browserbox

IMAP client for browsers

StringEncoding API

This module requires TextEncoder and TextDecoder to exist as part of the StringEncoding API (see: MDN whatwg.org). This is supported by Firefox, Chrome and Opera. For other browser environments there is a polyfill.

TCPSocket API

There is a shim that brings Mozilla-flavored version of the Raw Socket API to other platforms.

If you are on a platform that uses forge instead of a native TLS implementation (e.g. chrome.socket), you have to set the .oncert(pemEncodedCertificate) handler that passes the TLS certificate that the server presents. It can be used on a trust-on-first-use basis for subsequent connection.

If forge is used to handle TLS traffic, you may choose to handle the TLS-related load in a Web Worker. Please use tlsWorkerPath to point to tcp-socket-tls-worker.js!

Please take a look at the tcp-socket documentation for more information!

Promises

This module uses the Promises API, so make sure your platform either supports Promise constructor natively, or use the es6-promise polyfill.

var ES6Promise = require('es6-promises');
ES6Promise.polyfill();

Installation

npm:

npm install browserbox

Usage

AMD

Require browserbox.js as browserbox

Global context

Include following files on the page.

<script src="browserbox.js"></script>
<script src="browserbox-imap.js"></script>

This exposes the constructor BrowserBox as a global variable

API

var BrowserBox = require('browserbox')

Create connection to an IMAP server

new BrowserBox(host[, port][, options]) → IMAP client object

Where

• host is to hostname to connect to
• port (optional) is the port to connect to (defaults to 143)
• options (optional) is the options object
  • auth is the authentication information object
    • user is the username of the user (also applies to Oauth2)
    • pass is the password of the user
    • xoauth2 is the OAuth2 access token to be used instead of password
  • id (optional) is the identification object for RFC2971 (ex. {name: 'myclient', version: '1'})
  • useSecureTransport (optional) enables TLS
  • ca (optional) (only in conjunction with the TCPSocket shim) if you use TLS with forge, pin a PEM-encoded certificate as a string. Please refer to the tcp-socket documentation for more information!
  • tlsWorkerPath (optional) (only in conjunction with the TCPSocket shim) if you use TLS with forge, this path indicates where the file for the TLS Web Worker is located. Please refer to the tcp-socket documentation for more information!
  • ignoreTLS – if set to true, do not call STARTTLS before authentication even if the host advertises support for it
  • requireTLS – if set to true, always use STARTTLS before authentication even if the host does not advertise it. If STARTTLS fails, do not try to authenticate the user
  • enableCompression - if set to true then use IMAP COMPRESS extension (rfc4978) if the server supports it (Gmail does). All data sent and received in this case is compressed with deflate
  • compressionWorkerPath (optional) offloads de-/compression computation to a web worker, this is the path to the browserified browserbox-compressor-worker.js

Default STARTTLS support is opportunistic – if the server advertises STARTTLS capability, the client tries to use it. If STARTTLS is not advertised, the clients sends passwords in the plain. You can use ignoreTLS and requireTLS to change this behavior by explicitly enabling or disabling STARTTLS usage.

Example

var client = new BrowserBox('localhost', 143, {
    auth: {
        user: 'testuser',
        pass: 'testpass'
    },
    id: {
        name: 'My Client',
        version: '0.1'
    }
});

Use of web workers with compression: If you use compression, we can spin up a Web Worker to handle the TLS-related computation off the main thread. To do this, you need to browserify browserbox-compressor-worker.js, specify the path via options.compressionWorkerPath

Initiate connection

BrowserBox object by default does not initiate the connection, you need to call client.connect() to establish it

client.connect();

This function does not take any arguments and does not return anything. See the events section to handle connection issues.

Events

The IMAP client has several events you can attach to by setting a listener

onerror

Is fired when something unexpected happened.

client.onerror = function(err){}

Where

• err is an error object

onclose

Is fired when the connection to the IMAP server is closed.

client.onclose = function(){}

onauth

Is fired when the user is successfully authenticated

List mailboxes

List all mailboxes with listMailboxes() method

client.listMailboxes(callback)

Where

• callback is the callback function with the following arguments
  • err is an error object, only set if the request failed
  • mailboxes is an object with the mailbox structure

If callback is not specified, the method returns a Promise.

