SMTP

System.Net.
Mail FAQ
Complete FAQ Listing
1 Introduction
1.1 What is System.Net.Mail?
1.2 What is the .NET Framework ?
1.3 What do I need to send email in .NET?
1.4 What is a relay server?
1.5 What is the IIS SMTP Service?
1.6 Can System.Net.Mail read email?
1.1 What is System.Net.Mail?
System.Net.Mail is the namespace used to send email if you are using the 2.0 (or
higher) .NET Framework. Unlike System.Web.Mail, which was introduced in the 1.0
Framework, it is not built upon the CDO/CDOSYS libraries. Instead it is written from the
ground up without any interop. Thus, it is not dependant upon other COM libraries.
System.Net.Mail introduces brand new classes for creating and sending email. Although
some functionality has been removed, the new System.Net.Mail namespace is much more
versatile than the older CDO dependant System.Web.Mail.
1.2 What is the .NET Framework?

The answer to this question is way beyond the scope of this faq. Basically the .NET
Framework is a engine that programmers use to create applications. Programmers code
against the .NET Framework to create applications. The System.Web.Mail Namespace is
part of the .NET framework. You can read more about the .NET Framework on MSDN at
http://msdn.microsoft.com/netframework/
1.3 What do I need to send email in .NET?

First, and foremost, you need the .NET Framework installed. Then you need a reference
to the System.dll (automatically included in ASP.NET applications). Then you need to
use the System.Net.Mail namespace to create and send email messages. Once you have
programmatically set up your application, you will need a relay server to send email
through. A relay server is a mail server, or a SMTP server/service, that can handle
sending email. System.Net.Mail simply sends the mail to a relay server, and the relay
server is responsible for delivering it to the final destination.
1.4 What is a relay server?

A relay is a service that allows you to send email. It is usually a full fledged mail server,
or can be a specialized SMTP Service. Some examples of a mail server include Microsoft
Exchange, IMail by IPSwitch, or Mail Enable by Mail Enable. An example of a SMTP
service is the SMTP Service installed that can be installed with IIS. SNM sends email to
a relay server, and the relay server is responsible for delivering the email to the final
destination. When sending email to a relay server, you must have protocol permissions to
use that server. Because of SPAM problems, relay servers are normally locked down,
either by IPAddress or by some type of username/password authentication. Relaying
errors are the most common problems when programmatically sending emails. If you
ever see an exception that reads something like "550 Permission Denied", this is usually a
relay error, and you need to talk to your mail server administrator about proper
permissions.
1.5 What is the IIS SMTP Service?

The IIS SMTP service is a SMTP service used for sending email. It handles all of the MX
Record (Mail server location) lookups, SMTP connections to remote mail servers, retries,
and failures. More information about configuring the SMTP Service can be found here:
Manage Your Company's E-mail with the Windows 2000 SMTP Service
http://www.microsoft.com/mind/1299/smtp2000/smtp2000.asp
1.6 Can System.Net.Mail read email?

No. System.Net.Mail can only send email. To read email you either need a Mime parsing
component such as aspNetMime or a POP3 component such as aspNetPOP3.
2 Exploring System.Net.Mail Classes
2.1 MailMessage Class
2.2 MailAddress Class
2.3 Attachment Class
2.4 SmtpClient Class
2.5 AlternateView Class
2.6 Linked Resource
2 Exploring System.Net.Mail Classes
This FAQ section will explore the main classes of the System.Net.Mail name space. This
is not a complete listing of all the classes, but rather the ones that are most commonly
used. They include:
MailMessage
MailAddress
Attachment
SmtpClient
AlternateView
LinkedResource
2.1 MailMessage Class
The MailMessage class can be considered the foundation class of the System.Net.Mail
namespace. It deals with creating and managing the email message. All other classes will
somehow interact with this class. The MailMessage class exposes such properties as the
Property Description
Gets the attachment collection used to store data attached to this e-
Attachments
mail message.
Gets the address collection that contains the blind carbon copy
Bcc
(BCC) recipients for this e-mail message.
Body Gets or sets the message body.
Gets the address collection that contains the carbon copy (CC)
CC
recipients for this e-mail message.
From Gets or sets the from address for this e-mail message.
Subject Gets or sets the subject line for this e-mail message.
Gets the address collection that contains the recipients of this e-mail
To
message.
Below you will find an example of using the MailMessage class
[ C# ]
static void PlainText()
{
//create the mail message
MailMessage mail = new MailMessage();
//set the addresses

