EmailBundle VB.NET Reference Documentation

EmailBundle

Current Version: 11.5.0

EmailBundle

Hold, search, sort, remove, save, and reload groups of email messages.

EmailBundle is a container for multiple Email objects. It is commonly returned by mail-related operations and can also be built manually by adding individual email messages. The class provides a simple way to work with groups of messages: retrieve emails by index, search for a matching email, sort by common email fields, remove messages, clear the bundle, and serialize or reload the collection as XML.

Email collection

Store multiple Email objects together after receiving, loading, filtering, or manually building a message set.

Retrieve messages

Use the message count and indexed access methods to retrieve individual emails for inspection, processing, saving, or sending.

Search within the bundle

Locate a specific email in the collection when application logic needs to find a matching message.

Sort messages

Sort the bundle by date, sender, recipient, or subject to organize messages before processing or display.

Remove or clear emails

Remove individual messages by object or index, or clear the entire bundle when the collection is no longer needed.

Save and reload

Serialize the bundle to XML and reload it later, or load task results that return an email bundle.

Common pattern: Receive or build a bundle of Email objects, loop from 0 to MessageCount - 1, retrieve each message with EmailAt, and then inspect, save, sort, remove, or process each email as needed. Use EmailBundle for the group and Email for the individual message contents.

Object Creation

Dim obj As New Chilkat.EmailBundle()

Properties

DebugLogFilePath
DebugLogFilePath As String

If set to a file path, this property logs the LastErrorText of each Chilkat method or property call to the specified file. This logging helps identify the context and history of Chilkat calls leading up to any crash or hang, aiding in debugging.

Enabling the VerboseLogging property provides more detailed information. This property is mainly used for debugging rare instances where a Chilkat method call causes a hang or crash, which should generally not happen.

Possible causes of hangs include:

  • A timeout property set to 0, indicating an infinite timeout.
  • A hang occurring within an event callback in the application code.
  • An internal bug in the Chilkat code causing the hang.

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LastErrorHtml
LastErrorHtml As String (ReadOnly)

Provides HTML-formatted information about the last called method or property. If a method call fails or behaves unexpectedly, check this property for details. Note that information is available regardless of the method call's success.

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LastErrorText
LastErrorText As String (ReadOnly)

Provides plain text information about the last called method or property. If a method call fails or behaves unexpectedly, check this property for details. Note that information is available regardless of the method call's success.

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LastErrorXml
LastErrorXml As String (ReadOnly)

Provides XML-formatted information about the last called method or property. If a method call fails or behaves unexpectedly, check this property for details. Note that information is available regardless of the method call's success.

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LastMethodSuccess
LastMethodSuccess As Boolean

Indicates the success or failure of the most recent method call: True means success, False means failure. This property remains unchanged by property setters or getters. This method is present to address challenges in checking for null or Nothing returns in certain programming languages. Note: This property does not apply to methods that return integer values or to boolean-returning methods where the boolean does not indicate success or failure.

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MessageCount
MessageCount As Integer (ReadOnly)

Returns the number of Email objects currently contained in the bundle.

Valid zero-based indexes range from 0 through MessageCount - 1.

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VerboseLogging
VerboseLogging As Boolean

If set to True, then the contents of LastErrorText (or LastErrorXml, or LastErrorHtml) may contain more verbose information. The default value is False. Verbose logging should only be used for debugging. The potentially large quantity of logged information may adversely affect peformance.

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Version
Version As String (ReadOnly)

Version of the component/library, such as "10.1.0"

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Methods

AddEmail
Function AddEmail(ByVal email As Email) As Boolean

Adds an independent copy of the Email object in email to the end of this in-memory bundle.

The bundle does not retain a reference to email and does not take ownership of the supplied object. Changes made to email after this method returns do not affect the copy stored in the bundle, and changes to the stored copy do not affect email.

The same Email object may be added more than once. Each call adds another independent copy and increases the MessageCount property by one.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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Clear
Sub Clear()
Introduced in version 11.1.0

Removes and discards all emails from this in-memory bundle.

After this method returns, MessageCount is 0. No messages are deleted from any mail server.

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EmailAt
Function EmailAt(ByVal index As Integer, ByVal email As Email) As Boolean
Introduced in version 11.0.0

Copies the email at the zero-based index in index into the Email object in email.

Valid indexes range from 0 through MessageCount - 1. The first email is at index 0.

email receives an independent copy. Changes made to email do not modify the email stored in the bundle.

Note: This is an in-memory operation and does not communicate with a mail server.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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FindEmail
Function FindEmail(ByVal json As JsonObject, ByVal email As Email) As Boolean
Introduced in version 11.0.0

Finds the first email in the bundle whose MIME header field matches the search criteria specified by the JsonObject in json.

At this time, a search may specify only one MIME header field. Use the following JSON format:

{
  "header": {
    "name": "Subject",
    "value": "Dinner on Wednesday?",
    "caseInsensitive": true
  }
}

header.name specifies the MIME header field name, and header.value specifies the complete field value to match. The field value must match exactly; this is not a substring, wildcard, or regular-expression search. Set header.caseInsensitive to true for a case-insensitive comparison or false for a case-sensitive comparison.

