Visual Basic 6.0

Expunge Deleted Messages from a Mailbox

Demonstrates the Chilkat Imap.Expunge method, which permanently removes all messages marked with the \Deleted flag from the currently selected mailbox. The mailbox remains selected. This example marks a message deleted with SetFlag and then expunges.

Background: IMAP deletion is two-phase, much like POP3. First a message is marked with the \Deleted flag (it still exists, just tagged); then EXPUNGE permanently removes every flagged message and renumbers the rest. Splitting the two steps lets a client mark several messages and remove them together, or unmark (undelete) before committing. Expunge keeps the mailbox selected; ExpungeAndClose does the same and then closes it.

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Visual Basic 6.0

Dim success As Long
success = 0

'  Demonstrates the Imap.Expunge method, which permanently removes all messages marked with
'  the \Deleted flag from the currently selected mailbox.  The mailbox remains selected.

Dim imap As New ChilkatImap

imap.Ssl = 1
imap.Port = 993

success = imap.Connect("imap.example.com")
If (success = 0) Then
    Debug.Print imap.LastErrorText
    Exit Sub
End If

success = imap.Login("user@example.com","myPassword")
If (success = 0) Then
    Debug.Print imap.LastErrorText
    Exit Sub
End If

'  Select the mailbox to operate on.
success = imap.SelectMailbox("Inbox")
If (success = 0) Then
    Debug.Print imap.LastErrorText
    Exit Sub
End If

'  Mark message (sequence number 1) with the \Deleted flag.  The 4th argument (1) sets the
'  flag; the 2nd argument (0) means the id is a sequence number, not a UID.
success = imap.SetFlag(1,0,"\Deleted",1)
If (success = 0) Then
    Debug.Print imap.LastErrorText
    Exit Sub
End If

'  Permanently remove all \Deleted messages from the selected mailbox.
success = imap.Expunge()
If (success = 0) Then
    Debug.Print imap.LastErrorText
    Exit Sub
End If

Debug.Print "Expunged the deleted messages."

success = imap.Disconnect()
If (success = 0) Then
    Debug.Print imap.LastErrorText
    Exit Sub
End If