mail.From = new MailAddress("me@mycompany.com");
mail.To.Add("you@yourcompany.com");
//set the content

mail.Subject = "This is an email";
mail.Body = "this is the body content of the email.";
//send the message

SmtpClient smtp = new SmtpClient("127.0.0.1");
smtp.Send(mail);
}
[ VB.NET ]
Sub PlainText()
'create the mail message
Dim mail As New MailMessage()
'set the addresses

mail.From = New MailAddress("me@mycompany.com")
mail.To.Add("you@yourcompany.com")
'set the content

mail.Subject = "This is an email"
mail.Body = "this is the body content of the email."
'send the message

Dim smtp As New SmtpClient("127.0.0.1")
smtp.Send(mail)
End Sub 'PlainText
2.2 MailAddress Class
Click here for MSDN docs.

The MailAddress class is used for creating email addresses. This class is used for setting
the MailMessage.From, MailMessage.To, MailMessage.CC and MailMessage.BCC
properties. Of these properties the .From class is actually a MailAddress, while the To,
CC and BCC properties are actually collections of MailAddresses. The two most
common properties of the MailAddress class are the DisplayName and the Address
properties. They are described below.
Name Description
Address Gets the e-mail address specified when this instance was created.
DisplayName Gets the display name composed from the display name and address
information specified when this instance was created.
Below is an example demonstrating the MailAddress class.

[ C# ]
static void MultipleRecipients()
{
//set the addresses

//to specify a friendly 'from' name, we use a different ctor
mail.From = new MailAddress("me@mycompany.com", "Steve James");
//since the To,Cc, and Bcc accept addresses, we can use the same technique as the From
address
//since the To, Cc, and Bcc properties are collections, to add multiple addreses, we simply
call .Add(...) multple times
mail.To.Add("you2@yourcompany.com");
mail.CC.Add("cc1@yourcompany.com");
mail.Bcc.Add("blindcc1@yourcompany.com");
//set the content

//send the message

smtp.Send(mail);
}
[ VB.NET ]
Sub MultipleRecipients()
'set the addresses

'to specify a friendly 'from' name, we use a different ctor
mail.From = New MailAddress("me@mycompany.com", "Steve James")
'since the To,Cc, and Bcc accept addresses, we can use the same technique as the From
address
'since the To, Cc, and Bcc properties are collections, to add multiple addreses, we simply
mail.To.Add("you2@yourcompany.com")
mail.CC.Add("cc1@yourcompany.com")
mail.Bcc.Add("blindcc1@yourcompany.com")
'set the content

'send the message

smtp.Send(mail)
End Sub 'MultipleRecipients
2.3 Attachment Class Printer Friendly

The Attachment class is used for creating and managing individual attachments of the
MailMessage object. Attachments can be created from streams or file paths. The stream
or file path must be set in the ctor of the Attachment.
Below is an example demonstrating the Attachment class
[ C# ]
static void AttachmentFromFile()
{
//set the addresses

