PIMAP Class
Properties Methods Events Configuration Settings Errors
The PIMAP component is used to communicate with IMAP servers to retrieve and process OpenPGP encrypted and/or signed messages and any attachments.
Syntax
PIMAP
Remarks
The PIMAP class offers an easy-to-use interface: it implements a standard IMAP client, as specified in RFC 1730 and RFC 2060, and supports decrypting and verifying signatures of encrypted and signed emails using OpenPGP. Additionally, it enables you to create messages bound for multiple recipients with different keys, simultaneously encrypt and compress with the most popular compression algorithms, and control other aspects such as the encrypting algorithm to use.
Connect to a Mail Server
The first step in using the class is specifying a MailServer, a User to connect as, and a Password to authenticate with. After that, one or more requests may be sent to the server via the class's methods. Results are retrieved through events and a number of key properties.
Examine a Mailbox
Normally, after connecting to the server a Mailbox is selected (or examined) using the ExamineMailbox method. After the Mailbox is selected, MessageCount and RecentMessageCount show the number of messages in the mailbox, and MailboxFlags shows the flags pertaining to the mailbox.
A number of operations may be performed by the server in response to commands sent via the class's methods. The primary arguments for most commands are the Mailbox property and the MessageSet property. The MessageSet property denotes either a single message or a range of messages. Other arguments are specified through other properties such as SortCriteria, MessageFlags, etc.
Responses are received through events such as MessageInfo and MailboxList, and are also reflected in properties such as MessageText, MessageSubject, etc.
Decrypt
To process an encrypted or signed message, first retrieve the message text and headers by calling FetchMessageHeaders and FetchMessageText.
To decrypt a message specify the private key to be used for decryption by setting the Key* properties. For instance:
PIMAP1.KeyCount = 1 PIMAP1.KeyKeyring(0) = "c:\my_keyring_dir" PIMAP1.KeyUserId(0) = "recipient@nsoftware.com" PIMAP1.KeyPassphrase(0) = "password"The specified private key will be used to decrypt the message when calling Decrypt.
Verify
To verify the signature of a message specify the public key to be used for signature verification by
setting the SignerKey* properties. For instance:
PIMAP1.SignerKeyCount = 1 PIMAP1.SignerKeyKeyring(0) = "c:\my_keyring_dir" PIMAP1.SignerKeyUserId(0) = "sender@nsoftware.com"The specified public key will be used to verify the signature when calling VerifySignature. To decrypt and verify in one step call DecryptAndVerifySignature.
Retrieve MIME Message Parts
The MessagePart event describes the MIME structure of retrieved messages. One MessagePart event is fired for every message part, giving information about the particular part. Later on, message parts may be retrieved separately through the FetchMessagePart method. This speeds up processing by avoiding the need to retrieve full messages from the server.
Trace Client and Server Communication
The PITrail event traces the interaction between the client and the server. It includes all exchanges except for transfers of messages, message parts, and message headers.
Property List
The following is the full list of the properties of the class with short descriptions. Click on the links for further details.
| AuthMechanism | The authentication mechanism to be used when connecting to the mail server. |
| AutoDecodeParts | Determines whether to automatically decode message parts. |
| Command | Can be used to send additional commands directly to the server. |
| Connected | Shows whether the component is connected. |
| EndByte | The byte index of the position where the transfer should end. |
| FirewallAutoDetect | This property tells the component whether or not to automatically detect and use firewall system settings, if available. |
| FirewallType | This property determines the type of firewall to connect through. |
| FirewallHost | This property contains the name or IP address of firewall (optional). |
| FirewallPassword | This property contains a password if authentication is to be used when connecting through the firewall. |
| FirewallPort | This property contains the TCP port for the firewall Host . |
| FirewallUser | This property contains a user name if authentication is to be used connecting through a firewall. |
| Idle | The current status of the component. |
| KeyCount | The number of records in the Key arrays. |
| KeyEncoded | The key. |
| KeyKeyring | The location of the keyring. |
| KeyPassphrase | The passphrase for the key's secret key (if any). |
| KeyUserId | The user Id of the key. |
| LastReply | The last reply from the server. |
| LocalHost | The name of the local host or user-assigned IP interface through which connections are initiated or accepted. |
| Mailbox | Name of the mailbox selected on the server. |
| MailboxFlags | Defines flags in the selected mailbox. |
| MailboxListCount | The number of records in the MailboxList arrays. |
| MailboxListFlags | The mailbox flags in a mailbox listing. |
| MailboxListName | The mailbox name in a mailbox listing. |
| MailboxListSeparator | The Separator property contains the character that separates the different parts in the mailbox path hierarchy. |
