GetReceivedDate not working with local file

Question

hello :)
im using this code to define a local file as MimeMEssage that i read in via StdIn.
     BasicConfigurator.configure();
     Session mailSession = Session.getInstance(new Properties());
             InputStream source = System.in;
              MimeMessage message = new MimeMessage(mailSession, source);This works very well and i can use all methods MimeMessage offers.
except one:
        Date maildate = message.getReceivedDate();i always get null here.
GetSentDate works fine.
and all the other get methods i tried.
when i fetch this mail via the javamaildir class i have no problems getting the receivedDate.
Does javamail need a real provider here?

Answer 1

Pop3 doesn't support for getReceivedDate method (Imap supported)
You can get received date on message's headers
This is my snip code
private static Date getDateHeader(javax.mail.Message msg) throws MessagingException {
Date today = new Date();
String[] received = msg.getHeader("received");
if(received != null)
for (int i = 0; i < received.length; i++) {
String dateStr = null;
try {
dateStr = getDateString(received);
if(dateStr != null) {
Date msgDate = parseDate(dateStr);
if(!msgDate.after(today))
return msgDate;
} catch(ParseException ex) { }
String[] dateHeader = msg.getHeader("date");
if(dateHeader != null) {
String dateStr = dateHeader[0];
try {
Date msgDate = parseDate(dateStr);
if(!msgDate.after(today)) return msgDate;
} catch(ParseException ex) { }
return today;
private static String getDateString(String text) {
String[] daysInDate = { "Mon", "Tue", "Wed", "Thu", "Fri", "Sat", "Sun" };
int startIndex = -1;
for (int i = 0; i < daysInDate.length; i++) {
startIndex = text.lastIndexOf(daysInDate[i]);
if(startIndex != -1)
break;
if(startIndex == -1) {
return null;
return text.substring(startIndex);
private static Date parseDate(String dateStr) throws ParseException {
SimpleDateFormat dateFormat ;
try {
dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("EEE, d MMM yy HH:mm:ss Z") ;
return dateFormat.parse(dateStr);
} catch(ParseException e) {
try {
dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("EEE, d MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss Z") ;
return dateFormat.parse(dateStr);
} catch(ParseException ex) {
dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("d MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss Z") ;
return dateFormat.parse(dateStr);