//set the content

mail.Body = "this content is in the body";
//add an attachment from the filesystem

mail.Attachments.Add(new Attachment("c:\\temp\\example.txt"));
//to add additional attachments, simply call .Add(...) again

mail.Attachments.Add(new Attachment("c:\\temp\\example2.txt"));
//send the message

smtp.Send(mail);
[ VB.NET ]
Sub AttachmentFromFile()
'set the addresses

'set the content
mail.Body = "this content is in the body"
'add an attachment from the filesystem

mail.Attachments.Add(New Attachment("c:\temp\example.txt"))
'to add additional attachments, simply call .Add(...) again

mail.Attachments.Add(New Attachment("c:\temp\example2.txt"))
'send the message

smtp.Send(mail)
End Sub 'AttachmentFromFile
2.4 SmtpClient Class

The SmtpClient class is responsible for sending or transporting the email. The
SmtpClient can transport the email content over the network, or it can actually write them
to the filesystem in the MS IIS Smtp Service Pickup Directory format, which resembles a
RFC821 formatted message. Emails can be sent either synchronously or asynchronously.
The SmtpClient also supports sending email via SSL for security purposes. The following
list of properties are the most common used on the SmtpClient class.
Name Description
Credentials Gets or sets the credentials used to authenticate the
sender.
DeliveryMethod Specifies how outgoing email messages will be
handled.
EnableSsl Specify whether the SmtpClient uses Secure Sockets
Layer (SSL) to encrypt the connection.
Host Gets or sets the name or IP address of the host used for
SMTP transactions.
Port Gets or sets the port used for SMTP transactions.
Below is an example demonstrating the SmtpClient class.

[ C# ]
static void Authenticate()
{
//set the addresses

//set the content

//send the message

//to authenticate we set the username and password properites on the SmtpClient
smtp.Credentials = new NetworkCredential("username", "secret");
smtp.Send(mail);
}
[ VB.NET ]
Sub Authenticate()
'set the addresses

'set the content

'send the message

'to authenticate we set the username and password properites on the SmtpClient
smtp.Credentials = New NetworkCredential("username", "secret")
smtp.Send(mail)
End Sub 'Authenticate
2.5 AlternateView Class

The AlternateView class is used for providing alternate bodies and creating Multi-Part
mime emails. If you want to create an email that will be rendered properly in both Html
capable and Plain Text only mail clients, then you will create alternate views of the
message. There are a few main properties and methods you will use with the
AlternateView class. They are:
Name Description
BaseUri Gets or sets the Base URI to use for resolving
relative URIs in the AlternateView
LinkedResources Gets the set of embedded resources referred to by
this attachment.
CreateAlternateViewFromString (static Overloaded. Creates an AlternateView to view
method) an email message using the specified format..
Below is an example demonstrating the AlternateView class.
[ C# ]
static void MultiPartMime()
{
//set the addresses

//set the content

//first we create the Plain Text part

AlternateView plainView = AlternateView.CreateAlternateViewFromString("This is my
plain text content, viewable by those clients that don't support html", null, "text/plain");
//then we create the Html part
AlternateView htmlView = AlternateView.CreateAlternateViewFromString("this is
bold text, and viewable by those mail clients that support html", null, "text/html");
mail.AlternateViews.Add(plainView);
mail.AlternateViews.Add(htmlView);
//send the message

SmtpClient smtp = new SmtpClient("127.0.0.1"); //specify the mail server address
smtp.Send(mail);
}
[ VB.NET ]
Sub MultiPartMime()
'set the addresses

'set the content

'first we create the Plain Text part

Dim plainView As AlternateView =
AlternateView.CreateAlternateViewFromString("This is my plain text content, viewable
by those clients that don't support html", Nothing, "text/plain")
'then we create the Html part
Dim htmlView As AlternateView =
AlternateView.CreateAlternateViewFromString("this is bold text, and viewable by
those mail clients that support html", Nothing, "text/html")
mail.AlternateViews.Add(plainView)
mail.AlternateViews.Add(htmlView)
'send the message

Dim smtp As New SmtpClient("127.0.0.1") 'specify the mail server address
smtp.Send(mail)
End Sub 'MultiPartMime
2.6 Linked Resource

The LinkedResource class is the last, and least used main class. It is mainly used for
creating embedded images. To create an embedded image you will need to first create a
Html formatted AlternateView. Within that alternate view you create an tag, that points
to the ContentId (CID) of the LinkedResource. You then create a LinkedResource object
and add it to the AlternateView's LinkedResources collection.
Below is an example using the LinkedResource class.
[ C# ]
static void EmbedImages()
{
//set the addresses