Mailbox object is with the following structure

• root (boolean) true if the node is root
• name (string) unicode decoded name of the mailbox
• path (string) full path to the mailbox
• delimiter (string) path delimiting symbol. In the event the server returns NIL for this (some servers do this for the INBOX), it will be coerced to a '/' at this time, but the behavior may be changed in the future depending on how the folder creation API is implemented.
• listed (boolean) mailbox was found in the LIST response
• subscribed (boolean) mailbox was found in the LSUB response
• specialUse (string) mailbox was identified as a special use mailbox ('\Trash', '\Sent', '\Junk' etc. see RFC6154)
• specialUseFlag (string) the same as specialUse but without using folder name based heuristics
• flags (array) a list of flags
• children (array) a list of child mailboxes

Example

client.listMailboxes(function(err, mailboxes){
    console.log(err || mailboxes);
});

{
  "root": true,
  "children": [
    {
      "name": "INBOX",
      "delimiter": "/",
      "path": "INBOX",
      "children": [],
      "flags": ["\\HasNoChildren"],
      "listed": true,
      "subscribed": true
    },
    {
      "name": "[Gmail]",
      "delimiter": "/",
      "path": "[Gmail]",
      "flags": ["\\Noselect","\\HasChildren"],
      "listed": true,
      "subscribed": true,
      "children": [
        {
          "name": "All Mail",
          "delimiter": "/",
          "path": "[Gmail]/All Mail",
          "children": [],
          "flags": ["\\HasNoChildren","\\All"],
          "listed": true,
          "specialUse": "\\All",
          "specialUseFlag": "\\All",
          "subscribed": true
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Notes

Root level INBOX is case insensitive, so all subfolders of INBOX, Inbox etc. are mapped together. The first occurence of INBOX defines the name property for the parent element. path values remain as listed.

For example the following IMAP response lists different INBOX names:

    * LIST () "INBOX"
    * LIST () "Inbox/test"

These different INBOX names are mapped to the following object:

{
  "root": true,
  "children": [
    {
      "name": "INBOX",
      "delimiter": "/",
      "path": "INBOX",
      "children": [
        {
          "name": "test",
          "delimiter": "/",
          "path": "Inbox/test",
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

List namespaces

List available namespaces with listNamespaces(). If NAMESPACE extension is not supported, the method returns false.

client.listNamespaces(callback)

Where

• callback is the callback function with the following arguments
  • err is an error object, only set if the request failed
  • namespaces is an object with the namespace values or false if NAMESPACE is not supported

If callback is not specified, the method returns a Promise.

Namespace object is with the following structure

• personal is an array of namespace elements or false for Personal Namespace
• users is an array of namespace elements or false for Other Users' Namespace
• shared is an array of namespace elements or false for Shared Namespace

Namespace element object has the following structure

• prefix is the prefix string
• delimiter is the hierarchy delimiter. This can be null for some servers but will usually be a string.

NB! Namespace_Response_Extensions are not supported (extension data is silently skipped)

Namespaces should be checked before attempting to create new mailboxes - most probably creating mailboxes outside personal namespace fails. For example when the personal namespace is prefixed with 'INBOX.' you can create 'INBOX.Sent Mail' but you can't create 'Sent Mail'.

Example

client.listNamespaces(function(err, namespaces){
    console.log(err || namespaces);
});

{
    "personal": [
        {
            "prefix": "",
            "delimiter": "/"
        }
    ],
    "users": false,
    "shared": false
}

Create mailbox

Create a folder with the given path, automatically handling utf-7 encoding. You currently need to manually build the path string yourself. (There is potential for future enhancement to provide assistance.)

If the server indicates a failure but that the folder already exists with the ALREADYEXISTS response code, the request will be treated as a success.

