Documentation can be found at http://tcllib.sourceforge.net/doc/pop3.html .
package require pop3 ;# http://tcllib.sourceforge.net/
set popsock [pop3::open $_theHost $_theUser $_thePassword]
foreach {msgcount size} [pop3::status $popsock] {}
set message [pop3::retrieve $popsock $_index]
set messages [pop3::retrieve $popsock $_first $_last]
pop3::delete $popsock $_index
pop3::delete $popsock $_first $_last
pop3::close $popsock
[Add commentary to above. Explain foreach idiom. Mention exceptions.]
VL 21 may 2003: -ERR autorization fist, if you recieve this error during pop3::open a likely explanation is that the email-server does not accept connections through telent, only through SSH, I'm working on a general fix that can be used with tcllib::pop3 and a locally installed SSH-client.
[Explain performance considerations, version compatibility, head use, exception-handling, ... Warn about deletes. Point to pertinent RFC for index base and other definitions.]
A little pop3 client demo, using the tcllib: Steve Offutt, 5/25/01 mailto:[email protected] Thanks to Cameron for help getting started.
# Check Mail - a lightweight pop3 client - Thursday May 31, 2001
package require pop3
#create a user interface
proc make_gui { } {
label .lhost -text "Hostname"
label .luser -text "Username"
label .lpass -text "Password"
entry .eh -textvariable "_theHost"
entry .eu -textvariable "_theUser"
entry .ep -textvariable "_thePassword"
bind .ep <Return> {open_channel}
button .b -text "Connect" -command {open_channel}
button .b2 -text "Disconnect" -command {close_it}
set popsock ""
label .lsock -text "Socket:"
label .lsock2 -relief groove -bd 2
grid .lhost .eh -sticky ew
grid .luser .eu -sticky ew
grid .lpass .ep -sticky ew
grid .lsock .lsock2 -row 3 -sticky ew
grid .b -row 4 -columnspan 2 -sticky ew
grid .b2 -row 5 -columnspan 2 -sticky ew
.ep configure -show *
}
make_gui
#globals
global new_messages
set new_messages 0
global popsock
set popsock ""
#procedures follow
proc open_channel { } {
global _theHost _theUser _thePassword popsock
set popsock [pop3::open $_theHost $_theUser $_thePassword]
.lsock2 configure -text $popsock
get_status
return $popsock
}
proc close_it { } {
global popsock
close $popsock
set popsock ""
.lsock2 configure -text ""
return $popsock
}
proc get_status { } {
global popsock
set my_stat [pop3::status $popsock]
set new_messages [lindex $my_stat 0]
show_it $new_messages
return $new_messages
}
proc show_it { var } {
tk_messageBox -icon info -title "Messages" \
-parent . -type ok -message "You have $var new messages."
#xception-handling, ... Warn about deletes. Point to pertinent RFC for index base and other definitions.]
}
proc tkerror { errmsg } {
global errorCode
set msg [format "Error: %s\nResult: %s." $errmsg $errorCode]
tk_messageBox -parent . -title Error -type ok\
-icon error -message $msg
bell
}
wm protocol . WM_DELETE_WINDOW "clean_up"
proc clean_up { } {
global popsock
if {$popsock != ""} {
close_it
}
exit
}
wm title . "Check Mail"
wm deiconify .
focus .ehNOTE: Most pop3 servers only allow one client to connect at a time. That's what RFC 1939 [L1 ] requires.
AK: Actually the note above is too restrictive. The RFC says that a server should allow only one client/connection per maildrop. In other words, a pop3 server managing N different maildrops can have N connections from N clients, if these connections all talk to a different maildrop.
NOTE: RFC 1939 [L2 ] (which is a standard) is updated by RFC 1957 [L3 ] (informational), and RFC 2449 [L4 ] (standards track). -EE
(My information comes from http://www.rfc-editor.org/ , which is pretty much the canonical source of RFC information.)
Only marginally on topic, we also have RFC 2384 [L5 ].
Remember, one doesn't do a package require of tcllib itself, but of the modules INSIDE tcllib...
If you had only an old, socket-less Tcl at hand, but also Expect, you could exploit the Unix telnet binary, as Glenn Jackman's checkpopmail [L6 ] exemplifies.
Category Package, subset tcllib