//set the content



//to embed images, we need to use the prefix 'cid' in the img src value
//the cid value will map to the Content-Id of a Linked resource.
//thus <img src='cid:companylogo'> will map to a LinkedResource with a ContentId of
'companylogo'
AlternateView htmlView = AlternateView.CreateAlternateViewFromString("Here is an
embedded image.<img src=cid:companylogo>", null, "text/html");
//create the LinkedResource (embedded image)

LinkedResource logo = new LinkedResource( "c:\\temp\\logo.gif" );
logo.ContentId = "companylogo";
//add the LinkedResource to the appropriate view
htmlView.LinkedResources.Add(logo);
//add the views

//send the message

smtp.Send(mail);
}
[ VB.NET ]
Sub EmbedImages()
'set the addresses

'set the content



'to embed images, we need to use the prefix 'cid' in the img src value
'the cid value will map to the Content-Id of a Linked resource.
'thus <img src='cid:companylogo'> will map to a LinkedResource with a ContentId of
'companylogo'
AlternateView.CreateAlternateViewFromString("Here is an embedded image.<img
src=cid:companylogo>", Nothing, "text/html")
'create the LinkedResource (embedded image)

Dim logo As New LinkedResource("c:\temp\logo.gif")
logo.ContentId = "companylogo"
'add the LinkedResource to the appropriate view
htmlView.LinkedResources.Add(logo)
'add the views

'send the message

smtp.Send(mail)
End Sub 'EmbedImages
3 Quickstart Programming Samples
3.1 Working with the Body
3.1.1 How do I send a plain text email?
3.1.2 How do I send a simple Html email?
3.1.3 How do I create a Multi-Part mime message?
3.2 Working with Addresses
3.2.1 How do I change the FROM address to a friendly name?
3.2.2 How do I change the TO address to a friendly name?
3.2.3 How do I specify multiple recipients?
3.2.4 How do I create a friendly non-ascii display name?
3.3 Working with Headers
3.3.1 How do I change the email priority?
3.3.2 How do I add the Reply-To header to the MailMessage?
3.3.3 How do I request a read receipt?
3.3.4 How do I add custom headers to the MailMessage?
3.4 Working with Attachments
3.4.1 How do I send an email with attachments?
3.4.2 How do I create an attachment from a stream?
3.5 Accessing Config File Mail Settings Programmatically
3 Quickstart Programming Samples
This System.Web.Mail QuickStart is a series of samples and supporting commentary
designed to quickly acquaint developers with the syntax of sending email in .NET. The
QuickStart samples are designed to be short, easy-to-understand illustrations of
System.Net.Mail.
Important: When testing these samples, always be sure to:

1. Have a reference set to the System.dll.
2. If you are using C#, be sure the "using System.Net.Mail;" statement is found at the top
of your code. Or, if you are using VB.NET, be sure the "Imports System.Net.Mail"
statement if found at the top of your code.
3. Set the correct FROM and TO addresses.
4. Set the SmtpMail.SmtpServer to a valid server that allows relaying for your FROM
email address or the IP address you are sending email from.
3.1 Working with the Body

This section of the FAQ will deal with creating different types of email bodies. From
Plain Text formatted emails, to Html formatted emails, to creating Multi-Part Mime
emails.
3.1.1 How do I send a plain text email?
The following example demonstrates sending a simple plain text email.
[ C# ]
//set the addresses

//set the content

mail.Body = "this is a sample body";
//send the message

smtp.Send(mail);
[ VB.NET ]
'set the addresses

'set the content

mail.Body = "this is a sample body"
'send the message

smtp.Send(mail)
3.1.2 How do I send a simple Html email?
By default, email sent with System.Net.Mail is formatted as plain text. To format as
Html, set the MailMessage.IsBodyHtml property to true.
[ C# ]
//set the addresses

