[manpage_begin pop3 n 1.6.3]
[comment {-*- tcl -*- doctools manpage}]
[moddesc   {Tcl POP3 Client Library}]
[titledesc {Tcl client for POP3 email protocol}]
[require Tcl  8.2]
[require pop3 [opt 1.6.3]]
[description]

The [package pop3] package provides a simple Tcl-only client library
for the POP3 email protocol as specified in
RFC 1939 ([uri http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc1939.txt]). It works
by opening the standard POP3 socket on the server, transmitting the
username and password, then providing a Tcl API to access the POP3
protocol commands.  All server errors are returned as Tcl errors
(thrown) which must be caught with the Tcl [cmd catch] command.

[section COMMANDS]

[list_begin definitions]

[call [cmd ::pop3::open] [opt "[option -msex] 0|1"] \
	[opt "[option -retr-mode] retr|list|slow"] \
	[arg {host username password}] [opt [arg port]]]

Open a socket connection to the server specified by [arg host],
transmit the [arg username] and [arg password] as login information to
the server.  The default port number is 110, which can be overridden
using the optional [arg port] argument.  The return value is a channel
used by all of the other ::pop3 functions.

[para]

The command recognizes the options [option -msex] and

[option -retr-mode]. The first of them can be used to notify the
package of the fact that the server to talk to is an MS Exchange
server (which has some oddities we have to work around). The default
is 0.

[para]

The retrieval mode determines how exactly messages are read from the
server. The allowed values are [const retr], [const list] and
[const slow]. The default is [const retr]. See

[cmd ::pop3::retrieve] for more information.


[call [cmd ::pop3::config] [arg chan]]

Returns the configuration of the pop3 connection identified by the
channel handle [arg chan] as a serialized array.


[call [cmd ::pop3::status] [arg chan]]

Query the server for the status of the mail spool.  The status is
returned as a list containing two elements, the first is the number of
email messages on the server and the second is the size (in octets, 8
byte blocks) of the entire mail spool.

[call [cmd ::pop3::last] [arg chan]]

Query the server for the last email message read from the spool.  This
value includes all messages read from all clients connecting to the
login account.  This command may not be supported by the email server,
in which case the server may return 0 or an error.

[call [cmd ::pop3::retrieve] [arg {chan startIndex}] [opt [arg endIndex]]]

Retrieve a range of messages from the server.  If the [arg endIndex]
is not specified, only one message will be retrieved.  The return
value is a list containing each message as a separate element.  See
the [arg startIndex] and [arg endIndex] descriptions below.

[para]

The retrieval mode determines how exactly messages are read from the
server. The mode [const retr] assumes that the RETR command delivers
the size of the message as part of the command status and uses this to
read the message efficiently. In mode [const list] RETR does not
deliver the size, but the LIST command does and we use this to
retrieve the message size before the actual retrieval, which can then
be done efficiently. In the last mode, [const slow], the system is
unable to obtain the size of the message to retrieve in any manner and
falls back to reading the message from the server line by line.

[para]

It should also be noted that the system checks upon the configured
mode and falls back to the slower modes if the above assumptions are
not true.


[call [cmd ::pop3::delete] [arg {chan startIndex}] [opt [arg endIndex]]]

Delete a range of messages from the server.  If the [arg endIndex] is
not specified, only one message will be deleted.  Note, the indices
are not reordered on the server, so if you delete message 1, then the
first message in the queue is message 2 (message index 1 is no longer
valid).  See the [arg startIndex] and [arg endIndex] descriptions
below.

[list_begin definitions]

[def [arg startIndex]]

The [arg startIndex] may be an index of a specific message starting
with the index 1, or it have any of the following values:

[list_begin definitions]

[def [const start]]

This is a logical value for the first message in the spool, equivalent
to the value 1.

[def [const next]]

The message immediately following the last message read, see
[cmd ::pop3::last]. 

[def [const end]]

The most recent message in the spool (the end of the spool).  This is
useful to retrieve only the most recent message.

[list_end]

[def [arg endIndex]]

The [arg endIndex] is an optional parameter and defaults to the value
"-1", which indicates to only retrieve the one message specified by

[arg startIndex].  If specified, it may be an index of a specific
message starting with the index "1", or it may have any of the
following values:

[list_begin definitions]

[def [const last]]

The message is the last message read by a POP3 client, see
[cmd ::pop3::last].

[def [const end]]

The most recent message in the spool (the end of the spool).

[list_end]
[list_end]

[call [cmd ::pop3::list] [arg chan] [opt [arg msg]]]

Returns the scan listing of the mailbox. If parameter [arg msg] is
given, then the listing only for that message is returned.


[call [cmd ::pop3::top] [arg chan] [arg msg] [arg n] ]


Optional POP3 command, not all servers may support this.

[cmd ::pop3::top] retrieves headers of a message, specified by
parameter [arg msg], and number of [arg n] lines from the message
body.

[call [cmd ::pop3::uidl] [arg chan] [opt [arg msg]]]

Optional POP3 command, not all servers may support this. 

[cmd ::pop3::uidl] returns the uid listing of the mailbox. If the
parameter [arg msg] is specified, then the listing only for that
message is returned.

[call [cmd ::pop3::close] [arg chan]]

Gracefully close the connect after sending a POP3 QUIT command down
the socket.

[list_end]

[section {BUGS, IDEAS, FEEDBACK}]

This document, and the package it describes, will undoubtedly contain
bugs and other problems.

Please report such in the category [emph pop3] of the
[uri {http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=12883} {Tcllib SF Trackers}].

Please also report any ideas for enhancements you may have for either
package and/or documentation.


[keywords mail email pop pop3 {rfc 1939}]
[manpage_end]
