[C# .Net 2] How do I send emails from my C# code?

[$phinX]

Ive written a web app in ASP.NET, C#, .NET 2.0 with a SQL Server 2000 db. Ive got this installed on a Windows Server 2003 box.

Ive never setup or sent email from .Net before. Could someone advise how i set it up on the Windows 2003 box, whether i need to setup anything in .Net framework configs and what namespaces and methods i need to use in C# to get this working.

Thanks!

[BGM]

there are a number of ways you could do this..

however when i do it.. i use a class called mailmessage

which i think off the top of my head is system.web.mail

ill check

so, create a new object of mailmessage and then assign a to address and from address etc

[Dav-id]

MailMessage mmEnquiry = new MailMessage();

SmtpClient smtpClient = new SmtpClient();

MailAddress fromAddress = new MailAddress(ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["SUPPORT_EMAIL"],

ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["SITE_NAME"]);

mmEnquiry.To.Add(ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["SUPPORT_EMAIL"]);

mmEnquiry.Subject = "Website Error has occurred";

mmEnquiry.From = fromAddress;

mmEnquiry.Body = "Message goes here";

smtpClient.Host = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["SMTP_IP"];

smtpClient.Send(mmEnquiry);

[tony-inpo]

  whoreman said:

MailMessage mmEnquiry = new MailMessage();

SmtpClient smtpClient = new SmtpClient();

MailAddress fromAddress = new MailAddress(ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["SUPPORT_EMAIL"],

ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["SITE_NAME"]);

mmEnquiry.To.Add(ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["SUPPORT_EMAIL"]);

mmEnquiry.Subject = "Website Error has occurred";

mmEnquiry.From = fromAddress;

mmEnquiry.Body = "Message goes here";

smtpClient.Host = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["SMTP_IP"];

smtpClient.Send(mmEnquiry);

If you can get this to work please PM me. I have tried to make it work with Gmail before to no avail.

Good luck

[$phinX]

Ok, so the C# code looks straight forward enough... Thanks.

What about setting it up on the server though? I assume i have to install some email server thing in Windows Server 2003 so that it can send email? Any advice on this bit - do i have to install MS Exchange or something?

[BGM]

when you create the mail message and send it..

it will sit in the email queue of your IIS server.. (C:\Inetpub\mailroot\Queue) .. check this folder to make sure your code is working right :p

what i do is set that to point to my exchange server which then forwards the mail to its recipient..

but there are 2 options:

a) use a smart host which basically tells the server to send all its mail to another server set up with smtp (in my case exchange box)

b) direct delivery so your smtp server in iis connects to the correct smtp server directly

this may help

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechn...1.mspx?mfr=true :)

[Dav-id]

on my server i have running the standard smtp server - i dont think i configured it... i think it is part of the add/remove components within the category IIS

With my code i store the IP address and other things in the web config file also note i negated the includes

[azcodemonkey]

  tony-inpo said:

If you can get this to work please PM me. I have tried to make it work with Gmail before to no avail.

Good luck

Gmail requires either TLS or SSL to communicate with a client. Try setting the port to 465, and enabling SSL.

[Leo Natan]

SmtpClient smtp = new SmtpClient("smtp.gmail.com", 25);
MailMessage Message = new MailMessage(From, To);

Message.Subject = Subject;
Message.Body = Msg;

Message.IsBodyHtml = true;

smtp.EnableSsl = true;
smtp.Credentials = new NetworkCredential(User, Pass);

smtp.Send(Message);

That's part of my app. You have to enable SSL, and add your credentials to support authentication.

[$phinX]

  whoreman said:

MailMessage mmEnquiry = new MailMessage();

SmtpClient smtpClient = new SmtpClient();

MailAddress fromAddress = new MailAddress(ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["SUPPORT_EMAIL"],

ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["SITE_NAME"]);

mmEnquiry.To.Add(ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["SUPPORT_EMAIL"]);

mmEnquiry.Subject = "Website Error has occurred";

mmEnquiry.From = fromAddress;

mmEnquiry.Body = "Message goes here";

smtpClient.Host = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["SMTP_IP"];

smtpClient.Send(mmEnquiry);

Ok going with this approach... the code compiles fine... but im not sure how i determin the host IP for the smtp client object... and im not sure im heading in the right direction... again, ill point out that i have no idea about setting up email :blush:.