Example

// On a server with a personal namesapce of INBOX and a delimiter of '/',
// create folder Foo.  Note that folders using a non-empty personal namespace
// may automatically assume the personal namespace.
client.createMailbox('INBOX/Foo', function callback(err, alreadyExists) {});
// Do the same on a server where the personal namespace is ''
client.createMailbox('Foo', function callback(err, alreadyExists) {});

If callback is not specified, the method returns a Promise.

Select mailbox

Select specific mailbox by path with selectMailbox()

client.selectMailbox(path[, options], callback)

Where

• path is the full path to the mailbox (see path property with listMailboxes)
• options optional options object with the following properties
  • condstore if set to true adds (CONDSTORE) option when selecting
  • readOnly if set to true uses EXAMINE instead of SELECT
• callback is the callback function with the following arguments
  • err is an error object, only set if the request failed
  • mailboxInfo is an object with mailbox properties
    • exists (number) the count of messages in the selected mailbox
    • flags (array) an array of flags used in the selected mailbox
    • permanentFlags (array) an array of permanent flags available to use in the selected mailbox
    • readOnly (boolean) true if the mailbox is in read only mode
    • uidValidity (number) UIDValidity value
    • uidNext (number) predicted next UID value
    • highestModseq (string) (with CONDSTORE only) highest modseq value (javascript can't handle 64bit uints so this is a string)

If callback is not specified, the method returns a Promise.

Example

client.selectMailbox('INBOX', function(err, mailbox){
    console.log(err || mailbox);
});

{
    "readOnly": false,
    "exists": 6596,
    "flags": [
        "\\Answered",
        "\\Flagged"
    ],
    "permanentFlags": [
        "\\Answered",
        "\\Flagged"
    ],
    "uidValidity": 2,
    "uidNext": 38361,
    "highestModseq": "3682918"
}

You can check the currently selected mailbox path from client.selectedMailbox. If no mailbox is currently selected, the value is false.

console.log('Current mailbox: %s', client.selectedMailbox);

List messages

List messages with listMessages()

client.listMessages(sequence, query[, options], callback)

Where

• sequence defines the range of sequence numbers or UID values (if byUid option is set to true). Example: '1', '1:*', '1,2:3,4' etc.
• query is an array of keys that need to be fetched. Example: ['uid', 'flags', 'body.peek[headers (date)]']
• options is an optional options object
  • byUid if true executes UID FETCH instead of FETCH
  • changedSince is the modseq filter. Only messages with higher modseq value will be returned
• callback is the callback function to run once all me messages are processed with the following arguments
  • err is an error object, only set if the request failed
  • messages is an array of messages from the provided sequence range

If callback is not specified, the method returns a Promise.

A note about sequence ranges – using * as a range selector might be a really bad idea. If the mailbox contains thousands of messages and you are running a 1:* query, it might choke your application. Additionally, remember that * stands for the sequence number of the last message in the mailbox. This means that if you have 10 messages in a mailbox and you run a query for a range of 5000:* you still get a match as the query is treated as 10:5000 by the server

Example

client.listMessages('1:10', ['uid', 'flags', 'body[]'], function(err, messages){
    messages.forEach(function(message){
        console.log('Flags for ' + message.uid + ': ' + message.flags.join(', '));
    });
});

NB! this method does not stream the values, you need to handle this by yourself by using reasonable sized sequence ranges

Message item

A listed message item includes (but is not limited to), the selected fields from the query argument (all keys are lowercase). Additionally the argument order and even argument names might not match. For example, when requesting for body.peek you get body back instead. Additionally the message includes a special key # which stands for the sequence number of the message.

Most arguments return strings (eg. body[]) and numbers (eg. uid) while flags return an array, envelope and bodystructure return a processed object.

{
    "#": 123,
    "uid": 456,
    "flags": ["\\Seen", "$MyFlag"],
    "envelope": {
        "date": "Fri, 13 Sep 2013 15:01:00 +0300",
        "subject": "hello 4",
        "from": [{"name": "sender name", "address": "sender@example.com"}],
        "to": [{"name": "Receiver name", "address": "receiver@example.com"}],
        "message-id": "<abcde>"
    }
}

Special keys - if a special key is used, eg. BODY.PEEK[HEADER (Date Subject)], the response key is lowercase and in the form how the server responded it, eg. body[header (date subject)]

Envelope object

An envelope includes the following fields (a value is only included in the response if it is set).

