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+--- Thread: Mail Manager - Making the Connection (/showthread.php?tid=803)
Mail Manager - Making the Connection - mweaver - 12-16-2017
I almost posted this as a reply to another thread: Mail Manager - Settings but decided that would be bad form, so it's here.
I saw this thread and had an idea... I'm only half serious about it because I'm painfully aware of what's involved. However, has any consideration been given to Exchange MAPI support? That would allow the application to talk directly to MS Exchange similar to Outlook. (I'm thinking mostly Outlook 2007-2013... Outlook 2016 has some personality issues that I don't even want to think about let alone talk about.
The reason I bring it up is I've been seeing differing behaviors between the mail manager making a connection and the mail scanner making a connection. Both use essentially the same settings to make the connection. The biggest difference is that Mail Manager attempts to retrieve a folder list and messages, whereas the Mail Scanner - once configured - connects and goes to a specific folder looking for unread messages.
Mail Manager seems to have issues connecting to anything other than localhost. I've tested this with...
- My Exchange server which sits on the same LAN as the Linux web server where the CoreBOS app is installed: Fails horribly and never really makes the connection; pretty much just sits there and spins and I've tried it every way possible with the settings available.
- Google Mail: Makes the connection and sometimes even manages to load the folders but there isn't a lot of success with actually accessing messages in the folders...
- Localhost: Works flawlessly.
For the most part Sendmail on my LAMP server has one or two jobs:
- Performs as an MTA for CoreBOS, and Wordpress running on my LAMP. In this capacity it is not a receiving but rather a sending MTA.
- Eventually, it will once again be performing as an email gateway for my Exchange server because I'm anal about having an Internet Facing Exchange server if I don't have to. But even in this roll it wouldn't be sending and receiving but just sending.
For me in my environment, were I to be able to effectively connect Mail Manager to my Exchange server, even just with IMAP, I'd be able to attach messages to client accounts. At present if I want to do that I have to use a cludgey Outlook add-on that I really don't like. I much prefer the native behavior CoreBOS Webmail provides for doing this. Attaching messages is kind of a lame example, because I don't use it much, but there are times when I'd really like to be able to do it. But, there's an even bigger reason for desiring MAPI support in CoreBOS and I believe, if it existed, would greatly enhance the profile of the application overall. My thinking is in the direction of finding a way for replies to Support Ticket notifications from the client to be captured and the content of those replies to be added to the support ticket referenced in the subject line which already contains the Support Ticket ID.
I've mentioned this before, but at the time I didn't have the time to properly articulate what I'm thinking. I’ve got the idea fleshed out a little better in my mind, so the plan is to create a basic flow chart, post it with some detail of the idea and see if it’s doable. For that to happen though the webmail module connectivity – at least for me – would have to be much stronger than it is at the moment. As I’ve mentioned, unless I’m connecting to localhost, imap connections to anywhere else are problematic.
Just a few thoughts on a Saturday morning from the Western edge of the "pond". Your mileage may vary.