Hacking Gmail. Ben Hammersley

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7 Hacking Gmail Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc Crosspoint Boulevard Indianapolis, IN Copyright 2006 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published simultaneously in Canada ISBN-13: ISBN-10: X Manufactured in the United States of America B/RU/RS/QV/IN No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) , fax (978) Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Legal Department, Wiley Publishing, Inc., Crosspoint Blvd., Indianapolis, IN 46256, (317) , fax (317) , or online at Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: The publisher and the author make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without limitation warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales or promotional materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for every situation. This work is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services. If professional assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom. The fact that an organization or Website is referred to in this work as a citation and/or a potential source of further information does not mean that the author or the publisher endorses the information the organization or Website may provide or recommendations it may make. Further, readers should be aware that Internet Websites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read. For general information on our other products and services or to obtain technical support, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at (800) , outside the U.S. at (317) or fax (317) Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hammersley, Ben. Hacking Gmail / Ben Hammersley. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN-13: (paper/website) ISBN-10: X (paper/website) 1. Gmail (Electronic resource) 2. Electronic mail systems. 3. Internet programming. I. Title. TK G55H dc Trademarks: Wiley and the Wiley logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates, in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. ExtremeTech and the ExtremeTech logo are trademarks of Ziff Davis Publishing Holdings, Inc. Used under license. All rights reserved. Gmail is a trademark of Google, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.

8 Meanwhile, back in Florence, Anna, Lucy, Mischa, and Pico ignored the swearing and kept me fed. Love, as ever, to them.

10 About the Author Armed only with a PowerBook and some fine pipe tobacco, Ben Hammersley is a journalist, writer, explorer, and an errant developer and explainer of semantic web technology. He s also liable to spread his dirty, dirty words over at The Guardian. As an Englishman of the clichéd sort, Ben s angle brackets always balance, and his tweed is always pressed. He s not worn trousers for six months now. Ask him about it sometime.

12 Credits Executive Editor Chris Webb Development Editor Brian Herrmann Technical Editor Justin Blanton Production Editor Kenyon Brown Copy Editor Nancy Rapoport Editorial Manager Mary Beth Wakefield Project Coordinator Michael Kruzil Graphics and Production Specialists Carrie A. Foster Lynsey Osborn Melanee Prendergast Quality Control Technicians Leeann Harney, Jessica Kramer, Charles Spencer, Brian H. Walls Proofreading and Indexing TECHBOOKS Production Services Cover Design Anthony Bunyan Production Manager Tim Tate Vice President and Executive Group Publisher Richard Swadley Vice President and Executive Publisher Joseph B. Wikert

13 Contents at a Glance Acknowledgments xvii Introduction xix Part I: Starting to Use Gmail Chapter 1: Desktop Integration Chapter 2: Integrating Your Existing Mail Chapter 3: Gmail Power Tips Part II: Getting Inside Gmail Chapter 4: Skinning Gmail Chapter 5: How Gmail Works Chapter 6: Gmail and Greasemonkey Chapter 7: Gmail Libraries Chapter 8: Checking for Mail Chapter 9: Reading Mail Chapter 10: Sending Mail Part III: Conquering Gmail Chapter 11: Dealing with Labels Chapter 12: Addressing Addresses Chapter 13: Building an API from the HTML-Only Version of Gmail Chapter 14: Exporting Your Mail Chapter 15: Using Gmail to Chapter 16: Using GmailFS Appendix: Long Code Listings Index

14 Contents Acknowledgments xvii Introduction xix Part I: Starting to Use Gmail 1 Chapter 1: Desktop Integration New Mail Notification Windows Mac OS X Linux, etc Redirecting mailto: Windows Multiplatform/Mozilla OS X GmailerXP And Now Chapter 2: Integrating Your Existing Mail Importing Your Mail into Gmail Gmail Loader Setting Up Pop Access Inside Gmail Setting Up Pop Within an Application IMAP for Gmail And Now Chapter 3: Gmail Power Tips Keyboard Shortcuts Plus Addressing and Filtering Other Addressing Tips Quickly Mark a Group of s Send Executables as Attachments Advanced Searching And Now

