i am currently develop a simple IMAP client, when i call imap_getmailboxes() i receive a different values in attributes property of the mailbox object the problem is how can i manipulate these attributes to get a meaningful value,
if you make a hard search to find a solution for this, you will
not find any useful documents for this problem, let us take a closer look for this problem.
when i call imap_getmailboxes() against different IMAP servers i got these attribute values
[attributes] => 9
[attributes] => 1
[attributes] => 64
[attributes] => 32
[attributes] => 40
the documentation tell us that we check this attributes against four constants, these contents are
LATT_NOINFERIORS
LATT_NOSELECT
LATT_MARKED
LATT_UNMARKED
the value of these constants are
LATT_NOINFERIORS = 1
LATT_NOSELECT = 2
LATT_MARKED = 4
LATT_UNMARKED = 8
you can got this result by echo each constant, unfortunately the documentation not explain how we can check the attributes against the constants, after a long time of searching i find the answer in source code of c-client
(you can get the source from ftp://ftp.cac.washington.edu/imap/)
under \src\c-client you will find mail.h open it and you will find this
/* terminal node in hierarchy */
#define LATT_NOINFERIORS (long) 0x1
/* name can not be selected */
#define LATT_NOSELECT (long) 0x2
/* changed since last accessed */
#define LATT_MARKED (long) 0x4
/* accessed since last changed */
#define LATT_UNMARKED (long) 0x8
/* name has referral to remote mailbox */
#define LATT_REFERRAL (long) 0x10
/* has selectable inferiors */
#define LATT_HASCHILDREN (long) 0x20
/* has no selectable inferiors */
#define LATT_HASNOCHILDREN (long) 0x40
as you notice here these are our four constants and three additional constants
LATT_REFERRAL
LATT_HASCHILDREN
LATT_HASNOCHILDREN
then what is the value of these 3 attributes
LATT_REFERRAL 0x10 = 00010000 in binary, the bitmask value is 2^4 = 16 and so on, or simply echo this constant to get the value, then
LATT_REFERRAL = 16
LATT_HASCHILDREN = 32
LATT_HASNOCHILDREN = 64
finally the full list of constants will be
LATT_NOINFERIORS = 1
LATT_NOSELECT = 2
LATT_MARKED = 4
LATT_UNMARKED = 8
LATT_REFERRAL = 16
LATT_HASCHILDREN = 32
LATT_HASNOCHILDREN = 64
ok let's back to our attributes
[attributes] => 9
[attributes] => 1
[attributes] => 64
[attributes] => 32
[attributes] => 40
[attributes] => 9 this mean it's LATT_UNMARKED and LATT_NOINFERIORS 1+8 =9
[attributes] => 1 this mean LATT_NOINFERIORS
[attributes] => 64 this mean LATT_HASNOCHILDREN
[attributes] => 32 this mean LATT_HASCHILDREN
[attributes] => 40 this mean LATT_HASCHILDREN and LATT_UNMARKED 32+8=40
this just like linux file permission 7 mean read, write, and execute 4+2+1 read=4 write=2 execute=1
that is what i found, i hope this can help
Mohamed Abbas
Nileweb Egypt
imap_getmailboxes
(PHP 4, PHP 5, PHP 7, PHP 8)
imap_getmailboxes — Read the list of mailboxes, returning detailed information on each one
Description
Gets information on the mailboxes.
Parameters
-
imap -
An IMAP\Connection instance.
-
reference -
referenceshould normally be just the server specification as described in imap_open()WarningPassing untrusted data to this parameter is insecure, unless imap.enable_insecure_rsh is disabled.
-
pattern -
Specifies where in the mailbox hierarchy to start searching.
There are two special characters you can pass as part of the
pattern: '*' and '%'. '*' means to return all mailboxes. If you passpatternas '*', you will get a list of the entire mailbox hierarchy. '%' means to return the current level only. '%' as thepatternparameter will return only the top level mailboxes; '~/mail/%' onUW_IMAPDwill return every mailbox in the ~/mail directory, but none in subfolders of that directory.