| MailPort | The port of the IMAP server (default is 143). |
| MailServer | The name or address of the mail server (IMAP server). |
| Message | Provides the raw message content. |
| MessageContentEncoding | The ContentEncoding of the selected message. |
| MessageContentType | The ContentType of the message. |
| MessageCount | The total number of messages on the Mailbox . |
| MessageDate | The time the message was created. |
| MessageDeliveryTime | The time the message was delivered to the mail server. |
| MessageFlags | Contains the flags of the current message. |
| MessageFrom | The address of the author of the message. |
| MessageHeaderCount | The number of records in the MessageHeader arrays. |
| MessageHeaderField | This property contains the name of the HTTP header (same case as it is delivered). |
| MessageHeaderValue | This property contains the header contents. |
| MessageHeadersString | String version of RFC822-encoded headers of the message. |
| MessageId | The message identifier of the current message. |
| MessageInfoCount | The number of records in the MessageInfo arrays. |
| MessageInfoDate | The date of a message in a message info listing. |
| MessageInfoFlags | Message flag in a message info listing. |
| MessageInfoFrom | The sender of a message in a message info listing. |
| MessageInfoMessageId | The unique identifier of a message in a message info listing. |
| MessageInfoSize | The size of a message in a message info listing. |
| MessageInfoSubject | The subject of a message in a message info listing. |
| MessageInReplyTo | The unique message identifier of the message this one is in reply to. |
| MessageNetId | The globally unique identifier of the message. |
| MessagePartCount | The number of records in the MessagePart arrays. |
| MessagePartContentDisposition | This property shows the value of the Content-Disposition header of the message part. |
| MessagePartContentEncoding | This property shows how the data is encoded. |
| MessagePartContentId | This property shows the value of the Content-Id header of the message part. |
| MessagePartContentType | This property shows the type of data contained in the message part. |
| MessagePartFilename | This property shows the filename corresponding to the part (if the part was included in the message as an attached file). |
| MessagePartId | This property contains the identifier of a part listing which may be identified in other parts or messages. |
| MessagePartMultipartMode | This property shows how this part relates to the message's whole multipart structure ('mixed', 'alternative', etc. |
| MessagePartParameters | This property contains the additional parameters passed to the ContentType header such as the part charset etc. |
| MessagePartSize | This property contains the size of a part in a message part listing. |
| MessageRecipientCount | The number of records in the MessageRecipient arrays. |
| MessageRecipientAddress | This property contains the email address of the recipient. |
| MessageRecipientName | This property contains name of the recipient. |
| MessageRecipientOptions | This property contains the recipient sending options (used only by SMTP). |
| MessageRecipientType | This property contains the recipient type: To, Cc, or BCc. |
| MessageReplyTo | Email address(s) where replies to the message should be sent. |
| MessageSender | The address of the sender of the message. |
| MessageSet | The set of messages to operate on. |
| MessageSize | The size of the selected message. |
| MessageSubject | The subject of the message. |
| MessageText | The body of the retrieved message. |
| Overwrite | Indicates whether or not the component should overwrite files during transfer. |
| Password | The password used to authenticate to the MailServer . |
| PeekMode | When set to True, the message Seen flag is not changed during reading. |
| RecentMessageCount | Number of new messages in the Mailbox . |
| SignerKeyCount | The number of records in the SignerKey arrays. |
| SignerKeyEncoded | The key. |
| SignerKeyKeyring | The location of the keyring. |
| SignerKeyUserId | The user Id of the key. |
| SortCriteria | Sorts criteria to use for message retrieval operations. |
| SSLAcceptServerCertEncoded | The certificate (PEM/base64 encoded). |
| SSLCertEncoded | The certificate (PEM/base64 encoded). |
| SSLCertStore | The name of the certificate store for the client certificate. |
| SSLCertStorePassword | If the certificate store is of a type that requires a password, this property is used to specify that password in order to open the certificate store. |
| SSLCertStoreType | The type of certificate store for this certificate. |
| SSLCertSubject | The subject of the certificate used for client authentication. |
| SSLEnabled | Whether TLS/SSL is enabled. |
| SSLServerCertEncoded | The certificate (PEM/base64 encoded). |
| SSLStartMode | Determines how the component starts the SSL negotiation. |
| StartByte | The byte index of the position where the transfer should start. |
| Timeout | A timeout for the component. |
| UIDMode | If true, permanent message identifiers are used instead of the default temporary identifiers. |
| UIDValidity | The UIDValidity parameter sent from the server in response to SelectMailbox command. |
| User | The user name used to authenticate to the MailServer . |
Method List
The following is the full list of the methods of the class with short descriptions. Click on the links for further details.