What i want is to create a new web site with my own domain name like MyOwnWebSiteName.co.uk and then send emails from support@MyOwnWebSiteName.co.uk. So i assume i would get the smtp host ip from whoever i get the domain name with, that right??? So i owuld be using the domain company's smtp server? Any pointers here will be great...

[BGM]

You can send them email as if it came from any address i believe..

dont quote me on that as iv not tried to do it from a domain i didnt own.. only an address that wasnt valid

tell me how you wnat your system to work, and what machines / systems you have at the moment and ill give you my best answer to try and set up the outgoing mail

[$phinX]

  BGM said:

tell me how you wnat your system to work, and what machines / systems you have at the moment and ill give you my best answer to try and set up the outgoing mail

I want to have an ASP.NET 2 web app where i can enter an email address and press 'send' and it sends a test email to that email address. I want the email to come from the address 'support@MyOwnWebSiteName.co.uk' - so that if they click reply it sends an email to 'support@MyOwnWebSiteName.co.uk'.

This will be hosted on a Win Server 2003 box - using IIS & .NET Framework 2.

As it stands, i havent setup smtp or any other email service on the Win Server 2003 box. Nor have i yet gone and bought the MyOwnWebSiteName.co.uk domain - i could probably do with some advice here too... not sure what kind of service id need to buy to be able to get that email address 'support@MyOwnWebSiteName.co.uk'.

[azcodemonkey]

Your host just needs to provide an SMTP mail service. If you're using a domain you've registered, and you've set your DNS correctly, your host should reflect your domain name in your sent emails.

You'll receive the smtp server address and pop address when you get a host, provided that your host has an email service, which I've never seen one that didn't. Also, you can run your own smtp server from your local machine to send emails. I've used http://www.postcastserver.com/ in the past for testing purposes. They have a free edition that works quite well.

Once you get your mail server info, what I would do is to add a key/val to your web.config with the smtp server address. Then you simply reference that app setting in your code to get the server info. That's what tony-ipo is doing in his code.

[tony-inpo]

  Leo Natan said:

SmtpClient smtp = new SmtpClient("smtp.gmail.com", 25);
MailMessage Message = new MailMessage(From, To);

Message.Subject = Subject;
Message.Body = Msg;

Message.IsBodyHtml = true;

smtp.EnableSsl = true;
smtp.Credentials = new NetworkCredential(User, Pass);

smtp.Send(Message);

That's part of my app. You have to enable SSL, and add your credentials to support authentication.

WOOOO nice one

Cheers for that

[$phinX]

  weenur said:

Your host just needs to provide an SMTP mail service. If you're using a domain you've registered, and you've set your DNS correctly, your host should reflect your domain name in your sent emails.

You'll receive the smtp server address and pop address when you get a host, provided that your host has an email service, which I've never seen one that didn't. Also, you can run your own smtp server from your local machine to send emails. I've used http://www.postcastserver.com/ in the past for testing purposes. They have a free edition that works quite well.

Ok ill make sure my host has a SMTP mail service... seems easiest way to do it.

So Windows Server 2003 doesnt have an SMTP Server app included - you have to use 3rd party software like PostCastServer?

[BGM]

  $phinX said:

Ok ill make sure my host has a SMTP mail service... seems easiest way to do it.

So Windows Server 2003 doesnt have an SMTP Server app included - you have to use 3rd party software like PostCastServer?

windows 2003 does have an smtp server, in IIS

however it is an arse to get working as alot of ISPs dont allow random email servers on their network.. (as i found out on the weekend when i tried to set it up properly) the easiest way you can get this to work is by using an external smtp server hosted by a service provider hosting your domain..