Vasile's ReadMail FAQ

1. What does VasReadMail?
2. When VasReadMail will work from my page?
3. How to configure the applet?
4. How to see if my webserver is a mailserver?
5. How all this reading mail stuff works?
6. Everything is OK, but why sometimes I don't receive mails?
7. What to do if my webserver is not a mailserver?
8. Can't you change it in order to specify the mailserver?
9. Can I use VasReadMail to read attachments (graphics, MSWord, etc.)?
10. I made everything but it's still not working. What to do?

1. What does VasReadMail?
   It reads your e-mail, like every mail client program. It is a Java applet, so it is easy to understand and modify.

2. When VasReadMail will work from my page?
   In order to make it working from your web page, you must be sure that the hosting web server is in the same time your mail server (POP3).

3. How to configure the applet?
   Normally, you have nothing to configure. Just see if your webserver is also a mailserver (POP3) and make the correct call to the Java class from the webpage.

4. How to see if my webserver is a mailserver?
   To see if your web server is also a mail server (POP3), under the command prompt type (when you are connected, of course) :
   telnet your_web_server 110, for example
   telnet www.chez.com 110 for my page.
   If you have no errors, and it connects to, then the webserver is a mail server (POP3) too.

5. How all this reading mail stuff works?
   Nothing complicated here. This is a standard POP3 (Post Office Protocol - version 3) communication. Described in RFC (request for comments) number 1939 at http://src.doc.ic.ac.uk/computing/internet/rfc/rfc1939.txt
   1. You type USER your_user_name<CarriageReturn/LineFeed>. It must be without @your_server.com
   2. You say PASS your_password_here<CR/LF>
   3. You say LIST<CR/LF> to see the list of your mails on the server.
   4. You type RETR mail_number<CR/LF> to read one mail.
   5. You type DELE mail_number<CR/LF> to delete one mail.
   6. You say QUIT<CR/LF> in order to exit the session.
   Type HELP<CR/LF> if you have problems (only when you are logged in).
   POP3 command keywords are case insensitive, but login and password are case sensitive.

6. Everything is OK, but why sometimes I can't receive mails?
   This applet may not work if the visitor is behind a firewall, where some connections are restricted. Also, sometimes the security configuration of Internet Explorer 4 does not allow the applets to connect to remote hosts. In other cases, the mailserver is simply down (it happens), retry then later.

7. What to do if my webserver is not a mailserver?
   You cannot then read your mail from this host using a Java applet. Of course, you can always ask the system administrator to fix this situation, but it'll be hard to persuade him.

8. Can't you change it in order to specify the mailserver?
   No. Applets can connect only to the host they were downloaded from. It is a security restriction imposed to applets, see Java Security FAQ for more details.

9. Can I use VasReadMail to read attachments (graphics, MSWord, etc.)?
   In fact, VasReadMail actually read them, but instead of file, you can see just some coded text. Normally, an applet cannot access hard disk to write files, so VasReadMail does not implement an "attachment" function.
   Reading an email with attached files is exactly the same thing as reading just emails (like VasReadMail does). Simply, in the body (DATA part) of the message you have to find and decode the MIME-encoded text representation of attached files.
   If your register VasReadMail (pro version), on your request, I'll send the code for reading e-mail attachments.

10. I made everything but it's still not working. What to do?
    Verify if your webserver is a mailserver (POP3) too. Configure the applet properly. Check if you are not behind a firewall (if you are trying from your company's network, it's almost sure you are behind a firewall). Check if you have a Java-enabled browser (Netscape 2.02 or above, MSIE 3.0 or above). It won't work if you are launching it from your hardisk! Also, it won't work if you change the name of VasReadMail.class file. If it's still not working, contact the author (give as much details as you can).
    Don't forget that computers make never mistakes, there's always a human error. Even when creating buggy computers. :-)