| AddMessageFlags | Adds the specified flags to the messages specified by MessageSet . |
| AppendToMailbox | Appends the message in MessageText to the mailbox specified by Mailbox . |
| CheckMailbox | Sends a 'CHECK' command to the server. |
| CloseMailbox | Removes all messages marked with 'Deleted' flag from the currently selected mailbox and unselect mailbox. |
| Config | Sets or retrieves a configuration setting . |
| Connect | Connects to an IMAP server. |
| CopyToMailbox | Copies the messages specified by MessageSet to the mailbox specified by Mailbox . |
| CreateMailbox | Creates a new mailbox specified by Mailbox . |
| Decrypt | Decrypts the message. |
| DecryptAndVerifySignature | Decrypts and verifies the signature of the message. |
| DeleteFromMailbox | Marks the messages specified by MessageSet as deleted. |
| DeleteMailbox | Deletes a mailbox specified by Mailbox . |
| DeleteMailboxACL | Deletes mailbox access control rights for a specific user. |
| Disconnect | Disconnects from an IMAP server. |
| DoEvents | Processes events from the internal message queue. |
| ExamineMailbox | Selects a Mailbox (Read-only mode). |
| ExpungeMailbox | Removes all messages marked with 'Deleted' flag from the currently selected mailbox. |
| FetchMessageHeaders | Retrieves the message headers of messages specified by the MessageSet property. |
| FetchMessageInfo | Retrieves information about messages specified by the MessageSet property. |
| FetchMessagePart | Retrieves the message part specified by PartID. |
| FetchMessagePartHeaders | Retrieves the headers of message part specified by PartID. |
| FetchMessageText | Retrieves the message text of messages specified by the MessageSet property. |
| GetMailboxACL | Retrieves mailbox access control rights. |
| Interrupt | Interrupt the current method. |
| ListMailboxes | Lists all mailboxes matching all criteria in the Mailbox property. |
| ListSubscribedMailboxes | Lists all subscribed mailboxes matching all criteria in the Mailbox property. |
| LocalizeDate | Converts a valid RFC 822 message date to local date and time. |
| MoveToMailbox | Moves the messages specified by MessageSet to the mailbox specified by Mailbox . |
| Noop | Sends a 'NOOP' command to the server. |
| RenameMailbox | Change the name of Mailbox to NewName . |
| ResetMessageFlags | Replaces the flags of the messages specified by MessageSet with the flags specified by MessageFlags . |
| SearchMailbox | Search selected mailbox for specified text. |
| SelectMailbox | Select a Mailbox. |
| SetMailboxACL | Sets mailbox access control rights for a specific user. |
| StartIdle | Begins idling. |
| StopIdle | Stops idling. |
| SubscribeMailbox | Subscribes to the mailbox specified by Mailbox . |
| UnsetMessageFlags | Removes the flags specified by MessageFlags from the messages specified by MessageSet . |
| UnsubscribeMailbox | Unsubscribes from the mailbox specified by Mailbox . |
| VerifySignature | Verifies the signature of the current message. |
Event List
The following is the full list of the events fired by the class with short descriptions. Click on the links for further details.
| ConnectionStatus | Fired to indicate changes in connection state. |
| EndTransfer | Fired when the message or the part data finishes transferring. |
| Error | Information about errors during data delivery. |
| Header | Fired every time a header line comes in. |
| IdleInfo | Fires whenever responses from the server are received while idling. |
| KeyPassphrase | Fired if the passphrase of current key is incorrect or empty. |
| MailboxACL | Fires for each set of access control rights returned by the server. |
| MailboxList | Fired for each mailbox received through the ListMailboxes and ListSubscribedMailboxes methods. |
| MessageInfo | Fired with information for the message(s) retrieved by the server. |
| MessagePart | Fired for each message part when FetchMessageInfo is called. |
| PITrail | Traces the commands sent to the mail server, and the respective replies. |
| Progress | Fired as progress is made. |
| RecipientInfo | Fired for each recipient key of the encrypted message. |
| SignatureInfo | Fired during verification of the signed message. |
| SSLServerAuthentication | Fired after the server presents its certificate to the client. |
| SSLStatus | Shows the progress of the secure connection. |
| StartTransfer | Fired when the message or the part data starts transferring. |
| Status | Shows the progress of the operation. |
| Transfer | Fired while the message gets transferred from the MailServer . |
| VerificationStatus | Fired after verification of the signed message. |
Configuration Settings
The following is a list of configuration settings for the class with short descriptions. Click on the links for further details.
