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IMAP Client library using C#

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20 Sep 2012MPL2 min read 1.4M   31.9K   184   406
IMAPLibrary supports the basic IMAP protocol functions to fetch messages from the mailbox.

GitHub Link: https://github.com/rohitjoshi/ImapLibrary

 

Introduction

The Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) allows a client to access and manipulate electronic mail messages on a server. It includes operations for creating, deleting, and renaming mailboxes; checking for new messages; permanently removing messages; setting and clearing flags; [RFC-822] and [MIME-IMB] parsing; searching; and selective fetching of message attributes, texts, and portions thereof. For more information: here.

I have written an IMAP client library which allows basic functionalities like login, select/examine folder, search messages, fetch message (Header, Body), get storage quota, and logout.

This is my first application developed in C#, so don't expect too much in terms of efficiency. It demonstrates the use of sockets, XML writer, and user defined exception handling. Please feel free to modify and use this code.

The attached zip file contains three directories.

IMAP Library: It contains three source files.

  • ImapBase.cs: contains the IMAP commands related to string, and socket related functionality.
  • ImapException.cs: defines the user defined IMAP related error messages.
  • Imap.cs: IMAP client library functions. It has the following public functions:
    • Login: Login to IMAP server. It requires IMAP hostname, port, username, and password.
      <COMMAND_PREFIX> LOGIN <USERID> <PASSWORD>\r\n
    • Logout: Logout and close the socket.
      <COMMAND_PREFIX> LOGOUT\r\n
    • SelectFolder: It selects the folder. It requires folder name as parameter.
      <COMMAND_PREFIX> SELECT <FOLDER>\r\n
    • ExamineFolder: It is similar to SelectFolder, but it does examine.
      <COMMAND_PREFIX> EXAMINE <FOLDER>\r\n
    • GetQuota: Get the quota of the mailbox.
      <COMMAND_PREFIX> GETQUOTAROOT <FOLDER>\r\n
    • SearchMessage: You can search the messages. It will return the UID of messages. E.g., From rjoshi.
      <COMMAND_PREFIX> SEARCH <SEARCH STRING>\r\n
    • FetchMessage: It retrieves the complete message with attachments and writes into an XML file. The XML file will be generated in your current directory with file name as <MessageUID>.xml. You need to pass the XmlTextWriter object, message UID, and flag to fetch body.
      <COMMAND_PREFIX> UID FETCH  <MSG UID> BODY[HEADER]
    • FetchPartBody: Fetch the body for a specific part. It requires message UID, part number as parameter.
    • FetchPartHeader: Fetch the header of message.

Documentation: HTML Documentation for IMAP Library generated using Visual Studio .NET.

IMAP Library test program: The IMAP test program allows users to test the following functionalities.

  • Login
  • Select/Examine folder
  • Search
  • Fetch Message
  • Get Quota
  • Logout
  • Delete Message
  • Mark Message UnRead 
  • Move Message

   Image 1
 

Update: Added support for

  1. SSL Connection and verified with gmail
  2. Copy Message
  3. Move Message
  4. Delete Message 
  5. Mark Message Unread  

Please don't forget to Vote if you like this library and PR welcome at github repository!!

 

 

 

 

License

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Mozilla Public License 1.1 (MPL 1.1)


Written By
Software Developer
United States United States
Rohit Joshi is a software engineer working for a telecom company in USA. He has development expirience using C, C++ ,C#, VoiceXML, ASR, IMAP, LDAP, HTTP, SIP, H323 on unix/linux and platforms.

Comments and Discussions

 
General"Expected SPACE not found" Pin
alivepjc16-Jun-06 12:13
alivepjc16-Jun-06 12:13 
GeneralRe: "Expected SPACE not found" Pin
Rohit Joshi16-Jun-06 16:46
Rohit Joshi16-Jun-06 16:46 
GeneralRe: "Expected SPACE not found" Pin
Motoneige29-Aug-06 6:10
Motoneige29-Aug-06 6:10 
GeneralRe: "Expected SPACE not found" Pin
Motoneige29-Aug-06 8:16
Motoneige29-Aug-06 8:16 
GeneralBug Pin
User 25848684-Jan-06 11:27
User 25848684-Jan-06 11:27 
GeneralRe: Bug Pin
User 25848684-Jan-06 18:32
User 25848684-Jan-06 18:32 
GeneralRe: Bug Pin
Rohit Joshi16-Jan-06 7:25
Rohit Joshi16-Jan-06 7:25 
Generalanother Imap library Pin
eskan11-Nov-05 5:58
eskan11-Nov-05 5:58 
GeneralChange to TestImap.cs Pin
Keith Farmer10-Nov-05 10:48
Keith Farmer10-Nov-05 10:48 
GeneralRetrieve number of unread messages Pin
Psanchez1172-Nov-05 7:36
Psanchez1172-Nov-05 7:36 
GeneralRe: Retrieve number of unread messages Pin
GotzBoost5-Nov-05 19:06
GotzBoost5-Nov-05 19:06 
GeneralRe: Retrieve number of unread messages Pin
Rohit Joshi16-Jun-06 17:08
Rohit Joshi16-Jun-06 17:08 
QuestionHow to retrieve outlook form template data from the mails? Pin
Daisy Dog4-Aug-05 2:09
Daisy Dog4-Aug-05 2:09 
GeneralUpdated: Search Criteria builder class Pin
GotzBoost6-Jul-05 19:56
GotzBoost6-Jul-05 19:56 
Generalssl Pin
frinomax30-Jun-05 7:40
frinomax30-Jun-05 7:40 
GeneralRe: ssl Pin
mailman23-Jan-08 6:13
mailman23-Jan-08 6:13 
GeneralRe: ssl Pin
Rohit Joshi7-Jun-12 7:55
Rohit Joshi7-Jun-12 7:55 
GeneralSaving attachments Pin
mohdowais16-Jun-05 2:44
mohdowais16-Jun-05 2:44 
GeneralRe: Saving attachments Pin
SnuhEyeless27-Nov-05 16:33
SnuhEyeless27-Nov-05 16:33 
GeneralRe: Saving attachments Pin
superdawgie30-Nov-05 17:03
superdawgie30-Nov-05 17:03 
GeneralRe: Saving attachments Pin
alcostas7624-May-06 2:09
alcostas7624-May-06 2:09 
GeneralRe: Saving attachments Pin
pieran3-Aug-06 5:14
pieran3-Aug-06 5:14 
GeneralRe: Saving attachments Pin
mschelstrate4-Feb-10 3:38
mschelstrate4-Feb-10 3:38 
Generali can't write correctly data with NetworkStream Pin
fjlherrera3-May-05 11:42
fjlherrera3-May-05 11:42 
GeneralExposing m_nTotalMessages and others... Pin
wells oliver3-May-05 10:19
wells oliver3-May-05 10:19 

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