EmailStartSession (Function)

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POP3 and SMTP protocols
Authenticated SMTP
Connection with two-factor authentication
Timeout
Creating an Outlook Exchange profile
Managing emails in asynchronous mode
Required application feature
Gmail: What to do if a connection to Gmail (SMTP, IMAP, POP3) fails with a certificate error?

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See also

EmailStartSession (Function)

In french: EmailOuvreSession

Starts an email management session based on the selected management mode:

emails managed by the POP3, SMTP or IMAP protocol: EmailStartSession starts the POP3, SMTP or IMAP session.
emails managed via the MS Exchange client: EmailStartSession starts the MS Exchange session. In this case, the current directory is automatically modified when using EmailStartSession.

Only the POP3 and SMTP sessions are supported.

Remarks:

To start a session with the Lotus Notes messaging software, use EmailStartNotesSession.
To start a session with the Outlook messaging software, use EmailStartOutlookSession.
To start a session for reading emails (POP3 protocol only), use EmailStartPOP3Session.
To start a session for sending emails (SMTP protocol only), use EmailStartSMTPSession. This function can also be used to start an authenticated SMTP session.

Example

See additional examples

// Send an email via the POP3 protocol 
IF EmailStartSession(USER, PASSWORD, "pop3.gmail.com", "smtp.gmail.com") = True THEN
	UserName = USER
ELSE
	UserName = ""
	Error("Unable to establish the connection")
END

Syntax

Starting an email session (POP3, SMTP, IMAP, Notes or Outlook) Hide the details

<Result> = EmailStartSession(<Session>)

<Result>: Boolean

True if the session was started,
False otherwise. If an error occurs, the ErrorOccurred variable is set to True.
To get more details on the error, use ErrorInfo with the errMessage constant.

<Session>: emailPOP3Session, emailSMTPSession, emailIMAPSession, emailNotesSession or emailOutlookSession variable

Name of variable containing the description of the email server connection parameters. All the connection properties are specified in the variable properties. For more details, see:
variable of type emailPOP3Session: to start a session toward a POP3 server in order to read messages.
variable of type emailIMAPSession: to start a session toward an IMAP server in order to read messages.
variable of type emailSMTPSession: to start a session toward an SMTP server in order to send messages.
variable of type emailNotesSession: to start a session toward a Lotus Domino server in order to handle messages.
variable of type emailOutlookSession: to start a session toward the Outlook messaging software.

Remark: This syntax is kept for backward compatibility. We recommend that you use the emailOutlookSession variables or EmailStartOutlookSession.

Starting an email session using MS Exchange Hide the details

<Result> = EmailStartSession(<Profile> [, <Asynchronous>])

<Result>: Integer

Identifier of the current email session.
0 (or False) if an error occurred. The ErrorOccurred variable is set to True. To get more details on the error, use ErrorInfo with the errMessage constant.

<Profile>: Character string

Identifies the connection profile (see the Notes).
If this parameter corresponds to an empty string (""):
if several profiles are defined on the current computer, EmailStartSession displays a window containing all profiles among which the user can choose his own profile.
if a single profile is defined on the current computer, EmailStartSession automatically selects this profile.

<Asynchronous>: Optional constant or boolean

emailAsynchronous or True The emails sent during the session started by EmailStartSession must be transmitted in asynchronous mode (see the Notes).
emailSynchronous or False
(Default value) The emails sent during the session started by EmailStartSession must be transmitted in synchronous mode (see the Notes).
This parameter must correspond to emailSynchronous or False.

Remark: This syntax is kept for backward compatibility. We recommend that you use the emailPOP3Session, emailSMTPSession variables or EmailStartPOP3Session and EmailStartSMTPSession.

Starting an email session by using the POP3 and SMTP protocols simultaneously Hide the details

<Result> = EmailStartSession(<Username> , <Password> , <Address of POP3 server> [, <Address of SMTP server> [, <Number of POP3 port> [, <Number of SMTP port> [, <Asynchronous>]]]])

<Result>: Boolean

True if the session was started,
False otherwise. If an error occurs, the ErrorOccurred variable is set to True. To get more details on the error, use ErrorInfo with the errMessage constant.

<Username>: Character string

Identifies the user. This name is supplied by the service provider or by the network administrator. This name will be used to identify the email session in the different functions for email management.

<Password>: Character string

User password. This password is given by the service provider or by the network administrator.

<Address of POP3 server>: Character string

IP address of email server (incoming protocol). This IP address is supplied by the service provider or by the network administrator. This IP address can have the following format:
IP address in XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX format (125.5.110.100 for example).
IP address containing the server name (pop3.freesbee.eu for example). This syntax is recommended.
IP address returned by NetIPAddress.

<Address of SMTP server>: Optional character string

IP address of email server (outgoing protocol). This IP address is supplied by the service provider or by the network administrator.
This address must be specified only if the POP3 account and the SMTP account do not go through the same computer.

<Number of POP3 port>: Optional integer

Identifies the port used for the POP3 protocol (110 by default).

<Number of SMTP port>: Optional integer

Identifies the port used for SMTP (25 by default).

<Asynchronous>: Optional constant or boolean

emailAsynchronous or True The emails sent during the session started by EmailStartSession must be transmitted in asynchronous mode (see the Notes).
emailSynchronous or False
(Default value) The emails sent during the session started by EmailStartSession must be transmitted in synchronous mode (see the Notes).
This parameter must correspond to emailSynchronous or False.

