CDO & MAPI Programming with Visual Basic:

Retrieving Email

To retrieve email from a server, the email client establishes a connection to the server on port 110 and then sends appropriate POP3 commands. Example A-3 shows how this is done, using the helper procedures introduced in Example A-1. This sample code logs onto a POP3 server and inquires whether any email is waiting. If there is, additional commands are sent to retrieve the first email, which is then displayed in a text box.

Example A-3. Retrieving an Email

Private Sub RetrieveAnEmail( )

   Dim strResponse As String
   Dim nMsgCount As Long
   Dim nStart As Long
   Dim nLength As Long

   ' Connect to the email server.
   ConnectAndWait "mail.execpc.com", 110
   
   ' Log in.
   SendAndWait "USER dg"
   SendAndWait "PASS MyPassword"
   
   ' Find out how many emails there are.
   strResponse = SendAndWait("STAT")
   nStart = InStr(strResponse, " ") + 1
   nLength = InStr(nStart, strResponse, " ") - nStart
   nMsgCount = CLng(Mid(strResponse, nStart, nLength))
   
   ' If there are any emails at all, retrieve the first one.
   If nMsgCount > 0 Then
      SendAndWait "RETR 1"
      txtMsg.Text = SendAndWait("NOOP")
   Else
      txtMsg.Text = "(There are no messages on the server.)"
   End If
   
   ' Close the connection.
   CloseConnection

End Sub ' RetrieveAnEmail

The debug output generated by this example is shown in Example A-4.

Example A-4. A Sample POP3 Conversation

Client: (Initiates connection on port 110) Server: +OK POPROX (version 1.0) at pop05.execpc.com starting. Client: USER dg Server: +OK Password required for dg. Client: PASS MyPassword Server: ...