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POP3 Connector

The POP3 connector implements a transport channel that enables your Mule application to retrieve email from a POP3 email server. The connector is configurable only as an inbound endpoint, that is, as a message source with a one-way exchange pattern.

POP3 is similar to IMAP, except IMAP supports both online and offline modes. For instance, IMAP users can leave email messages on the IMAP server until they explicitly delete them. Like IMAP, POP3 cannot send email; for that, you must implement an SMTP outbound endpoint.

For a secure transport channel (either TLS or SSL), you can specify the POP3S protocol on the Security tab.

To Install this Connector

  1. In Anypoint Studio, click the Exchange icon in the Studio taskbar.

  2. Click Login in Anypoint Exchange.

  3. Search for the connector and click Install.

  4. Follow the prompts to install the connector.

When Studio has an update, a message displays in the lower right corner, which you can click to install the update.

Configuration

POP3 endpoint configuration consists of two stages:

  1. Place your POP3 connector at the head of the sequence of processors that make up your Mule flow. Since it must serve as the message source for your flow, it cannot occupy any other position. (You can also use the Composite Source scope to wrap the POP3 endpoint along with the IMAP endpoint so that your flow can receive email through multiple transport channels).

  2. Configure the POP3 connector by providing values for the fields on the various tabs on the properties editor, which you open by double-clicking the POP3 endpoint icon on the Message Flow canvas.

The POP3 pane contains these tabs:

General Tab

Pop3General
Property Description

Display Name

Defaults to the generic endpoint name. Change the display name, which must be alpha-numeric, to reflect the endpoint’s specific role in the flow, such as Incoming Email

Host

Enter the Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) or IP address of the POP3 server from which email is retrieved. Defaults to localhost.

Port

The port number that connects to the POP3 server. For POP3, the default is 110; for POP3S, the default is 995.

User

The username for authentication on the server.

Password

The password for authentication on the server.

Connector Configuration

Use the dropdown list to select a previously configured connector configuration for this endpoint. If you have not created a connector configuration for this type of endpoint, you can do so from this window by clicking Add. Click Edit to modify a previously created global element.

Properties

Supply optional POP3 server properties.

Advanced Tab

Pop3Advanced
Property Description

Address

Specify the URL of the POP3 server from which email is to be retrieved.

Response Timeout

Specify how long (in milliseconds) the endpoint must wait for a response from the POP3 server.

Encoding

Choose from a drop-down list the character set used for message data. (Such as, UTF-8).

Disable Transport Transformer

Check this box if you do not want to use the endpoint’s default response transport.

MIME Type

Select from the dropdown list one of the formats this endpoint supports.

Connector Endpoint

Use the drop-down list to select a previously configured global endpoint template, if any exist. If you have not created a global element for this type of endpoint, you do so by clicking Add and completing the fields on the pane that appears. Click Edit to modify a previously created global element.

Enable default events tracking

Enable default business event tracking for this endpoint.

Transformers Tab

Pop3Transformers
Field Description

Global Transformers

Enter a list of synchronous transformers to apply to the request before sending the request to the transport.

Security

Pop3Security
Property Description

Enable POP3S

Check this box to enable POP3S security for this endpoint. By default, POP3S is turned off.

See Also

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