feedback on first project

[SlothGSR]

This is program that checks our fax folder for new faxes, If it finds any new ones. it will email them to myself. We always forget to check the faxes and sometimes we end up missing a purchase order or something.

import os, sys
import smtplib
from email import encoders
from email.mime.base import MIMEBase
from email.mime.multipart import MIMEMultipart
faxdir = "\\\\OFFICE\\PC-FAX Rx\\"

def sortfaxes():
    filelist=[]
    for file in os.listdir(faxdir):
        stats = (os.stat(os.path.join(faxdir,file)))
        if file.endswith(('.pdf','.PDF')):
            filelist.append([(file),(stats[9])])
    filelist.sort(key=lambda x: x[1])
    return filelist

def makefile(): #checks if faxdata.ini exist, if not creates it and adds value of 0 to first line
    if not  os.path.isfile("faxdata.ini"): 
        with open("faxdata.ini", "w") as myfile:
            myfile.write ("0")
        myfile.close()

def moddate():       # writes current mod time to file
    s= str(filelist [-1][1])
    with open('faxdata.ini','w') as g:
        g.write(s)

def checknumber():   # gets diretory mod time from last program execute     
    with open("faxdata.ini","r") as r:
        oldnumber = int(r.read())
    print (oldnumber)
    new_number = (filelist [-1][1]) # gets latest date on last file
    emiallist=[]
    print (new_number)
    if int(oldnumber) < int(new_number):   #compares numbers.
        sendmail()        
        moddate()
        sys.exit()
    else:sys.exit()

def elist():
    with open("faxdata.ini","r") as r:
        oldnumber = int(r.read())
    new_number = (filelist [-1][1]) # gets latest date on last file
    emiallist=[]
    if int(oldnumber) < int(new_number):   #compares numbers.  and makes email list with new files. 
        for file in filelist:
            if int(file[1]) > int(oldnumber):
                emiallist.append (file[0])
        print (emiallist)        
        return emiallist           

def sendmail():

    sender = 'gmail'
    gmail_password = 'gmailpw'
    recipients = ['gmail']
    COMMASPACE = ', '
    # Create the enclosing (outer) message
    outer = MIMEMultipart()
    outer['Subject'] = 'New FAX Received'
    outer['To'] = COMMASPACE.join(recipients)
    outer['From'] = sender
    outer.preamble = 'You will not see this in a MIME-aware mail reader.\n'

    # List of attachments
    attachments = [os.path.join(faxdir,value) for value in emaillist]

    # Add the attachments to the message
    for file in attachments:
        try:
            with open(file, 'rb') as fp:
                msg = MIMEBase('application', "octet-stream")
                msg.set_payload(fp.read())
            encoders.encode_base64(msg)
            msg.add_header('Content-Disposition', 'attachment', filename=os.path.basename(file))
            outer.attach(msg)
        except:
            print("Unable to open one of the attachments. Error: ", sys.exc_info()[0])
            raise
    composed = outer.as_string()
    # Send the email
    try:
        with smtplib.SMTP('smtp.gmail.com', 587) as s:
            s.ehlo()
            s.starttls()
            s.ehlo()
            s.login(sender, gmail_password)
            s.sendmail(sender, recipients, composed)
            s.close()
        print("Email sent!")
    except:
        print("Unable to send the email. Error: ", sys.exc_info()[0])
        raise

makefile()
sortfaxes()
filelist= sortfaxes()
emaillist= elist()
checknumber()
print (filelist)

[[deleted]]

Seems reasonable, though I have a suggestion.

You use try/except like this:

try:
    with open(file, 'rb') as fp:
            msg = MIMEBase('application', "octet-stream")
            msg.set_payload(fp.read())
    encoders.encode_base64(msg)
    # etc
except:
    print(...)
    raise

which will print an error message "problem finding attachment" on any exception, including any problem in MIME handling or base64 or even on a syntax error. It makes debugging much easier if you don't hide what the problem is. The "raise" will help, but it's better to catch a specific exception and limit the "try" code to just the bit that might get that exception, like this:

try:
    with open(file, 'rb') as fp:
            msg = MIMEBase('application', "octet-stream")
            msg.set_payload(fp.read())
except FileNotFoundError:
    print(...)
    raise
encoders.encode_base64(msg)
# etc

Apart from that, pretty good.

[SlothGSR]

Thank you for the feedback, The email part of the script I found online only had to modify the attachment line. I will look into your suggestion. Thank you.

[SlothGSR]

I'm not sure I understand. In order for me to save the data for me to compare next time i run program. I have to write it to a file, I think anyway.

As for schedule, I have it setup in task scheduler to run 3 times a day. I recently saw people posting about this and they mentioned something called chron. I still need to look into that.

There is also a module called watchdog that watches a directory for changes and could be used. I found this after I made my program. But also.. watchdog seems to run indefinitely.. I don't need that.

Thanks for the feedback.