• date is a date (string) of the message
• subject is the subject of the message
• from is an array of addresses from the from header
• sender is an array of addresses from the sender header
• reply-to is an array of addresses from the reply-to header
• to is an array of addresses from the to header
• cc is an array of addresses from the cc header
• bcc is an array of addresses from the bcc header
• in-reply-to is the message-id of the message is message is replying to
• message-id is the message-id of the message

All address fields are in the following format:

[
    {
        "name": "MIME decoded name",
        "address": "email@address"
    }
]

Bodystructure object

A bodystructure object includes the following fields (all values are lowercase, unless the value might be case sensitive, eg. Content-Id value):

• part is the sub-part selector for BODY[x.x.x], eg. '4.1.1' (this value is not set for the root object)
• type is the Content-Type of the body part
• parameters is an object defining extra arguments for Content-Type, example: {border: 'abc'}
• disposition is the Content-Disposition value (without arguments)
• dispositionParameters is an object defining extra arguments for Content-Disposition, example: {filename: 'foo.gif'}
• language is an array of language codes (hardly ever used)
• location is a string for body content URI (hardly ever used)
• id is the Content-Id value
• description is the Content-Description value
• encoding is the Content-Transfer-Encoding value
• size is the body size in octets
• lineCount (applies to text/* and message/rfc822) is the count of lines in the body
• envelope (applies to message/rfc822) is the envelope object of the sub-part
• md5 is the MD5 hash of the message (hardly ever used)
• childNodes (applies to multipart/* and message/rfc822) is an array of embedded bodystructure objects

Example

Bodystructure for the following sample message structure:

multipart/mixed
    text/plain
    multipart/alternative
        text/plain

{
    "type": "multipart/mixed",
    "childNodes": [
        {
            "part": "1",
            "type": "text/plain",
            "encoding": "7bit",
            "size": 8,
            "lineCount": 1
        },
        {
            "part": "2",
            "type": "multipart/alternative",
            "childNodes": [
                {
                    "part": "2.1",
                    "type": "text/plain",
                    "encoding": "7bit",
                    "size": 8,
                    "lineCount": 1
                }
            ]
        }
    ]
}

Searching

Search for messages with search()

client.search(query[, options], callback)

Where

• query defines the search terms, see below
• options is an optional options object
  • byUid if true executes UID SEARCH instead of SEARCH
• callback is the callback function to run once all me messages are processed with the following arguments
  • err is an error object, only set if the request failed
  • results is an array of sorted and unique message sequence numbers or UID numbers that match the specified search query

If callback is not specified, the method returns a Promise.

Queries are composed as objects where keys are search terms and values are term arguments. Only strings, numbers and Date values are used as arguments. If the value is an array, the members of it are processed separately (use this for terms that require multiple params). If the value is a Date, it is converted to the form of '1-Jan-1970'. Subqueries (OR, NOT) are made up of objects.

Examples:

// SEARCH UNSEEN
query = {unseen: true}
// SEARCH KEYWORD 'flagname'
query = {keyword: 'flagname'}
// SEARCH HEADER 'subject' 'hello world'
query = {header: ['subject', 'hello world']};
// SEARCH UNSEEN HEADER 'subject' 'hello world'
query = {unseen: true, header: ['subject', 'hello world']};
// SEARCH OR UNSEEN SEEN
query = {or: {unseen: true, seen: true}};
// SEARCH UNSEEN NOT SEEN
query = {unseen: true, not: {seen: true}}

Example

client.search({unseen: true}, {byUid: true}, function(err, result){
    result.forEach(function(uid){
        console.log('Message ' + uid + ' is unread');
    });
});

Update flags

Update message flags with setFlags(). This is a wrapper around store()

client.setFlags(sequence, flags[, options], callback)

Where

• sequence defines the range of sequence numbers or UID values (if byUid option is set to true). Example: '1', '1:*', '1,2:3,4' etc.
• flags is an object defining flag updates, see below for details
• options is an optional options object
  • byUid if true executes UID SEARCH instead of SEARCH
  • silent if true does not return anything. Useful when updating large range of messages at once ('1:*')
• callback is the callback function to run once all me messages are processed with the following arguments
  • err is an error object, only set if the request failed
  • messages is an array of messages from the provided sequence range (or empty when silent:true option is set). Includes flags property and uid if byUid:true option was used.