Return Values
Returns an array of objects containing mailbox information. Each
object has the attributes name, specifying
the full name of the mailbox; delimiter,
which is the hierarchy delimiter for the part of the hierarchy
this mailbox is in; and
attributes. Attributes
is a bitmask that can be tested against:
-
LATT_NOINFERIORS- This mailbox not contains, and may not contain any "children" (there are no mailboxes below this one). Calling imap_createmailbox() will not work on this mailbox. -
LATT_NOSELECT- This is only a container, not a mailbox - you cannot open it. -
LATT_MARKED- This mailbox is marked. This means that it may contain new messages since the last time it was checked. Not provided by all IMAP servers. -
LATT_UNMARKED- This mailbox is not marked, does not contain new messages. If eitherMARKEDorUNMARKEDis provided, you can assume the IMAP server supports this feature for this mailbox. -
LATT_REFERRAL- This container has a referral to a remote mailbox. -
LATT_HASCHILDREN- This mailbox has selectable inferiors. -
LATT_HASNOCHILDREN- This mailbox has no selectable inferiors.
false on failure.
Changelog
| Version | Description |
|---|---|
| 8.1.0 |
The imap parameter expects an IMAP\Connection
instance now; previously, a valid imap resource was expected.
|
Examples
Example #1 imap_getmailboxes() example
<?php
$mbox = imap_open("{imap.example.org}", "username", "password", OP_HALFOPEN)
or die("can't connect: " . imap_last_error());
$list = imap_getmailboxes($mbox, "{imap.example.org}", "*");
if (is_array($list)) {
foreach ($list as $key => $val) {
echo "($key) ";
echo imap_utf7_decode($val->name) . ",";
echo "'" . $val->delimiter . "',";
echo $val->attributes . "<br />\n";
}
} else {
echo "imap_getmailboxes failed: " . imap_last_error() . "\n";
}
imap_close($mbox);
?>
add a note
User Contributed Notes 5 notes
Mohamed Abbas mabbas_xyz at yahoo dot com ¶
18 years ago
foom at fuhm dot NO_supercalifragilisticexpialidocious_SPAM dot net ¶
23 years ago
The list of mailbox attributes in this document is very misleading. In particular the explanation of noinferiors is just wrong. It does not mean that the mailbox currently has no children, it means that it *cannot* have children ever. Also, it is untrue that marked and unmarked are only used by UW-IMAP. They are in the official IMAP specification and are used by at least Courier-imap as well.
One thing to watch out for, however, is broken IMAP servers which do send \Noinferiors when they mean that there are currently no children.
From the IMAP4rev1 specs (RFC 2060):
\Noinferiors
It is not possible for any child levels of hierarchy to exist
under this name; no child levels exist now and none can be
created in the future.
\Noselect
It is not possible to use this name as a selectable mailbox.
\Marked
The mailbox has been marked "interesting" by the server; the
mailbox probably contains messages that have been added since
the last time the mailbox was selected.
\Unmarked
The mailbox does not contain any additional messages since the
last time the mailbox was selected.
ad-rotator.com ¶
20 years ago
In case you print_r() or var_dump() the object and see an int for attribute, these are the constant integers for the bitmask.
1 LATT_NOINFERIORS
2 LATT_NOSELECT
4 LATT_MARKED
8 LATT_UNMARKED
emielbom at hotmail dot com ¶
18 years ago
i was looking for a function to test the attributes.
and it was hard to find an answer or code.
Maybe there is a function availeble, but i couldn't find it.
the first function: returns all mailboxes in on the server
The second function: returns a bitstring from the attr_number returned by getmailboxes()
The tirth function: returns an array with the active attributes on the specific mailbox
Last Line: is a combination of the functions: the output is, any map witch can hold no mail but only sub boxes...