//set the content

mail.Body = "this is a sample body with html in it. This is bold This is blue";
mail.IsBodyHtml = true;
//send the message

smtp.Send(mail);
[ VB.NET ]
'set the addresses

'set the content

mail.Body = "this is a sample body with html in it. This is bold This is blue"
mail.IsBodyHtml = True
'send the message

smtp.Send(mail)
3.1.3 How do I create a Multi-Part mime message?
This example will demonstrate creating a Multi-Part mime message. Multi-Part messages
are messages that contain alternate body parts. Alternate body parts are used for
displaying different content to different mail clients. Because it is impossible to sniff or
determine an end users' mail client application, it is left up to the email developer to
cover all formats. You simply create different, alternate body parts. Then, it is up to the
mail client to display the richest body part it can render.
The following example creates the most common Multi-Part mime email, a Plain Text
and a Html Text email (2 alternate body parts).
[ C# ]
static void MultiPartMime()
{
//set the addresses

//set the content


AlternateView htmlView = AlternateView.CreateAlternateViewFromString("this is
bold text, and viewable by those mail clients that support html", null, "text/html");
//send the message

smtp.Send(mail);
}
[ VB.NET ]
Sub MultiPartMime()
'set the addresses
'set the content


AlternateView.CreateAlternateViewFromString("this is bold text, and viewable by
those mail clients that support html", Nothing, "text/html")
'send the message

smtp.Send(mail)
End Sub 'MultiPartMime
3.2 Working with Addresses
This section of the faq will demonstrate working with the From, To, CC, and Bcc
addresses.
3.2.1 How do I change the FROM address to a friendly name?

Because the MailMessage.From property is a MailAddress, we simply need to use a
different ctor to create a MailAddress. The ctor we will use will accept a friendly display
name.
[ C# ]
static void FriendlyFromName()
{
//set the addresses

mail.From = new MailAddress("me@mycompany.com", "Steve James" );
//set the content

//send the message

smtp.Send(mail);
[ VB.NET ]
Sub FriendlyFromName()
'set the addresses

'set the content

'send the message

smtp.Send(mail)
End Sub 'FriendlyFromName
3.2.2 How do I change the TO address to a friendly name?
Chainging the To, CC, and Bcc addresses to use a Friendly display name, is just like we
did for the .From property. We simply need to use a different MailAddress ctor to
achieve this functionality.
Below is a sample that demonstrates this.
[ C# ]
static void FriendlyToName()
{
//set the addresses

address
mail.To.Add( new MailAddress( "you@yourcompany.com", "Beth Jones") );
mail.CC.Add(new MailAddress("donna@yourcompany.com", "Donna Summers"));
mail.Bcc.Add(new MailAddress("bob@yourcompany.com", "Bob Smith"));
//set the content

//send the message

smtp.Send(mail);
}
[ VB.NET ]
Sub FriendlyToName()
'set the addresses

address
mail.To.Add(New MailAddress("you@yourcompany.com", "Beth Jones"))
mail.CC.Add(New MailAddress("donna@yourcompany.com", "Donna Summers"))
mail.Bcc.Add(New MailAddress("bob@yourcompany.com", "Bob Smith"))
'set the content
'send the message

smtp.Send(mail)
End Sub 'FriendlyToName
3.2.3 How do I specify multiple recipients?
Because the To, CC, and Bcc properties are MailAddress collections, to add additional
recipients, all we need to do is call .Add(...) on the respective properties.
Below is an example that demonstrates adding multiple To, CC, and Bcc addresses.
[ C# ]
static void MultipleRecipients()
{
//set the addresses

address
//since the To, Cc, and Bcc properties are collections, to add multiple addreses, we simply
mail.To.Add("you2@yourcompany.com");
//set the content

//send the message

smtp.Send(mail);
}
[ VB.NET ]
Sub MultipleRecipients()
'set the addresses

address
'since the To, Cc, and Bcc properties are collections, to add multiple addreses, we simply
mail.To.Add("you2@yourcompany.com")
'set the content

