a single integer.
        puts [CkJsonArray_IntAt $arr $i]
        set i [expr $i + 1]
    }

}

#  The output is:
#  
#  Following the 2nd top level thread...
#  3
#  5
#  4
#  23
#  55
#  56
#  57

delete_CkImap $imap
delete_CkJsonObject $json