help - how to download email attachments in 'stealth'

[paritycheck]

Hi guys I need some help here.

 

I 've built a simple email application that:

 

1. connects with an imap mail server and checks for new mail.

2. Downloads all new emails and attachments and inserts emails into local db and attachments into local folders

3. retrieves inbox information from db

so far its working fine but the thing is that at step 2 it takes a while to download attachments and of course unless all attachments are downloaded it won't proceed to step 3 and since we get loads of attachments this is quite a tedious wait.

 

Is there any way to download the attachments behind the scenes like so that all messages are downloaded but the attachments are put in a queue like process being downloaded while the user can access his emails - if lets say he opens an email that has an attachments that isn't downloaded - the email doesn't show an active attachment link to the downloaded file until its finished downloading - I guess theres gonna be ajax in use here.

 

Any idea guys I really need help on this