Visual Basic 6.0

Save an IMAP Attachment to a File

Demonstrates the Chilkat Imap.FetchAttachment method, which downloads one attachment from the IMAP server and saves it to the filesystem. The first argument is the Email, the second is the zero-based attachment index, and the third is the file path to write. This example fetches a message headers-only, inspects its attachments without downloading them, and then downloads a specific attachment on demand.

Note: The output path is relative to the application's current working directory. Chilkat does not create missing parent directories, so qa_output/ must already exist.

Background: This is the method's real value. A headers-only fetch downloads no attachment bodies, yet methods such as GetMailNumAttach and GetMailAttachFilename still work from the ckx-imap-* metadata. FetchAttachment then uses that metadata to download just the requested MIME part from the server — even in a later session. A client can therefore list messages and their attachment names cheaply and pull individual attachments only when the user actually wants them, instead of downloading every full message. (If the Email already holds the attachment bytes, they are saved without contacting the server.)

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Visual Basic 6.0

Dim success As Long
success = 0

'  Demonstrates the Imap.FetchAttachment method, which downloads one attachment from the IMAP
'  server and saves it to a file.  The 1st argument is the Email, the 2nd is the zero-based
'  attachment index, and the 3rd is the file path to write.
'  
'  The compelling use case: fetch a message headers-only, inspect its attachments without
'  downloading them, and then download just the attachment(s) you want.

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

success = imap.SelectMailbox("Inbox")
If (success = 0) Then
    Debug.Print imap.LastErrorText
    Exit Sub
End If

'  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.
Dim headersOnly As Long
headersOnly = 1
Dim useUid As Long
useUid = 0
Dim seqNum As Long
seqNum = 1
Dim email As New ChilkatEmail
success = imap.FetchEmail(headersOnly,seqNum,useUid,email)
If (success = 0) Then
    Debug.Print imap.LastErrorText
    Exit Sub
End If

'  Even though the body was not downloaded, the attachment count and names are available.
Dim numAttach As Long
numAttach = imap.GetMailNumAttach(email)
Debug.Print "Attachments: " & numAttach

If (numAttach > 0) Then
    '  Get the attachment's original filename and use it for the saved file.
    Dim fname As String
    fname = imap.GetMailAttachFilename(email,0)
    If (imap.LastMethodSuccess = 0) Then
        Debug.Print imap.LastErrorText
        Exit Sub
    End If

    '  Build the output path "qa_output/<filename>".
    Dim sbPath As New ChilkatStringBuilder
    success = sbPath.Append("qa_output/")
    success = sbPath.Append(fname)
    Dim savePath As String
    savePath = sbPath.GetAsString()

    '  Download just the first attachment (index 0) from the server and save it to that path.
    success = imap.FetchAttachment(email,0,savePath)
    If (success = 0) Then
        Debug.Print imap.LastErrorText
        Exit Sub
    End If

    Debug.Print "Saved attachment: " & savePath
End If

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