'send the message

smtp.Send(mail)
End Sub 'MultipleRecipients
3.2.4 How do I create a friendly non-ascii display name?
When we want to use non-ascii display names we have to specify an Encoding that
matches the characterset of the name (string). This is something that needs to be known at
the time of development.
Below is an example of creating a friendly display name that uses ISO-8859-1 characters.
[ C# ]
static void FriendlyNonAsciiName()
{
//set the addresses

//to specify a friendly non ascii name, we use a different ctor.
//A ctor that accepts an encoding that matches the text of the name
mail.From = new MailAddress("me@mycompany.com", "Steve Øbirk",
Encoding.GetEncoding( "iso-8859-1"));
//set the content

//send the message

smtp.Send(mail);
[ VB.NET ]
Sub FriendlyNonAsciiName()
'set the addresses

'to specify a friendly non ascii name, we use a different ctor.
'A ctor that accepts an encoding that matches the text of the name
mail.From = New MailAddress("me@mycompany.com", "Steve Øbirk",
Encoding.GetEncoding("iso-8859-1"))
'set the content

'send the message
smtp.Send(mail)
End Sub 'FriendlyNonAsciiName
3.3 Working with Headers
This section of the faq will demonstrate working with headers of the MailMessage. From
changing the messages' priority, to adding custom headers. We will explore different
header names and values.
3.3.1 How do I change the email priority?

Although the priority of a message is controlled by headers, in the System.Net.Mail
namespace, the Priority of a message is actually exposed as a property of the
MailMessage object.
A priority can have the following values
Property Description
High The email has high priority.
Low The email has low priority.
Normal The email has normal priority.
The following example demonstrates setting the MailMessage object to a High priority.
[ C# ]
static void SetPriority()
{
//set the addresses

//set the content

//specify the priority of the mail message

mail.Priority = MailPriority.High;
//send the message

smtp.Send(mail);
}
[ VB.NET ]
Sub SetPriority()
'set the addresses

'set the content

'specify the priority of the mail message

mail.Priority = MailPriority.High
'send the message

smtp.Send(mail)
End Sub 'SetPriority
3.3.2 How do I add the Reply-To header to the MailMessage?
Just the Priority property, the Reply-To header is set via a property called ReplyTo on the
MailMessage object. Since the ReplyTo property is of type MailAddress, it can be a
simple email address, or it can include a friendly display name.
The following example demonstrates setting the ReplyTo property.
[ C# ]
static void SetTheReplyToHeader()
{
//set the addresses

//set the content

//specify the priority of the mail message

mail.ReplyTo = new MailAddress("SomeOtherAddress@mycompany.com");
//send the message

smtp.Send(mail);
}
[ VB.NET ]
Sub SetTheReplyToHeader()
'set the addresses

'set the content

'specify the priority of the mail message

mail.ReplyTo = New MailAddress("SomeOtherAddress@mycompany.com")
'send the message

smtp.Send(mail)
End Sub 'SetTheReplyToHeader
3.3.3 How do I request a read receipt?
To request a read receipt, we need to specify a Disposition-Notification-To header. This
header is recognized my most major mail clients to send a read receipt when the email is
first read. It's important to note that just because you request a read receipt, doesn't' mean
you will get one.
Read receipt requests may not be always honored because
1) A mail client may not recognize the special Disposition-Notification-To header.
2) A mail client may not implement that functionality.
3) The end user may have that functionality turned off.
4) The end user may optionally not choose to send one for your particular email.
[ C# ]
static void ReadReceipts()
{
//set the addresses

//set the content

//To request a read receipt, we need add a custom header named 'Disposition-
Notification-To'
//in this example, read receipts will go back to 'someaddress@mydomain.com'
//it's important to note that read receipts will only be sent by those mail clients that
//a) support them
//and
//b)have them enabled.
mail.Headers.Add("Disposition-Notification-To", "<someaddress@mydomain.com>");
//send the message

smtp.Send(mail);
}
[ VB.NET ]
Sub ReadReceipts()
'set the addresses
'set the content

