How do I first login then continue to check gmail via imaplib and python

Question

I have been working on a small Arduino project to activate a servo with a flag on it every time I get a new e-mail in GMail. I would like to log into Gmail, check to see if I have any new e-mail and then check again every x seconds.

What I have discovered is that the first connection goes fine, but after that, I get an error that I cannot use LOGIN when in AUTH mode, only NONAUTH . This suggests to be that once I have a logged in session, GMail won't take the method.

Here is the script:

import serial
import time
import imaplib, re
import getpass

user = raw_input("Enter your GMail username:")
pwd = getpass.getpass("Enter your password: ")
ser = serial.Serial('/dev/tty.usbmodemfa141', 9600)
print "Starting on " +ser.name;
conn = imaplib.IMAP4_SSL("imap.gmail.com", 993)
while (True):
    conn.login(user,pwd)
    unreadCount = int(re.search("UNSEEN (\d+)", conn.status("INBOX", "(UNSEEN)")[1][0]).group(1))
    if(unreadCount > 0):
        print str(unreadCount) + " new mails!"
        ser.write("M")
    else:
        print "no mail :("
        ser.write("N")
    time.sleep(5)

My thoughts are that I use conn.login() once and then another command in a loop after that, OR I could logout after I check and then log back in each time.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

Answer 1

You need to take the "conn.login(user,pwd)" line out of the while loop. Putting it as the line before the while loop should work fine.