<?php
function getFolders($mailbox, $serverString) {
$list = imap_getmailboxes($mailbox, $serverString, "*");
if (is_array($list)) {
foreach ($list as $key => $val) {
$mapname = str_replace($serverString, "", imap_utf7_decode($val->name));
if ($mapname[0] != ".") {
$list_folders[$key]['name'] = $mapname;
$list_folders[$key]['delimiter'] = $val->delimiter;
$list_folders[$key]['attributes'] = $val->attributes;
}
}
} else {
echo "imap_getmailboxes failed: " . imap_last_error() . "\n";
}
return $list_folders;
}
function IntToBin($number) {
$BitWaarde = 1;
$IntNum = $number;
$BinString = "";
if ($IntNum > 0) {
// bepaal de max bitwaarde aan de hand van $IntNum
while ($IntNum > $BitWaarde) {
$BitWaarde = $BitWaarde * 2;
}
// maken van een binaire string.
while ($BitWaarde >= 1 ) {
if ($IntNum < $BitWaarde) {
if ($BinString != "") $BinString .= "0";
} else {
$BinString .= "1";
$IntNum = $IntNum-$BitWaarde;
}
$BitWaarde = $BitWaarde / 2;
}
}
return $BinString;
}
function Attributes($BinString) {
$BinInt = (int)$BinString;
if ($BinInt >=1000){
$setAttribute['LATT_UNMARKED'] = true;
$BinInt = $BinInt-1000;
} else $setAttribute['LATT_UNMARKED'] = false;
if ($BinInt >=100){
$setAttribute['LATT_MARKED'] = true;
$BinInt = $BinInt-100;
} else $setAttribute['LATT_MARKED'] = false;
if ($BinInt >=10){
$setAttribute['LATT_NOSELECT'] = true;
$BinInt = $BinInt-10;
} else $setAttribute['LATT_NOSELECT'] = false;
if ($BinInt >=1){
$setAttribute['LATT_NOINFERIORS'] = true;
$BinInt = $BinInt-1;
} else $setAttribute['LATT_NOINFERIORS'] = false;
return $setAttribute;
}
foreach (getFolders($mailbox, $config['Server_string']) as $key => $val) {
$Attr = Attributes(IntToBin((int)$val['attributes']));
if (!$Attr['LATT_NOINFERIORS']) {
echo "<option value='".$val['name']."'>".$val['name']."</option>";
}
}
?>
james dot mattingly at gmail dot com ¶
13 years ago
For the purposes of passing along the attributes as a json array, I wanted to pass the attributes as an indexed array to save on bandwidth and session storage. The human readable translation is then performed in javascript by relating each key to the proper attribute label. I also wanted a cleaner way of converting the attributes without calling another function or using a complex iteration. This puts each binary attribute into it's own array element for easy testing.
<?php
$mailboxes = imap_getmailboxes($mailbox, $username, $password);
foreach($mailboxes as $key=>$mailbox){
...
$attrs = preg_split('//',str_pad(decbin($mailbox->attributes),7,"0",STR_PAD_LEFT),8); // convert decimal to an array of attributes
array_shift($attrs); // Remove the extra element at the front of the array in position 0
...
}
?>
With temporary variables, the conversion would look like this.
<?php
$attr_binary = decbin($mailbox->attributes); // convert decimal to binary
$attr_binary = str_pad($attr_binary,7,"0",STR_PAD_LEFT); // pad with 0's on the left
$attrs = $preg_split('//',$attr_binary,8); // split into an array after each character
array_shift($attrs); // Remove the extra element at the front of the array in position 0
?>
By defining the attributes as a map to the array index, you can test as follows.
<?php
define("ATTR_NOINFERIORS",6);
define("ATTR_NOSELECT "5);
define("ATTR_MARKED ",4);
define("ATTR_UNMARKED ",3);
define("ATTR_REFERRAL ",2);
define("ATTR_HASCHILDREN ",1);
define("ATTR_HASNOCHILDREN ",0);
if ($attrs[ATTR_HASCHILDREN]){
// do something
}
?>