'To request a read receipt, we need add a custom header named 'Disposition-Notification-
To'
'in this example, read receipts will go back to 'someaddress@mydomain.com'
'it's important to note that read receipts will only be sent by those mail clients that
'a) support them
'and
'b)have them enabled.
mail.Headers.Add("Disposition-Notification-To", "<someaddress@mydomain.com>")
'send the message

smtp.Send(mail)
End Sub 'ReadReceipts
3.3.4 How do I add custom headers to the MailMessage?
Custom headers are useful for adding information to a MailMessage that may not be
supported on standard properties. By adding custom headers, we can tag email messages
with information that may not be visible to the end user, yet still might be important to
us. This is especially useful in tracking bounced emails. By using custom headers, we can
find our custom header in a bounced email, and perhaps tie it back to a record in the
database.
Below is an example of adding two "X-" headers to a MailMessage. There isn't anything
special about adding the prefix "X-" to a header. In the email world, the "X-" prefix has
just come to mean "extra".
[ C# ]
static void CustomHeaders()
{
//set the addresses

//set the content

//to add custom headers, we use the Headers.Add(...) method to add headers to the
//.Headers collection
mail.Headers.Add("X-Company", "My Company");
mail.Headers.Add("X-Location", "Hong Kong");
//send the message

smtp.Send(mail);
}
[ VB.NET ]
Sub CustomHeaders()
'set the addresses

'set the content

'to add custom headers, we use the Headers.Add(...) method to add headers to the
'.Headers collection
mail.Headers.Add("X-Company", "My Company")
mail.Headers.Add("X-Location", "Hong Kong")
'send the message

smtp.Send(mail)
End Sub 'CustomHeaders
3.4 Working with Attachments
This FAQ section will demonstrate creating attachments from the filesystem and from a
stream.
3.4.1 How do I send an email with attachments?

To send an email with attachments, the ASP.NET process (or the ASP.NET impersonated
account) will need permission to read the file, and attach it to the MailMessage class. If
the file is found in the website, we don't need use the explicit file path, we could also call
Server.MapPath(...).
Below is a simple example of attaching text files to an outgoing email.
[ C# ]
static void AttachmentFromFile()
{
//set the addresses

//set the content

//add an attachment from the filesystem

mail.Attachments.Add(new Attachment("c:\\temp\\example.txt"));
//to add additional attachments, simply call .Add(...) again

//send the message

smtp.Send(mail);
[ VB.NET ]
Sub AttachmentFromFile()
'set the addresses

'set the content

'add an attachment from the filesystem

mail.Attachments.Add(New Attachment("c:\temp\example.txt"))
'to add additional attachments, simply call .Add(...) again

'send the message

smtp.Send(mail)
End Sub 'AttachmentFromFile
3.4.2 How do I create an attachment from a stream?

Something that is new in System.Net.Mail, is the capability to create attachments from
streams. With this capability we can create an attachment from text, binary data, or from
basically anything in memory. We simply need to make sure it is written to a stream.
The following example creates an attachment from some simple text, but it could have
just as easily have come from Sql Server.
[ C# ]
static void AttachmentFromStream()
{

//set the addresses

//set the content

//Get some binary data

byte[] data = GetData();
//save the data to a memory stream

MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream(data);
//create the attachment from a stream. Be sure to name the data with a file and
//media type that is respective of the data
mail.Attachments.Add( new Attachment( ms, "example.txt", "text/plain" ));
//send the message

smtp.Send(mail);
}
static byte[] GetData()
{
//this method just returns some binary data.
//it could come from anywhere, such as Sql Server
string s = "this is some text";
byte[] data = Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(s);
return data;
}
[ VB.NET ]
Sub AttachmentFromStream()

