By default, you need to enable ” Allowing less secure apps” in Gmail, then you can retrieve email with user/password IMAP4 authentication.
However Google will disable traditional user authentication in the future, switching to Google OAuth is strongly recommended now.
Sections:
Before you can use the following sample codes, you should download the EAGetMail Installer and install it on your machine at first. Full sample projects are included in this installer.
To better demonstrate how to retrieve email and parse email, let’s create a Delphi Standard EXE project at first, then add a TButton on the Form, double-click this button. It is like this:
To use EAGetMail ActiveX Object in your Delphi project, the first step is “Add Unit file of EAGetMail to your project”. Please go to
C:\Program Files\EAGetMail\Include\delphi
or
C:\Program Files (x86)\EAGetMail\Include\delphi
folder,
find EAGetMailObjLib_TLB.pas
, and then copy this file to your project folder.
// include EAGetMailObjLib_TLB unit to your Delphi Project
unit Unit1;
interface
uses
Windows, Messages, SysUtils, Variants, Classes, Graphics, Controls, Forms,
Dialogs, EAGetMailObjLib_TLB, StdCtrls;
Then you can start to use it in your Delphi Project.
You can also create EAGetMailObjLib_TLB.pas manually by Delphi like this:
Delphi 7 or eariler version
First of all, create a standard delphi project: select menu Project
-> Import Type Library
, checked EAGetMail ActiveX Object
and click Create Unit
.
Then include EAGetMailObjLib_TLB
in your project.
Delphi XE or later version
First of all, create a standard delphi project: select menu Component
-> Import component...
-> Import a type library
-> checked EAGetMail ActiveX Object
,
have Generate Component Wrapper
checked and click “Create Unit”. Then include EAGetMailObjLib_TLB
in your project.
The Gmail IMAP and SMTP servers have been extended to support authorization via the industry-standard OAuth 2.0 protocol. Using OAUTH protocol, user can do authentication by Google Web Login instead of inputting user and password directly in application.
To retrieve email using Gmail OAuth in your application, you should create a project in the Google Cloud console, go to Menu menu > IAM & Admin > Create a Project:
In the Google Cloud console, go to Menu ->APIs & Services
->Dashboard
->OAuth consent screen
, selectExternal
user type, input necessary information and click Save.
APIs & Services
-> Dashboard
-> Credentials
Credentials
-> Create Credentials
-> OAuth client ID
-> Web application
or Other (Desktop Application)
. It depends on your application type."Create"
, you will get client id
and client secret
, download and save them for later use."Library"
-> Search "Gmail"
, then click "Gmail API"
and enable it."OAuth consent screen"
-> "Edit App"
..../auth/userinfo.email
, .../auth/userinfo.profile
, openid
and https://mail.google.com/
scopes in OAuth consent screen
-> Edit App
-> Scopes
-> Add or remove scopes
.Gmail supports IMAP/POP + OAuth, but the API (https://mail.google.com/
) scope is restricted API
which requests to have full access to the Gmail account. Restricted API is throttled before your project is authenticated in by Google.
If you use OAuth in a web application, you should use a web page or controller to
get authorization code from Google OAuth Server.
So you need to add your page or web application routing path to Authorized Redirect URIs
in APIs & Services
-> Dashboard
-> Credentials
->
OAuth 2.0 Client IDs
-> Your Client ID
.
By default, your app is in test mode, you should add the user email address to the test users, then the user can test your app.
Go to OAuth consent screen
-> Test users
-> Add users
-> input the user email address.
If you want to publish your app, you should submit your app for verification by clicking “Publish”.
If your users are seeing the “unverified app” screen, it is because your OAuth request includes additional scopes that haven’t been approved. The user can still choose to proceed with the request, but the app will be limited in the number of users that can grant permission to your app when requesting unapproved sensitive or restricted scopes.
Learn more detail from: https://developers.google.com/workspace/guides/create-project.
Please have the following option checked while the user logins by web browser and grants the consent. By default it is not checked due to Google security policy.
Because HttpWebRequest is used to get access token from web service.
If you’re using legacy .NET framework (.NET 2.0 - .NET 3.5 and .NET 4.0 - 4.6.1),
you need to enable Strong Encryption Algorithms
to request access token:
Put the following content to a file named NetStrongEncrypt.reg
, right-click this file -> Merge
-> Yes
.
