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Lianja

Fetch an IMAP Attachment into a BinData

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Demonstrates the Chilkat Imap.FetchAttachmentBd method, which stores one attachment's bytes in a BinData object. The first argument is the Email, the second is the zero-based attachment index, and the third is the BinData, which is cleared before the operation. This example fetches the first attachment and prints its byte count.

Background: A BinData holds raw bytes, so it works for any attachment type — image, PDF, zip, and so on. From there you can save it, hash it, or hand it to another API expecting a byte buffer, all without touching the filesystem. Use the string/StringBuilder variants only when the attachment is known to be text.

Chilkat Lianja Downloads

Lianja
llSuccess = .F.

//  Demonstrates the Imap.FetchAttachmentBd method, which downloads one attachment's bytes into
//  a BinData object.  The 1st argument is the Email, the 2nd is the zero-based attachment
//  index, and the 3rd is the BinData (which is cleared first).
//  
//  The message is fetched headers-only, then the attachment is downloaded on demand.

loImap = createobject("CkImap")

loImap.Ssl = .T.
loImap.Port = 993

llSuccess = loImap.Connect("imap.example.com")
if (llSuccess = .F.) then
    ? loImap.LastErrorText
    release loImap
    return
endif

llSuccess = loImap.Login("user@example.com","myPassword")
if (llSuccess = .F.) then
    ? loImap.LastErrorText
    release loImap
    return
endif

llSuccess = loImap.SelectMailbox("Inbox")
if (llSuccess = .F.) then
    ? loImap.LastErrorText
    release loImap
    return
endif

//  Fetch only the message headers.  Attachment bodies are NOT downloaded, but the ckx-imap-*
//  metadata describing the attachments is present, so the attachment info methods still work.
llHeadersOnly = .T.
llUseUid = .F.
lnSeqNum = 1
loEmail = createobject("CkEmail")
llSuccess = loImap.FetchEmail(llHeadersOnly,lnSeqNum,llUseUid,loEmail)
if (llSuccess = .F.) then
    ? loImap.LastErrorText
    release loImap
    release loEmail
    return
endif

lnNumAttach = loImap.GetMailNumAttach(loEmail)
if (lnNumAttach > 0) then
    //  Download just the first attachment's bytes from the server into a BinData.
    loBd = createobject("CkBinData")
    llSuccess = loImap.FetchAttachmentBd(loEmail,0,loBd)
    if (llSuccess = .F.) then
        ? loImap.LastErrorText
        release loImap
        release loEmail
        release loBd
        return
    endif

    ? "Attachment size: " + str(loBd.NumBytes) + " bytes"
endif

llSuccess = loImap.Disconnect()
if (llSuccess = .F.) then
    ? loImap.LastErrorText
    release loImap
    release loEmail
    release loBd
    return
endif



release loImap
release loEmail
release loBd