Visual Basic 6.0

Fetch a Text IMAP Attachment as a String

Demonstrates the Chilkat Imap.FetchAttachmentString method, which returns one text attachment decoded to a string. The first argument is the Email, the second is the zero-based attachment index, and the third is the charset used to decode the bytes. This example returns the first attachment as a UTF-8 string.

Background: This is the convenient form when you simply want a small text attachment's content inline as a string. Only use it for attachments known to be text; decoding binary content through a charset can alter or corrupt the bytes. For binary data use FetchAttachmentBd, and for large text a StringBuilder (via FetchAttachmentSb) avoids an extra copy.

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Visual Basic 6.0

Dim success As Long
success = 0

'  Demonstrates the Imap.FetchAttachmentString method, which downloads one text attachment and
'  returns it decoded to a string.  The 1st argument is the Email, the 2nd is the zero-based
'  attachment index, and the 3rd is the charset used to decode the bytes.
'  
'  The message is fetched headers-only, then the attachment is downloaded on demand.

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

Dim numAttach As Long
numAttach = imap.GetMailNumAttach(email)
If (numAttach > 0) Then
    '  FetchAttachmentString returns a string, so assign it to a string variable.
    Dim attachText As String
    attachText = imap.FetchAttachmentString(email,0,"utf-8")
    If (imap.LastMethodSuccess = 0) Then
        Debug.Print imap.LastErrorText
        Exit Sub
    End If

    Debug.Print attachText
End If

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