You can also download it from https://www.emailarchitect.net/webapp/download/NetStrongEncrypt.zip.
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\.NETFramework\v2.0.50727]
"SystemDefaultTlsVersions"=dword:00000001
"SchUseStrongCrypto"=dword:00000001
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\.NETFramework\v2.0.50727]
"SystemDefaultTlsVersions"=dword:00000001
"SchUseStrongCrypto"=dword:00000001
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\.NETFramework\v4.0.30319]
"SystemDefaultTlsVersions"=dword:00000001
"SchUseStrongCrypto"=dword:00000001
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\.NETFramework\v4.0.30319]
"SystemDefaultTlsVersions"=dword:00000001
"SchUseStrongCrypto"=dword:00000001
You can use client id and client secret to get the user email address and access token like this:
EAGetMail Installation Path\Samples_{Programming language/Developer Tool}
project.You don’t have to open browser to request access token
every time. By default,
access token
expiration time is 3600 seconds, you can use the access token
repeatedly before it is expired.
After it is expired, you can use refresh token
to refresh access token
directly without opening browser.
You can find full sample project in EAGetMail installation path
to learn how to refresh token
.
Important
You should create your client id
and client secret
, do not use the client id
from example codes in production environment,
it is used for test purpose. If you got "This app isn't verified"
information, please click "Advanced"
-> Go to ...
for test.
Here is a console application which demonstrates how to use Google OAuth to do user authentication and retrieve email.
Note
This sample cannot handle the event of Web Browser is closed by user manually before authentication is completed.
You can refer to the better sample project which uses Web Browser Control
in EAGetMail installation path.
program Project1;
{$APPTYPE CONSOLE}
uses
Windows, Messages, SysUtils, Variants, Classes, Graphics, ActiveX, MSXML2_TLB, EAGetMailObjLib_TLB;
const
MailServerPop3 = 0;
MailServerImap4 = 1;
MailServerEWS = 2;
MailServerDAV = 3;
MailServerMsGraph = 4;
// Auth type
MailServerAuthLogin = 0;
MailServerAuthCRAM5 = 1;
MailServerAuthNTLM = 2;
MailServerAuthXOAUTH2 = 3;
CRYPT_MACHINE_KEYSET = 32;
CRYPT_USER_KEYSET = 4096;
CERT_SYSTEM_STORE_CURRENT_USER = 65536;
CERT_SYSTEM_STORE_LOCAL_MACHINE = 131072;
// GetMailInfosParam Flags
GetMailInfos_All = 1;
GetMailInfos_NewOnly = 2;
GetMailInfos_ReadOnly = 4;
GetMailInfos_SeqRange = 8;
GetMailInfos_UIDRange = 16;
GetMailInfos_PR_ENTRYID = 32;
GetMailInfos_DateRange = 64;
GetMailInfos_OrderByDateTime = 128;
// client configuration
// You should create your client id and client secret,
// do not use the following client id in production environment, it is used for test purpose only.
clientID = '570831866161-ha6qpdnke22f7mhf0d50ui22f427drjt.apps.googleusercontent.com';
clientSecret = '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';
scope = 'openid%20profile%20email%20https://mail.google.com';
authUri = 'https://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/v2/auth';
tokenUri = 'https://www.googleapis.com/oauth2/v4/token';
function GetConsoleWindow: HWND; stdcall;
external kernel32 name 'GetConsoleWindow';
procedure RetrieveEmailWithXOAUTH2(email: string; accesstoken: string);
var
oServer: TMailServer;
oClient: TMailClient;
oTools: TTools;
oMail: IMail;
infos: IMailInfoCollection;
oInfo: IMailInfo;
localInbox, fileName: WideString;
i: Integer;
begin
try
// set current thread code page to system default code page.
