Lazarus Pascal

Search an IMAP Mailbox

Demonstrates the Chilkat Imap.QueryMbx method, which searches the selected mailbox using IMAP search criteria and stores the matching message identifiers in a MessageSet. If bUid is true, the identifiers are UIDs; otherwise they are sequence numbers. This example finds unseen messages and lists their UIDs.

Background: IMAP search runs on the server, so you can find matching messages without downloading them. The criteria string is standard IMAP search syntax — for example UNSEEN, FROM "alice@example.com", SUBJECT "invoice", or SINCE 1-Jan-2026 — and terms can be combined. The result is a MessageSet of identifiers you then fetch, flag, copy, or move. Requesting UIDs (bUid = true) is preferred because UIDs remain valid across sessions.

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Lazarus Pascal

program ChilkatDemo;

// Demonstrates using the Chilkat Pascal wrapper via the C bridge DLL.
// Builds as a console application under Lazarus (FPC) or Delphi.

{$IFDEF FPC}
  {$MODE DELPHI}
{$ENDIF}
{$APPTYPE CONSOLE}

uses
  {$IFDEF UNIX}
  cthreads,
  {$ENDIF}
  SysUtils,
  CkDllLoader,
  Chilkat.Imap,
  Chilkat.MessageSet;

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

procedure RunDemo;
var
  success: Boolean;
  imap: TImap;
  msgSet: TMessageSet;
  n: Integer;
  i: Integer;

begin
  success := False;

  //  Demonstrates the Imap.QueryMbx method, which searches the selected mailbox using IMAP
  //  search criteria and stores the matching message identifiers in a MessageSet.  If bUid is
  //  True, the identifiers are UIDs; otherwise they are sequence numbers.

  imap := TImap.Create;

  imap.Ssl := True;
  imap.Port := 993;

  success := imap.Connect('imap.example.com');
  if (success = False) then
    begin
      WriteLn(imap.LastErrorText);
      Exit;
    end;
  success := imap.Login('user@example.com','myPassword');
  if (success = False) then
    begin
      WriteLn(imap.LastErrorText);
      Exit;
    end;

  success := imap.SelectMailbox('Inbox');
  if (success = False) then
    begin
      WriteLn(imap.LastErrorText);
      Exit;
    end;

  //  Search for unseen (unread) messages, returning their UIDs.
  msgSet := TMessageSet.Create;
  success := imap.QueryMbx('UNSEEN',True,msgSet);
  if (success = False) then
    begin
      WriteLn(imap.LastErrorText);
      Exit;
    end;

  //  Iterate the matching message identifiers.
  n := msgSet.Count;
  WriteLn('Matching messages: ' + n);

  for i := 0 to n - 1 do
    begin
      WriteLn('UID: ' + msgSet.GetId(i));
    end;

  success := imap.Disconnect();
  if (success = False) then
    begin
      WriteLn(imap.LastErrorText);
      Exit;
    end;


  imap.Free;
  msgSet.Free;

end;

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

begin

  try
    RunDemo;
  except
    on E: Exception do
      WriteLn('Unhandled exception: ', E.ClassName, ': ', E.Message);
  end;

  WriteLn;
  {$IFDEF MSWINDOWS}
  WriteLn('Press Enter to exit...');
  ReadLn;
  {$ENDIF}
end.