Copying the search scope of virtual Thunderbird search-folders

Emin Gabrielyan

2009-10-25

Manually copying virtual search folders of Thunderbird can become a time consuming process, especially when dealing with large sets of IMAP folders to scan across many accounts. Each time new search folder with slightly different search criteria is created; the set of IMAP folders selected for search must be manually re-defined by checking all concerned folders via the property panel of the new virtual search-folder.

For avoiding such manual cloning of the set of folders selected for search, a script is suggested doing this automatically. We assume that Thunderbird virtual search-folders sharing the same set of IMAP folders to search, are grouped under one local folder. We also assume that this local folder (in the example below called ‘employees2’) contains a special search-folder named ‘_Infect’ (case sensitive). With the proposed script, you need to check the list of IMAP folders considered for search, only in the properties of the special ‘_Infect’ folder. Once the script is run, all search-folders located in the same folder (in this case ‘employees2’) will inherit the set of IMAP folders from ‘_Infect’. The search criteria will not be affected, only the search scope is copied.

Only one ‘_Infect’ folder is permitted at once. The short script shown below modifies the ‘virtualFolders.dat’ in Thunderbird’s default profile directory.

[cp-search-scope.sh.zip]

To launch the script, unzip the text file, launch Cygwin, change the current directory to the folder where the script file is unzipped, and type the script name preceded by ‘./’ in the Cygwin window:

$ ./cp-search-scope.sh.txt

Searching for the location of your Thunderbird's default profile..

The Perl must be installed in your Cygwin environment. The full code of the script is shown below:

#!/bin/bash

echo "Searching for the location of your Thunderbird's default profile.." #

vf=`ls /cygdrive/*/Documents\ and\ Settings/*/Application\ Data/Thunderbird/Profiles/*.default/virtualFolders.dat 2>/dev/null | head -1` #

if [ -z "$vf" ] #

then #

echo "No defualt profile or virtual folder file is found" #

exit #

fi #

echo -e "\nFound the following Thunderbird virtual folder file:\n\n \"$vf\"\n" #

if [ `egrep "^uri=.*/_Infect$" "$vf" | wc -l` -ne 1 ] #

then #

echo "No '_Infect' search folder is found (or there are more than one such folders)." #

echo "Select a search folder and rename it to '_Infect' in order to copy its search scope," #

echo "i.e. its list of IMAP folders to scan, to all other search folders located in the" #

echo "same directory with '_Infect' (other search folders will not be affected)." #

exit #

fi #

affect=`egrep "^uri=.*/_Infect$" "$vf" | perl -ne '/^(uri=.*\/)_Infect$/; print $1'` #

if [ -z "$affect" ] #

then #

echo "Perl error (when searching the folder of search folders)" #

exit #

fi #

echo "Search scopes of all search folders of \"$affect\" will be updated" #

dir=`echo "$vf" | perl -ne 's/\/[^\/]*$//; print'` #

while true; do ps=`ps -W | grep -i thunderbird`; if [ -z "$ps" ]; then break; else echo "Please stop Thunderbird $ps"; fi; sleep 10; done #

cd "$dir" #

echo "extracting the scope.." #

cat "$vf" | perl -e '$ok=0; while(<>){$ok=0 if(/^uri=/); $ok=1 if(/^uri=.*\/_Infect$/); if($ok==1 && /^scope=/){print; last}}' > tmp_infect_scope1.txt #

grep -A1 "^uri=.*/_Infect$" "$vf" | tail -1 > tmp_infect_scope2.txt #

diff tmp_infect_scope1.txt tmp_infect_scope2.txt > /dev/null #

if [ $? -ne 0 ] #

then #

echo "Format error (when extracting the scope)" #

rm tmp_infect_scope1.txt tmp_infect_scope2.txt #

exit #

fi #

rm tmp_infect_scope1.txt #

(echo $affect; cat tmp_infect_scope2.txt; cat virtualFolders.dat) | perl -e '

$_=<>;

s/[\r\n]*//g;

$affect=$_;

$scope=<>;

while(<>)

{

if(/^uri=/)

{

$infect=0;

$f=$_;

$f=~s/\/[^\/]*$/\//;

$infect=1 if($f eq $affect)

}

if(/^scope=/ && $infect==1)

{

print $scope

}

else

{

}

}' > tmp_virtualFolders.dat.txt #

rm tmp_infect_scope2.txt #

echo -n "Diff output lines: " #

diff virtualFolders.dat tmp_virtualFolders.dat.txt | wc -l #

mv virtualFolders.dat virtualFolders.dat.backup.`date "+%y%m%d.%H%M%S"` #

mv tmp_virtualFolders.dat.txt virtualFolders.dat #

echo "You can now launch your Thunderbird" #

References

Script for copying the search scope of Thunderbird virtual folders (this page)

http://switzernet.com/public/091025-cp-thunderbird-search-scope/

http://unappel.ch/public/091025-cp-thunderbird-search-scope/

Copying search folders

http://switzernet.com/public/080901-thunderbird-search/

http://unappel.ch/public/080901-thunderbird-search/

Posted on forums.mozillazine.org for validation

http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?t=1554305

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