SetThreadLocale(GetSystemDefaultLCID());
oTools := TTools.Create(nil);
// Create a folder named "inbox" under
// current directory to store the email files
localInbox := GetCurrentDir() + '\inbox';
oTools.CreateFolder(localInbox);
oServer := TMailServer.Create(nil);
// Gmail IMAP Server
oServer.Server := 'imap.gmail.com';
// Use OAUTH 2.0
oServer.AuthType := MailServerAuthXOAUTH2;
oServer.User := email;
// Use access token as password
oServer.Password := accesstoken;
// Use IMAP Protocol
oServer.Protocol := MailServerImap4;
// Enable SSL Connection
oServer.SSLConnection := true;
// Set IMAP SSL Port
oServer.Port := 993;
oClient := TMailClient.Create(nil);
oClient.LicenseCode := 'TryIt';
writeln('Connecting ' + oServer.Server + ' ...');
oClient.Connect1(oServer.DefaultInterface);
writeln('Connected!');
// Get new email only, if you want to get all emails, please remove this line
oClient.GetMailInfosParam.GetMailInfosOptions := GetMailInfos_NewOnly;
infos := oClient.GetMailInfoList();
writeln(Format('Total %d email(s)', [infos.Count]));
for i := 0 to infos.Count - 1 do
begin
oInfo := infos.Item[i];
writeln(Format('Index: %d; Size: %d; UIDL: ' + oInfo.UIDL,
[oInfo.Index, oInfo.Size]));
// Generate a random file name by current local datetime,
// You can use your method to generate the filename if you do not like it
fileName := localInbox + '\' + oTools.GenFileName(i) + '.eml';
// Receive email from IMAP server
oMail := oClient.GetMail(oInfo);
writeln('From: ' + oMail.From.Address + #13#10 +
'Subject: ' + oMail.Subject);
// Save email to local disk
oMail.SaveAs(fileName, true);
// Mark email as read to prevent retrieving this email again.
oClient.MarkAsRead(oInfo, true);
// If you want to delete current email, please use Delete method instead of MarkAsRead
// oClient.Delete(oInfo);
end;
// Quit and expunge emails marked as deleted from IMAP server
oClient.Quit;
except
on ep:Exception do
writeln('Error: ' + ep.Message);
end;
end;
// path?parameter1=value1¶meter2=value2#anchor;
function ParseParameter(URL: string; ParameterName: string):string;
var
query, parameter, code: string;
i, mypos, parameterNameLength: integer;
list: TStrings;
begin
result := '';
parameterNameLength := Length(ParameterName);
query := URL;
mypos := pos('?', query);
if(mypos > 0) then
query := Copy(query, mypos + 1, length(query) - mypos);
list := TStringList.Create;
ExtractStrings(['&'], [], PChar(query), list);
for i:= 0 to list.Count - 1 do
begin
parameter := list[i];
if (length(parameter) > parameterNameLength) and
(LowerCase(Copy(parameter, 1, parameterNameLength)) = ParameterName) then
begin
code := Copy(parameter, parameterNameLength + 1, length(parameter) - parameterNameLength);
mypos := pos('#', code);
if(mypos > 0) then
code := Copy(code, 1, mypos - 1);
result := code;
exit;
end
end;
end;
function RequestAccessToken(code: string; redirectUri: string): string;
var
httpRequest: TServerXMLHTTP60;
tokenRequestBody: OleVariant;
status: integer;
begin
writeln('Exchanging code for tokens...');
result := '';
try
httpRequest := TServerXMLHTTP60.Create(nil);
if (httpRequest = nil) then
begin
writeln('Failed to create XML HTTP Object, please make sure you install MSXML 3.0 on your machine.');
exit;
end;
tokenRequestBody := 'code=';
tokenRequestBody := tokenRequestBody + code;
tokenRequestBody := tokenRequestBody + '&redirect_uri=';
tokenRequestBody := tokenRequestBody + redirectUri;
tokenRequestBody := tokenRequestBody + '&client_id=';
tokenRequestBody := tokenRequestBody + clientID;
tokenRequestBody := tokenRequestBody + '&client_secret=';
tokenRequestBody := tokenRequestBody + clientSecret;
tokenRequestBody := tokenRequestBody + '&grant_type=authorization_code';
httpRequest.setOption(2, 13056);
httpRequest.open('POST', tokenUri, true);
httpRequest.setRequestHeader('Content-Type', 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded');
httpRequest.send(tokenRequestBody);
while( httpRequest.readyState <> 4 ) do
httpRequest.waitForResponse(1);
status := httpRequest.status;
result := httpRequest.responseText;
if (status < 200) or (status >= 300) then
writeln('Failed to get access token from server: ' + httpRequest.responseText);
except
writeln('Server response timeout (access token) or exception.');
exit;
end;
end;
procedure DoOauthAndRetrieveEmail();
var
httpListener: THttpListener;
browserUi: TBrowserUi;
parser: TOAuthResponseParser;
szUri, requestUri: string;
authorizationRequest: string;
error, code: string;
responseText: string;
user, accessToken: string;
begin
httpListener := THttpListener.Create(nil);
// Creates a redirect URI using an available port on the loopback address.
