using PHP to read email attachment (csv)

Question

I've got an application that I don't think I can interact via an API with. All it can do is export data in csv format as a one off download or have reports emailed as csv to an email.

I want to make some sexy graphs with the data but don't want to have to manually download and input csv data each time I need to generate reports (monthly).

I was thinking, create a basic email account, send the csv reports as email attachments monthly to that and have a php cli script run in cron each month to login and extract the csv information from the attachments.

Sound possible? I know how to send email via php but what libraries do I use to open email and read attachments?

Yes, it's possible. There are mail extension for reading e-mails with PHP: php.net/manual/en/book.imap.php. Now you can try yourself and come back if you run into any issues. — M. Eriksson
– M. Eriksson, Commented Sep 27, 2016 at 5:59
thanks, I wasn't sure how relevant those imap functions were as the last comments are from years ago — Matt_
– Matt_, Commented Sep 27, 2016 at 6:13
How old the comments are has no barring on the functions validity. As long as they still exist in the newest version of PHP and isn't marked as deprecated, they're perfectly fine to use. — M. Eriksson
– M. Eriksson, Commented Sep 27, 2016 at 6:15

Abhinav · Accepted Answer · 2016-09-27 06:31:49Z

<?php  
 // Standard inclusions     
 include("pChart/pData.class");  
 include("pChart/pChart.class");  

 // Dataset definition   
 $DataSet = new pData;  
 $DataSet->ImportFromCSV("Sample/CO2.csv",",",array(1,2,3,4),TRUE,0);  
 $DataSet->AddAllSeries();  
 $DataSet->SetAbsciseLabelSerie();  
 $DataSet->SetYAxisName("CO2 concentrations");  

 // Initialise the graph  
 $Test = new pChart(700,230);  
 $Test->reportWarnings("GD");  
 $Test->setFontProperties("Fonts/tahoma.ttf",8);  
 $Test->setGraphArea(60,30,680,180);  
 $Test->drawFilledRoundedRectangle(7,7,693,223,5,240,240,240);  
 $Test->drawRoundedRectangle(5,5,695,225,5,230,230,230);  
 $Test->drawGraphArea(255,255,255,TRUE);  
 $Test->drawScale($DataSet->GetData(),$DataSet->GetDataDescription(),SCALE_NORMAL,150,150,150,TRUE,90,2);  
 $Test->drawGrid(4,TRUE,230,230,230,50);  

 // Draw the 0 line  
 $Test->setFontProperties("Fonts/tahoma.ttf",6);  
 $Test->drawTreshold(0,143,55,72,TRUE,TRUE);  

 // Draw the line graph  
 $Test->drawLineGraph($DataSet->GetData(),$DataSet->GetDataDescription());  
 $Test->drawPlotGraph($DataSet->GetData(),$DataSet->GetDataDescription(),3,2,255,255,255);  

 // Finish the graph  
 $Test->setFontProperties("Fonts/tahoma.ttf",8);     
 $Test->drawLegend(70,40,$DataSet->GetDataDescription(),255,255,255);     
 $Test->setFontProperties("Fonts/tahoma.ttf",10);  
 $Test->drawTitle(60,22,"CO2 concentrations at Mauna Loa",50,50,50,585);  
 $Test->Render("example16.png");     
?>

And you can download this pluggin from http://pchart.sourceforge.net/download.php

And you can view full documentation http://pchart.sourceforge.net/documentation.php

And this is the code for saving attachment from mail to folder.

<?php

set_time_limit(3000); 

/* connect to gmail with your credentials */
$hostname = '{imap.gmail.com:993/imap/ssl}INBOX';
$username = 'YOUR_USERNAME'; 
$password = 'YOUR_PASSWORD';

/* try to connect */
$inbox = imap_open($hostname,$username,$password) or die('Cannot connect to Gmail: ' . imap_last_error());

$emails = imap_search($inbox, 'FROM "[email protected]"');

/* if any emails found, iterate through each email */
if($emails) {

    $count = 1;

    /* put the newest emails on top */
    rsort($emails);

    /* for every email... */
    foreach($emails as $email_number) 
    {

        /* get information specific to this email */
        $overview = imap_fetch_overview($inbox,$email_number,0);

        $message = imap_fetchbody($inbox,$email_number,2);

        /* get mail structure */
        $structure = imap_fetchstructure($inbox, $email_number);

        $attachments = array();

        /* if any attachments found... */
        if(isset($structure->parts) && count($structure->parts)) 
        {
            for($i = 0; $i < count($structure->parts); $i++) 
            {
                $attachments[$i] = array(
                    'is_attachment' => false,
                    'filename' => '',
                    'name' => '',
                    'attachment' => ''
                );

                if($structure->parts[$i]->ifdparameters) 
                {
                    foreach($structure->parts[$i]->dparameters as $object) 
                    {
                        if(strtolower($object->attribute) == 'filename') 
                        {
                            $attachments[$i]['is_attachment'] = true;
                            $attachments[$i]['filename'] = $object->value;
                        }
                    }
                }

                if($structure->parts[$i]->ifparameters) 
                {
                    foreach($structure->parts[$i]->parameters as $object) 
                    {
                        if(strtolower($object->attribute) == 'name') 
                        {
                            $attachments[$i]['is_attachment'] = true;
                            $attachments[$i]['name'] = $object->value;
                        }
                    }
                }

                if($attachments[$i]['is_attachment']) 
                {
                    $attachments[$i]['attachment'] = imap_fetchbody($inbox, $email_number, $i+1);

                    /* 3 = BASE64 encoding */
                    if($structure->parts[$i]->encoding == 3) 
                    { 
                        $attachments[$i]['attachment'] = base64_decode($attachments[$i]['attachment']);
                    }
                    /* 4 = QUOTED-PRINTABLE encoding */
                    elseif($structure->parts[$i]->encoding == 4) 
                    { 
                        $attachments[$i]['attachment'] = quoted_printable_decode($attachments[$i]['attachment']);
                    }
                }
            }
        }

        /* iterate through each attachment and save it */
        foreach($attachments as $attachment)
        {
            if($attachment['is_attachment'] == 1)
            {
                $filename = $attachment['name'];
                if(empty($filename)) $filename = $attachment['filename'];

                if(empty($filename)) $filename = time() . ".dat";
                $folder = "attachment";
                if(!is_dir($folder))
                {
                     mkdir($folder);
                }
                $fp = fopen("./". $folder ."/". $email_number . "-" . $filename, "w+");
                fwrite($fp, $attachment['attachment']);
                fclose($fp);
            }
        }
    }
} 

/* close the connection */
imap_close($inbox);

echo "all attachment Downloaded";

?>

And for more details visit http://www.codediesel.com/php/downloading-gmail-attachments-in-php-an-update/

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

using PHP to read email attachment (csv)

1 Answer 1

Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related