If callback is not specified, the method returns a Promise.

Store

Store flags or labels with store()

client.store(sequence, action, flags[, options], callback)

Where

• sequence defines the range of sequence numbers or UID values (if byUid option is set to true). Example: '1', '1:*', '1,2:3,4' etc.
• action is the STORE argument, eg 'FLAGS' for setting flags
• flags is an array of flags or labels
• options is an optional options object
  • byUid if true executes UID SEARCH instead of SEARCH
  • silent if true does not return anything. Useful when updating large range of messages at once ('1:*')
• callback is the callback function to run once all me messages are processed with the following arguments
  • err is an error object, only set if the request failed
  • messages is an array of messages from the provided sequence range (or empty when silent:true option is set). Includes flags property and uid if byUid:true option was used.

Possible actions

• FLAGS - overwrite message flags with provided ones
• +FLAGS - add provided flags to message flags
• -FLAGS - remove provided flags from message flags
• X-GM-LABELS - overwrite message labels with provided ones
• +X-GM-LABELS - add provided labels to message labels
• -X-GM-LABELS - remove provided labels from message labels

If callback is not specified, the method returns a Promise.

Example

Add label \Sent to messages

client.store('1:*', '+X-GM-LABELS', ['\\Sent'], function(err, result){
    ...
});

Reading flags

You can check the flags for a message or a range of messages with listMessages - use ['flags'] as the query object.

Flag update object

• { set: arrFlags } for setting flags
• { add: arrFlags } for adding new flags
• { remove: arrFlags } for removing specified flags

Where arrFlags is an array containing flag strings, ie. ['\\Seen', '$MyFlag']

Example

client.setFlags('1', {add: ['\\Seen']}, function(err, result){
    console.log('New flags for message: ' + result[0].flags.join(', '));
});

Delete messages

Delete messages with deleteMessages()

client.deleteMessages(sequence[, options], callback)

Where

• sequence defines the range of sequence numbers or UID values (if byUid option is set to true). Example: '1', '1:*', '1,2:3,4' etc.
• options is an optional options object
  • byUid if true uses UID values instead of sequence numbers to define the range
• callback is the callback function to run once all me messages are processed with the following arguments
  • err is an error object, only set if the request failed

If callback is not specified, the method returns a Promise.

If possible (byUid:true is set and UIDPLUS extension is supported by the server) uses UID EXPUNGE otherwise falls back to EXPUNGE to delete the messages – which means that this method might be destructive. If EXPUNGE is used, then any messages with \Deleted flag set are deleted even if these messages are not included in the specified sequence range.

Example

client.deleteMessages('1:5', function(err){
    if(err){
        console.log('Command failed');
    }else{
        console.log('Messages were deleted');
    }
});

Copy messages

Copy messages with copyMessages()

client.copyMessages(sequence, destination[, options], callback)

Where

• sequence defines the range of sequence numbers or UID values (if byUid option is set to true). Example: '1', '1:*', '1,2:3,4' etc.
• destination is the destination folder path. Example: '[Gmail]/Trash'
• options is an optional options object
  • byUid if true uses UID values instead of sequence numbers to define the range
• callback is the callback function to run once all me messages are processed with the following arguments
  • err is an error object, only set if the request failed
  • message nothing useful, just the response text from the server

If callback is not specified, the method returns a Promise.

Example

client.copyMessages('1:5', '[Gmail]/Trash', function(err){
    console.log('Messages were copied to [Gmail]/Trash');
});

Move messages

Move messages with moveMessages()

client.moveMessages(sequence, destination[, options], callback)

Where

• sequence defines the range of sequence numbers or UID values (if byUid option is set to true). Example: '1', '1:*', '1,2:3,4' etc.
• destination is the destination folder path. Example: '[Gmail]/Trash'
• options is an optional options object
  • byUid if true uses UID values instead of sequence numbers to define the range
• callback is the callback function to run once all me messages are processed with the following arguments
  • err is an error object, only set if the request failed

If callback is not specified, the method returns a Promise.