Remarks

POP3 and SMTP protocols

The different parameters passed to EmailStartSession are supplied by the Internet Service Provider or by the network administrator.

An Internet connection is required to manage the emails. Several cases may occur:

The user uses a direct connection to Internet (cable or ADSL): no specific operation is required.
The user uses a modem to connect to Internet: NetOpenRemoteAccess establishes the Internet connection.

By default, if only the IP address of POP3 server is specified, this address will be used by the email server that uses SMTP. The IP address of SMTP protocol must be specified only if the POP3 account and the SMTP account do not use the same computer.

Authenticated SMTP

The SMTP authentication cannot be performed by EmailStartSession. To start a POP3 session and an authenticated SMTP session at the same time, you must use both EmailStartPOP3Session and EmailStartSMTPSession.

Connection with two-factor authentication

More and more providers offer secure email accounts (SMTP/IMAP) with two-factor authentication.

Here is how it works:

Connect to the email provider using OAuth: this connection provides a token.
Use the token to connect to IMAP or SMTP email boxes.

Let's see an example of code that can be used:

// Exemple de connexion IMAP avec un compte Gmail
// et une double authentification
OAuthCnxGoogle is OAuth2Parameters
gMaSessionIMAP is emailIMAPSession

// Paramètres du serveur IMAP
gMaSessionIMAP.ServerAddress = "imap.gmail.com"
gMaSessionIMAP.Option = optionTLS
gMaSessionIMAP.Port = "993"

// Paramètres de connexion OAuth
OAuthCnxGoogle.ClientID = "ID de l'application"
OAuthCnxGoogle.ClientSecret = "ID secret de l’application"
OAuthCnxGoogle.AuthURL = "https://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/auth"
OAuthCnxGoogle.TokenURL = "https://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/token"
OAuthCnxGoogle.Scope = "https://mail.google.com/"
OAuthCnxGoogle.RedirectionURL = "http://localhost:9000"
OAuthCnxGoogle.ResponseType = "code"

// Identification OAuth
gMaSessionIMAP.AuthToken = AuthIdentify(OAuthCnxGoogle)
// Si l'identification a réussi, il faut se connecter à la boîte email.
IF gMaSessionIMAP.AuthToken <> Null THEN
IF EmailStartSession(gMaSessionIMAP) THEN
// Session ouverte
ELSE
// Erreur d'ouverture de la session.
END
ELSE
// Erreur d'authentification.
END

Timeout

The timeout can be set using EmailSetTimeOut.

Creating an Outlook Exchange profile

To start a new email session, a "profile" must be defined. This "profile" is defined in the configuration of Internet connection.

To create a profile:

Open the control panel.
Double-click the "Email" option.
Click the "Display the profiles" button.
In the window named "Choosing a profile", click the "Add" button.
Give a name to the profile. This name will be used in the WINDEV programs.
Select "Add a new email account".
Select the "Microsoft Exchange Server" service.
Enter the name of Microsoft Exchange server.

Managing emails in asynchronous mode

The email functions are locking functions by default. Which means that no other code can be run during their execution. The program will resume only when the current Email functions have been run.

WEBDEV gives you the ability to manage the emails in asynchronous mode. This mode allows your sites to send emails without locking the execution of other processes.

To use the asynchronous mode, you must:

Uncheck "Disable the email spooler" in the WEBDEV administrator ("Configuration" tab).
Enable the asynchronous mode when starting the SMTP session (with EmailStartSMTPSession or EmailStartSession).
All outgoing emails will be transmitted to a "spooler". Emails are queued up before being sent.

Executing Email functions does no longer block the rest of the program. EmailStatus is used to determine the status of an email.

Remark: if the WEBDEV administrator is closed, the email spooler is cleared: pending emails are not sent and are removed from the spooler.

If there are pending emails, and the "Disable the email spooler" option is checked, the emails will not be lost: the administrator continues to send them, but the spooler will not accept any new emails.

Caution: The asynchronous mode can only be used when starting a session on an SMTP server (EmailStartSMTPSession for sending emails or EmailStartSession). The asynchronous mode is ignored in all other cases.

Required application feature

When this function is used, an application feature is declared in the application generation wizard.

Required feature: Family and corporate networks

This feature allows the applications to use incoming and outgoing accesses to the family and corporate networks.

Gmail: What to do if a connection to Gmail (SMTP, IMAP, POP3) fails with a certificate error?

Since August 2017, a new certificate was deployed by Google: Google Internet Authority G3. Unfortunately, the Windows API for checking certificates does not validate this certificate.

Therefore, starting a POP3, IMAP or SMTP session may fail with the error "The certificate string was not issued by a trusted authority".

To validate the certificate, all you have to do is modify the management mode of emails. The WLanguage EmailConfigure function allows you to change this mode and to no longer use the Windows API that locks this certificate. The following code must be added before starting the session via EmailStartSession:

// Enable the multi-platform implementation
EmailConfigure(emailParameterMode, 1)

Remarks:

From version 23 Update 1, the call to EmailConfigure is not required anymore: WLanguage is automatically using the management mode of emails adapted to the session.
You can handle certificate errors on an SMTP session using the IgnoreError property of a variable of type emailSMTPSession.

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