B4X 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. B4X

Dim success As Boolean = False

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

Dim imap As ChilkatImap
imap.Initialize("imap")

'  Connect to your IMAP server and authenticate..
imap.Ssl = True
imap.Port = 993
success = imap.Connect("imap.mail.us-west-2.awsapps.com")
If success = False Then
    Log(imap.LastErrorText)
    Return
End If


success = imap.Login("myLogin", "myPassword")
If success = False Then
    Log(imap.LastErrorText)
    Return
End If


'  Select a mailbox
success = imap.SelectMailbox("Inbox")
If success = False Then
    Log(imap.LastErrorText)
    Return
End If


'  Search for all message having the letter 'a' somewhere in the Subject,
'  and return the messages as JSON.
Dim json As ChilkatJsonObject
json.Initialize
success = imap.QueryThread("REFERENCES", "SUBJECT a", True, json)
If success = False Then
    Log(imap.LastErrorText)
    Return
End If


'  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..

Dim numThreads As Int = json.SizeOfArray("threads")
Log("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:
json.Load("{" & Chr(34) & "threads" & Chr(34) & ": [[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.
Log("Following the 2nd top level thread...")
Dim arr As ChilkatJsonArray = json.ArrayOf("threads[1]")
Dim threadSize As Int = arr.Size
Dim i As Int = 0
Do While i < threadSize
    '  Do we have an array or integer at this position?
    If arr.TypeAt(i) = 4 Then
        '  This is a sub-array.
        Dim subArr As ChilkatJsonArray = arr.ArrayAt(i)

        '  Follow the sub-array starting at the 1st position..
        arr = subArr
        i = 0
        threadSize = arr.Size
    Else
        '  Must be a single integer.
        Log(arr.IntAt(i))
        i = i + 1
    End If

Loop

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