15 xii Contents Part II: Getting Inside Gmail 27 Chapter 4: Skinning Gmail Deconstructing Gmail The Top Section The Navigation Menu The Activity Area The Bottom Section Applying a New Style Creating Gmail Lite Walking Through the Style Sheet Removing Google s Advertising And Now Chapter 5: How Gmail Works What the Devil Is Going On? Preloading the Interface Introducing XMLHttpRequest Using XMLHttpRequest Yourself Finding XMLHttpRequest within the Gmail code Sniffing the Network Traffic Firing Up Tcpflow Prodding Gmail to Hear It Squeak Preparing to Watch the Gmail Boot Sequence Cleaning Up the Log Stepping Through the Gmail Boot Sequence Logging In The First Cookie Loading the Inbox Reading an Individual Mail And Now Chapter 6: Gmail and Greasemonkey What Is Greasemonkey? The Userscripts Displaying Bloglines Within Gmail How It Works Add a Delete Button GmailSecure MailtoComposeInGmail Other Userscripts Mark Read Button Multiple Signatures Hide Invites Random Signatures And Now

16 Contents xiii Chapter 7: Gmail Libraries PHP Gmailer Getting and Installing the Library How to Use It Perl Mail::Webmail::Gmail Getting and Installing the Library Using the Library Python Libgmail Getting and Installing the Library How to Use It Reading the First Message in the Inbox Setting Yourselves Up for the Remaining Chapters And Now Chapter 8: Checking for Mail The Basics in Perl The Basics in PHP The Basics in Python Building on the Basics New Mail Count in RSS New Mail Count to AOL Instant Messenger And Now Chapter 9: Reading Mail Reading Mail with Perl The Basics Accessing All the Data of a Message Listing the Mail and Displaying a Chosen Message Dealing with Attachments Making an RSS Feed of Your Inbox And Now Chapter 10: Sending Mail Sending Mail with Gmail SMTP Sending Mail with Perl And Now Part III: Conquering Gmail 167 Chapter 11: Dealing with Labels Listing the Existing Labels Setting New Labels Creating a New Label Removing Labels And Now

17 xiv Contents Chapter 12: Addressing Addresses The Contacts List Importing Contacts Showing Your Current Contacts Exporting Contacts And Now Chapter 13: Building an API from the HTML-Only Version of Gmail A First Look at the HTML Version Introducing Basic Scraping HTML::TokeParser Parsing the Inbox Retrieving the Individual Page Dealing with Threads Dealing with Other Folders And Now Chapter 14: Exporting Your Mail Exporting as a Massive Text File Converting to Mbox Appending to IMAP And Now Chapter 15: Using Gmail to Using Gmail as a To-Do List Using Filters Using gmtodo Using Gmail to Find Information in RSS Feeds Using Gmail to Find Torrent Files Using Gmail as a Notepad Using Gmail as a Spam Filter An Even Simpler Way of Doing It Using Gmail as Storage for a Photo Gallery And Now Chapter 16: Using GmailFS The Underlying Idea Installing GmailFS The Correct Python Installing FUSE Installing Libgmail Installing GmailFS Using GmailFS Mounting GmailFS from the Command Line Mounting GmailFS from fstab Passing Commands to the File System

18 Contents xv How GmailFS Works What Makes Up a File? Representing All of This in The Actual Data in Action And Now Appendix: Long Code Listings Index

20 Acknowledgments Books of this nature are tremendously difficult to write. Without support from Google (we didn t ask, admittedly) and with Gmail being in perpetual Beta throughout the writing process, we often found ourselves with chapters being made obsolete overnight. Deadlines passed, were rescheduled, passed again. Editors wept salt tears. Publishers, that sainted breed, were patient and handsome and generally lovely. Chris Webb and Brian Herrmann, both of the Wiley clan, stood by the project so faithfully that their names will be forever legend. Men of the Far North will sing songs to their honor. Justin Blanton, the technical editor, managed to combine a Law Degree with the task: there s not enough beer in the world to pay him back. Thanks to all of them, and everyone else at Wiley.

7 Windows Tweaks. A Comprehensive Guide to Customizing, Increasing Performance, and Securing Microsoft Windows 7. Steve Sinchak

7 Windows Tweaks. A Comprehensive Guide to Customizing, Increasing Performance, and Securing Microsoft Windows 7. Steve Sinchak Take control of Windows 7 Unlock hidden settings Rev up your network Disable features you hate, for good Fine-tune User Account control Turbocharge online speed Master the taskbar and start button Customize