MailImporter

MailImporter is a Windows service that imports incoming e-mail messages into TaskBeat. Depending on the message subject, an e-mail either creates a new task or adds a comment to an existing task.

What the service does

At runtime, the service:

1. Loads the list of watched mailboxes from Users.xml located next to the executable. The file is reloaded only when its content changes (detected by a SHA1 hash), which lets you add or remove accounts without restarting the service.
2. On a timer (configurable, default 25 seconds) processes every configured mailbox in parallel on worker threads:
   • Connects over IMAP (with or without SSL) and selects the INBOX.
   • Searches for unread (UNSEEN) messages.
   • Parses each message and, when it matches the rules below, creates a task or a comment in TaskBeat.
   • Deletes messages that were processed successfully; unmatched or failed messages stay unread on the server.
3. Skips a polling cycle when the previous one is still running, and cancels mailbox jobs that exceed the global timeout (default 30 seconds).

How messages are mapped to tasks

The subject line decides what happens with a message:

Subject	Result
Contains #new	Creates a new task. The #new tag is stripped, and the rest of the subject becomes the task title. The message body becomes the task notes/comment.
Ends with #<number> (e.g. Re: update #123)	Adds a comment to the task with reference number 123. The message body becomes the comment text.
Anything else	Ignored (message stays unread).

Additional rules:

• The sender's e-mail address must match an existing TaskBeat profile; otherwise the message is skipped and logged.
• Everything after a line containing only -- in the message body is discarded, so signatures and quoted replies do not end up in task content.

Configuration (App.config)

Key	Default	Description
MailServerCheckerInterval	25000	Interval in milliseconds between mail server checks.
MailServerPort	143	Default IMAP port, used when port is missing or invalid in Users.xml.
UseSsl	false	Default SSL setting, used when ssl is missing or invalid in Users.xml.
MsSQL_Database	–	TaskBeat database name.
MsSQL_Username	–	Database user.
MsSQL_Password	–	Database password.
MsSQL_Hostname	–	SQL Server instance (e.g. .\SQLEXPRESS).
DataCacheFolder	–	Folder used for temporary data cache files.

Mailboxes (Users.xml)

Each <user> element describes one mailbox. Attributes username, password and host are required; port and ssl fall back to the defaults from App.config.

<root>
	<user username="notification@example.com" password="your-password" host="imap.example.com" port="143" ssl="false"/>
</root>

Note: passwords are stored in plain text. Make sure the folder with Users.xml is readable only by the service account.

Logging

Logging is configured in Log4Net.config with two appenders:

• log.txt in the service folder — rolling file, 10 MB per file, 5 backups kept.
• Windows Event Log, source MailImporter.

Build and install

The project targets .NET Framework 4.5.3 (x86) and is built as part of the TaskBeat solution (TaskBeat.Bootstrapper and TaskBeat.Logic are project references). It uses ActiveUp.Net for IMAP, StructureMap for dependency injection and log4net for logging.

1. Build the solution in Visual Studio or with MSBuild (Release|x86).

2. Install the executable as a Windows service:

   C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\InstallUtil.exe MailImporter.exe

   The ProjectInstaller registers the service as MailImporter running under LocalSystem with automatic startup.

3. Start it from services.msc or with:

   net start MailImporter

To uninstall, run InstallUtil.exe /u MailImporter.exe.