When a match is found, email receives the first matching email.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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GetXml
Function GetXml() As String

Serializes the entire email bundle to Chilkat XML and returns the XML document as a string.

The XML contains the bundle and its individual Email objects. It can be loaded into another EmailBundle by calling LoadXmlString.

This is Chilkat's XML representation of an email bundle; it is not an RFC 822/MIME message.

Returns Nothing on failure

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LoadTaskResult
Function LoadTaskResult(ByVal task As Task) As Boolean
Introduced in version 9.5.0.52

Loads this email bundle from the result of the completed asynchronous Task in task.

Use this method when an asynchronous Chilkat operation returns an EmailBundle as its task result. task must represent a task that has finished running.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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LoadXml
Function LoadXml(ByVal path As String) As Boolean

Loads an email bundle from the local filesystem path specified by path. The path may be absolute or relative; a filename alone refers to a file in the current working directory.

The file should contain Chilkat email-bundle XML previously produced by SaveXml or GetXml.

The emails loaded from path are appended to the emails already in the bundle. Existing emails are not removed or replaced.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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LoadXmlString
Function LoadXmlString(ByVal xmlStr As String) As Boolean

Loads an email bundle from the Chilkat XML string in xmlStr.

The XML is typically obtained from GetXml or read from a file created by SaveXml.

The emails loaded from xmlStr are appended to the emails already in the bundle. Existing emails are not removed or replaced.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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RemoveEmail
Function RemoveEmail(ByVal email As Email) As Boolean

Removes the first email in this in-memory bundle that matches email.

Chilkat first searches for an email having the same UIDL as email. If no email with a matching UIDL is found, it searches for the first email having the same Message-ID header field value. Only the first matching email is removed.

email may be an independent copy obtained from EmailAt.

Note: This method changes only the local bundle. It does not delete a message from a POP3 or IMAP server.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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RemoveEmailByIndex
Function RemoveEmailByIndex(ByVal index As Integer) As Boolean

Removes the email at the zero-based index in index.

Valid indexes range from 0 through MessageCount - 1.

Note: This method changes only the local bundle. It does not delete a message from a mail server.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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SaveXml
Function SaveXml(ByVal path As String) As Boolean

Serializes the bundle and each contained Email to Chilkat XML, then writes the XML document to the local filesystem path specified by path. The path may be absolute or relative; a filename alone writes to the current working directory.

Reload the saved bundle by calling LoadXml. Use GetXml when the XML is needed in memory rather than in a file.

The saved file is a Chilkat email-bundle serialization, not an RFC 822/MIME message file.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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SortByDate
Sub SortByDate(ByVal ascending As Boolean)

Sorts the emails in this bundle by each Email object's EmailDate property.

Set ascending to True to sort in ascending order, from oldest to newest. Set ascending to False to sort in descending order, from newest to oldest.

The operation changes the order of the emails in the in-memory collection.

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SortByRecipient
Sub SortByRecipient(ByVal ascending As Boolean)

Sorts the emails in this bundle by the full value of each email's To header field.

The comparisons are case-sensitive. Set ascending to True for ascending order or False for descending order. The operation changes the order of the emails in the in-memory collection.

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SortBySender
Sub SortBySender(ByVal ascending As Boolean)

Sorts the emails in this bundle by the full content of each email's From header field.

Set ascending to True for ascending order or False for descending order. The operation changes the order of the emails in the in-memory collection.

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SortBySubject
Sub SortBySubject(ByVal ascending As Boolean)

Sorts the emails in this bundle by subject.

Set ascending to True for ascending order or False for descending order. The operation changes the order of the emails in the in-memory collection.

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Deprecated

FindByHeader
Function FindByHeader(ByVal headerFieldName As String, ByVal headerFieldValue As String) As Email
This method is deprecated and replaced by FindEmail

Deprecated: Use FindEmail instead.

Returns the first email having a header field whose name matches headerFieldName and whose value matches headerFieldValue. Header field name matching is case-insensitive. Header field value matching is exact and case-sensitive.

Returns Nothing when no matching email is found.

Returns Nothing on failure

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GetEmail
Function GetEmail(ByVal index As Integer) As Email
This method is deprecated and replaced by EmailAt

Deprecated: Use EmailAt instead.

Returns a copy of the email at the zero-based index in index. Valid indexes range from 0 through MessageCount - 1.

The returned Email is independent of the email stored in the bundle. Changes made to the returned object do not modify the bundle.

To replace an email, retrieve the copy, modify it, remove the original with RemoveEmailByIndex, and add the modified email with AddEmail.

Note: This is an in-memory operation. It does not communicate with a mail server or download message content.

Returns Nothing on failure

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GetUidls
Function GetUidls() As StringArray
This method is deprecated.

Deprecated: This method is retained for compatibility and may be removed in a future version of Chilkat.

Returns a StringArray containing the POP3 UIDL values stored with the Email objects in the bundle.

UIDLs apply to messages retrieved from a POP3 server. IMAP messages use UIDs instead; an IMAP UID associated with an email is available in the ckx-imap-uid header field.

Returns Nothing on failure

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