if (not httpListener.Create1('127.0.0.1', 0)) then
begin
writeln('Failed to listen on ' + httpListener.GetLastError());
exit;
end;
szUri := Format('http://127.0.0.1:%d', [httpListener.ListenPort]);
writeln('listen on ' + szUri + ' ...');
// Creates the OAuth 2.0 authorization request.
authorizationRequest := authUri;
authorizationRequest := authorizationRequest + '?response_type=code&scope=';
authorizationRequest := authorizationRequest + scope;
authorizationRequest := authorizationRequest + '&redirect_uri=';
authorizationRequest := authorizationRequest + szUri;
authorizationRequest := authorizationRequest + '&client_id=';
authorizationRequest := authorizationRequest + clientID;
writeln('open ' + authorizationRequest + ' ...');
// Opens request in the browser.
browserUi := TBrowserUi.Create(nil);
browserUi.OpenUrl(authorizationRequest);
// Waits for the OAuth authorization response.
if not (httpListener.GetRequestUrl(-1)) then
begin
writeln('Failed to get authorization response ' + httpListener.GetLastError());
exit;
end;
// Brings the Console to Focus.
SetForegroundWindow(GetConsoleWindow());
// Send response and stop http listener.
httpListener.SendResponse('200',
'text/html; charset=utf-8',
'<html><head></head><body>Please return to the app and close current window.</body></html>');
httpListener.Close();
requestUri := httpListener.RequestUrl;
writeln('RequestUri: ' + requestUri);
// Checks for errors.
error := ParseParameter(requestUri, 'error=');
if (error <> '') then
begin
writeln('OAuth authorization error: ' + error);
exit;
end;
// Check authorization code
code := ParseParameter(requestUri, 'code=');
if (code = '') then
begin
writeln('Malformed authorization response: ' + requestUri);
exit;
end;
writeln;
writeln('Authorization code: ' + code);
responseText := RequestAccessToken(code, szUri);
writeln(responseText);
parser := TOAuthResponseParser.Create(nil);
parser.Load(responseText);
user := parser.EmailInIdToken;
accessToken := parser.AccessToken;
if (accessToken = '') then
begin
writeln('Failed to request access token, return!');
exit;
end;
writeln('User: ' + user);
writeln('AccessToken:' + accessToken);
RetrieveEmailWithXOAUTH2(user, accessToken);
end;
begin
CoInitialize(nil);
writeln('+------------------------------------------------------------------+');
writeln(' Sign in with Google OAuth');
writeln(' If you got "This app is not verified" information in Web Browser, ');
writeln(' click "Advanced" -> Go to ... to continue test.');
writeln('+------------------------------------------------------------------+');
writeln('');
writeln('Press ENTER key to sign in...');
readln;
DoOauthAndRetrieveEmail();
writeln('Press ENTER key to quit...');
readln;
end.
If your code is too complex or out of maintenance, and you don’t want to change anything in your source codes, then you can have a try with EA Oauth Service for Gmail. It provides an easy way for the legacy email application that doesn’t support OAUTH 2.0 to send and retrieve email from Gmail without changing any codes. SMTP, POP, IMAP and SSL/TLS protocols are supported.
TLS is the successor of SSL, more and more SMTP servers require TLS 1.2
encryption now.
If your operating system is Windows XP/Vista/Windows 7/Windows 2003/2008/2008 R2/2012/2012 R2
, you need to
enable TLS 1.2 protocol in your operating system like this:
Enable TLS 1.2 on Windows XP/Vista/7/10/Windows 2008/2008 R2/2012
Appendix
Comments
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