If possible (MOVE extension is supported by the server) uses MOVE or UID MOVE otherwise falls back to COPY + EXPUNGE.

The returned list of sequence numbers might not match with the sequence numbers provided to the method.

Example

client.moveMessages('1:5', '[Gmail]/Trash', function(err){
    if(err){
        console.log('Command failed');
    }else{
        console.log('Messages were moved to [Gmail]/Trash');
    }
});

Update notifications

Message updates can be listened for by setting the onupdate handler. First argument for the callback defines the update type, and the second one is the new value.

Example

client.onupdate = function(type, value){
    if (type == 'exists') {
        console.log(value + ' messages exists in selected mailbox');
    }
}

Possible types:

• exists is emitted on untagged EXISTS response, value is the argument number used
• expunge is emitted on untagged EXPUNGE response, value is the sequence number of the deleted message
• fetch is emitted on flag change. value includes the parsed message object (probably includes only the sequence number # and flags array)

Mailbox change notifications

Listening mailbox select notification is done by setting the onselectmailbox and onclosemailbox handlers.

For onselectmailbox handler the first argument is the path of the selected mailbox and the second argument is the mailbox information object (see selectMailbox).

For onclosemailbox handler the argument is the path of the selected mailbox.

Example

client.onselectmailbox = function(path, mailbox){
    console.log('Opened %s with %s messages', path, mailbox.exists);
}

client.onclosemailbox = function(path){
    console.log('Closed %s', path);
}

Close connection

You can close the connection with close(). This method doesn't actually terminate the connection, it sends LOGOUT command to the server.

client.close();

Once the connection is actually closed onclose event is fired.

State-dependend calls

Calls to Browserbox are queued in FIFO order until they are ready for execution. This may be problematic for calls that depend on a selected mailbox, e.g. #search or #setFlags. These call can be issued with a precheck callback that is invoked before the IMAP command is sent to the server.

Example:

// search depends on a selected mailbox, e.g. inbox
imap.search({
    header: ['subject', 'hello 3']
}, {
    // add precheck(ctx, next) to the query options
    precheck: function(ctx, next) {
        // make sure inbox is selected before the search command is run
        imap.selectMailbox('inbox', {
            ctx: ctx // pass the context parameter received in the precheck callback as a query option to bypass the command queue
        }, next); // next should invoked when you're done
    },
    byUid: true
}, function(error, result) {
    ...
});

A precheck callback receives two arguments:

• ctx is a context parameter, i.e. a pointer to the current position in the command queue
• next callback to be invoked when the precheck is done

Calls issued in a precheck callback will be executed before the parent call, if you pass the ctx parameter received as a argument of the precheck callback to the query options. This bypasses the internal FIFO queue and executes the call on the spot! If the context parameter is left blank, the calls will be queued as usual.

Invoke next once you're done with the precheck callback to resume normal operation.

If you want to remove a call from the FIFO queue, e.g. because a message is no longer available in a mailbox, pass in an error to the next callback. The parent call will not be executed and you will receive the error passed to next in the callback of the parent call.

Example:

imap.setFlags('1', ['\\Seen', '$MyFlag'], {
    precheck: function(ctx, next) {
        next(new Error('Foo')); // this removes the setFlags query from the queue
    }
}, function(err, result) {
    // err.message -> 'Foo'
    ...
});

NB! precheck callbacks can be also nested! For details, have a look at the integration test that covers this portion of the code.

Get your hands dirty

git clone git@github.com:whiteout-io/browserbox.git
cd browserbox
npm install && npm test

To run the integration tests against a local smtp server

grunt imap
add the test folder as a chrome app (chrome settings -> extensions -> check 'developer mode' -> load unpacked extension)

License

Copyright (c) 2014 Andris Reinman

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
SOFTWARE.