Is the method not only search messages but also paging messages by javamail imap.

Question

I can use SearchTerm and FlagTerm to search messages in ImapFolder.
And I can use follow code to sort messages.
Message[] messages = userFolder.getMessages();
   Arrays.sort(messages, new Comparator<Message>()
   public int compare(Message message1, Message message2)
   int returnValue = 0;
   try
   if (sortCriteria == SORT_SENT_DATE)
  returnValue = message1.getSentDate().compareTo(message2.getSentDate());
   } catch (Exception e)
   System.out.println(e.getMessage());
  e.printStackTrace();
   if (sortType == SORT_TYPE_DESCENDING)
  returnValue = -returnValue;
   return returnValue;
Actually This solution is working fine, but it fails in logic for paging Being a Web based application, i cant expect server to load all messages for every user and sort them (We do have situations >1000 Simultaneous users with mail boxes having > 1000 messages each )
It also does not make sense for the web server to load all, sort them, return just a small part (say 1-20), and on the next request, again load all sort them and return (21-40). Caching possible, but whts the gaurantee user would actually make a request ?
I need a solution that could also work in Search operation (searching with paging), I have built an archietecture to create a SearchTerm but here too i would require paging.

Answer 1

If your mail server supports the IMAP SORT extension, you can use the IMAPFolder.getSortedMessages method to get the list of messages in sorted order.  They you only need to fetch the data for the messages in the current page.
If your server doesn't support SORT, you'll need to do what you're currently doing, and use the fetch method to prefetch the data you'll need for the comparison.
Either way, you'll almost certainly want to cache some information in the session to provide consistency from page to page.  You only need to update the sort if messages are added or deleted.