| Comment | The OpenPGP message comment. |
| ProcessAttachments | Whether or not to process attachments. |
| LogLevel | Specifies the level of detail that is logged. |
| RequireValidSignature | Specifies if an invalid signature is considered an error condition. |
| SymmetricPassphrase | The password used for symmetric encryption or decryption. |
| VersionHeader | The Version header value in the ASCII armored OpenPGP message. |
| RefetchHeaders | Whether or not to re-fetch the message headers when querying MessageEncrypted or MessageSigned. |
| AlwaysReturnUIDs | Instructs the server to return UIDs even if not in UIDMode. |
| AppendToMailboxDateTime | Specifies the date-time parameter used in the initial APPEND request. |
| AuthorizationIdentity | The value to use as the authorization identity when SASL authentication is used. |
| AutoDecodeSubject | Instructs the component to automatically decode message subjects. |
| AutoDecodeText | Whether to decode MessageText when AutoDecodeParts is True. |
| FetchAfterSearch | Determines if messages matching the SearchCriteria are fetched after calling SearchMailbox. |
| IncludeHeaders | Instructs the component to include the headers in the LocalFile. |
| MaskSensitive | Whether sensitive properties should be masked when logging. |
| UTF7MailboxNames | Specifies whether or not to automatically encode and decode UTF-7 mailbox names. |
| ConnectionTimeout | Sets a separate timeout value for establishing a connection. |
| FirewallAutoDetect | Tells the component whether or not to automatically detect and use firewall system settings, if available. |
| FirewallHost | Name or IP address of firewall (optional). |
| FirewallPassword | Password to be used if authentication is to be used when connecting through the firewall. |
| FirewallPort | The TCP port for the FirewallHost;. |
| FirewallType | Determines the type of firewall to connect through. |
| FirewallUser | A user name if authentication is to be used connecting through a firewall. |
| KeepAliveTime | The inactivity time in milliseconds before a TCP keep-alive packet is sent. |
| KeepAliveInterval | The retry interval, in milliseconds, to be used when a TCP keep-alive packet is sent and no response is received. |
| Linger | When set to True, connections are terminated gracefully. |
| LingerTime | Time in seconds to have the connection linger. |
| LocalHost | The name of the local host through which connections are initiated or accepted. |
| LocalPort | The port in the local host where the component binds. |
| MaxLineLength | The maximum amount of data to accumulate when no EOL is found. |
| MaxTransferRate | The transfer rate limit in bytes per second. |
| ProxyExceptionsList | A semicolon separated list of hosts and IPs to bypass when using a proxy. |
| TCPKeepAlive | Determines whether or not the keep alive socket option is enabled. |
| UseIPv6 | Whether to use IPv6. |
| TcpNoDelay | Whether or not to delay when sending packets. |
| LogSSLPackets | Controls whether SSL packets are logged when using the internal security API. |
| ReuseSSLSession | Determines if the SSL session is reused. |
| SSLCipherStrength | The minimum cipher strength used for bulk encryption. |
| SSLEnabledProtocols | Used to enable/disable the supported security protocols. |
| SSLIncludeCertChain | Whether the entire certificate chain is included in the SSLServerAuthentication event. |
| SSLProvider | The name of the security provider to use. |
| SSLSecurityFlags | Flags that control certificate verification. |
| SSLCACerts | A newline separated list of CA certificate to use during SSL client authentication. |
| SSLEnabledCipherSuites | The cipher suite to be used in an SSL negotiation. |
| TLS12SignatureAlgorithms | Defines the allowed TLS 1.2 signature algorithms when UseInternalSecurityAPI is True. |
| TLS12SupportedGroups | The supported groups for ECC. |
| TLS13KeyShareGroups | The groups for which to pregenerate key shares. |
| TLS13SupportedGroups | The supported groups for (EC)DHE key exchange. |
| TLS13SignatureAlgorithms | The allowed certificate signature algorithms. |
| OpenSSLCADir | The path to a directory containing CA certificates. |
| OpenSSLCAFile | Name of the file containing the list of CA's trusted by your application. |
| OpenSSLCipherList | A string that controls the ciphers to be used by SSL. |
| OpenSSLPrngSeedData | The data to seed the pseudo random number generator (PRNG). |
| AbsoluteTimeout | Determines whether timeouts are inactivity timeouts or absolute timeouts. |
| FirewallData | Used to send extra data to the firewall. |
| InBufferSize | The size in bytes of the incoming queue of the socket. |
| OutBufferSize | The size in bytes of the outgoing queue of the socket. |
| SelectWaitMillis | The length of time in milliseconds the component will wait when DoEvents is called if there are no events to process. |
| CodePage | The system code page used for Unicode to Multibyte translations. |
| UseInternalSecurityAPI | Tells the component whether or not to use the system security libraries or an internal implementation. |