Java Spam Filter

[Vik]

I am writing a java spam filter which I want to integrate with Outlook
Express. Is it possible to do this? Can java be integrated with any other
mail clients?

Thanks

 

[Andrew Thompson]

I am writing a java spam filter which I want to integrate with Outlook
Express. Is it possible to do this?

Possibly with JNI

..Can java be integrated with any other
mail clients?

Java can _write_ mail clients, so..
Yes, certainly - if you write a suitable
email client. ;-)

 

[Harald Hein]

I am writing a java spam filter which I want to integrate with
Outlook Express. Is it possible to do this? Can java be
integrated with any other mail clients?

A common way is to let the spam-filter run as a POP3 or IMAP proxy.
This way such a filter can serve any kind of e-mail client, including
Outlook Express. You need to spend some serious work implementing the
POP3 or IMAP protocol, for both the client and the server side. POP3 is
rather primitive, IMAP is a little bit more complex.

JavaMail can help to implement the client side (the one connecting to
your ISPs POP3/IMAP server) of such a proxy, but is not well suited for
implementing the POP3 or IMAP server part (the side your e-mail client
will connect to). You will need to do this yourself.

I would not waste any time trying to integrate anything with Outlook
Express. OE violates so much RFC standards that this POS needs to be
put to death. It is extremely unsecure and a huge source of pain.

 

[Vik]

What mail client would be the best and easiest to integrate java with?

 

[Andrew Thompson]

What mail client would be the best and easiest to integrate java with?

Dunno about easiest, but best I'd recommend
one that encourages people not to top-post.

 

[Andrew Marshall]

Dunno about easiest, but best I'd recommend
one that encourages people not to top-post.

The Java API has a nice mail system. If you are only a little familiar
with the the basic java.net.* framework, you can work with this to provide
the mail retrieving and sending functionality. Since Java is Object
Oriented, the mail when retrieved can be interpreted as an object. So,
when you access the mail, you can read the sender, topic, and body without
deleting it from the server. Basically, its all about Black List, and
White List filter (check google for what they mean). You can integrate
those into a program that, when a message is retrieved from the server,
you can seperate them into spam, might be spam, and not spam, then filter
them to 3 different mail boxes.

Since you are designing a "plug in" to a mail program, or looking for a
program that will take java plugins, you would be looking for a while. It
would be alot easier to design a program that would send the 3 types of
mail to each box. Also, this would be alot easier to implement in linux,
as you can run ANYTHING you want in command line.

Basically, it sounds like a nice project. good luck

me

 

[David Segall]

What mail client would be the best and easiest to integrate java with?

Have a look at Columba (http://columba.sourceforge.net). It is an open
source email client written in Java. In addition, it allows you to
write plug-ins so that you can add your own modules to the program. It
is not (yet) my main email client so I can't comment on its usability.

 

[Gerbrand van Dieijen]

I am writing a java spam filter which I want to integrate with Outlook
Express. Is it possible to do this? Can java be integrated with any other
mail clients?

You may want to look at http://popfile.sourceforge.net/

It's implemented as a 'mail-proxy'. You have to setup your mail client to
rerieve mail from localhost, popfile will retrieve from your popserver
when the mailserver retrieves from popfile (see the docs for more
information).
This works very well, and works for all email clients.

If you write it as an OutlookPlugin (which does give you more control over
the application of course), I thing vbs is much better to use.
It's very easy to use, you won't need an extra application as MS Office
has VBS support built in.