'set the addresses

'set the content

'Get some binary data

Dim data As Byte() = GetData()
'save the data to a memory stream

Dim ms As New MemoryStream(data)
'create the attachment from a stream. Be sure to name the data with a file and
'media type that is respective of the data
mail.Attachments.Add(New Attachment(ms, "example.txt", "text/plain"))
'send the message

smtp.Send(mail)
End Sub 'AttachmentFromStream
Function GetData() As Byte()

'this method just returns some binary data.
'it could come from anywhere, such as Sql Server
Dim s As String = "this is some text"
Dim data As Byte() = Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(s)
Return data
End Function 'GetData
3.5 Accessing Config File Mail Settings Programmatically
Some people may not know that .NET 2.0 provides APIs for accessing everything in a
configuration file. The most common question I see relates to accessing the mail settings
in the system.net node programmatically.
Special thanks to Ryan Olshan for this one.
[ C# ]
System.Net.Configuration.MailSettingsSectionGroup mMailSettings;
int mPort = mMailSettings.Smtp.Network.Port;

string mHost = mMailSettings.Smtp.Network.Host;
string mPassword = mMailSettings.Smtp.Network.Password;
string mUsername = mMailSettings.Smtp.Network.Username;
[ VB.NET ]
Dim mMailSettings As System.Net.Configuration.MailSettingsSectionGroup
Dim mPort As Integer = mMailSettings.Smtp.Network.Port

Dim mHost As String = mMailSettings.Smtp.Network.Host
Dim mPassword As String = mMailSettings.Smtp.Network.Password
Dim mUsername As String = mMailSettings.Smtp.Network.Username
4 Advanced Programming Samples
* You Are Here * [ Scroll To Answer ]
4.1 How do I read SMTP configuration data?
4.10 How do I create a log file of the SMTP session?
4.11 How do I encrypt messages using s/mime or pgp?
4.2 How do I authenticate to send an email?
4.3 How do I change the SMTP port number?
4.4 How do I embed images in an email?
4.5 How do I send an email over SSL?
4.6 How do I send email asynchronously?
4.7 How do I write to the Pickup directory?
4.8 How do I send a web page?
4.9 How do I send non US-ASCII emails?

This System.Net.Mail advanced samples is a series of code samples and supporting
commentary designed to perform advanced email operations. Some of the topics
discussed here cannot be achieved using System.Net.Mail, but are listed for
completeness, and because I have seen these questions asked on various newsgroups and
lists.
This System.Net.Mail advanced samples is a series of code samples and supporting
commentary designed to perform advanced email operations. Some of the topics
discussed here cannot be achieved using System.Net.Mail, but are listed for
completeness, and because I have seen these questions asked on various newsgroups and
lists.
4.1 How do I read SMTP configuration data?

Using special settings in your app's configuration file, System.Net.Mail can configure
itself.
Using the configuation file, you can set the following default properties:
MailMessage.From
SmtpClient.Host
SmtpClient.Port
The settings will also allow you specify a Username and Password to be used for
authentication. It is important to note that if DefaultCredentials are specified to true, the
userName and password attributes are igorned.
Here is an example of the node:
<configuration>
<system.net>
<mailSettings>
<smtp from="me@mycompany.com">
--
The node supports the following properties, but we won't use all of them
-->
<network host="127.0.0.1" />
</smtp>
</mailSettings>
</system.net>
</configuration>
If you need more flexibility, you can set individual SMTP settings for each page. For
example:
<location path="SomeDirectory/Page1.aspx">
<system.net>
<mailSettings>
<smtp deliveryMethod="Network" from="admin@example.com">
<network defaultCredentials="true" host="smtp.example.com" port="25"
userName="admin@example.com" password="password"/>
</smtp>
</mailSettings>
</system.net>
</location>
<system.net>
<mailSettings>
<smtp deliveryMethod="Network" from="sales@example.com">
userName="sales@example.com" password="password"/>
</smtp>
</mailSettings>
</system.net>
</location>
<system.net>
<mailSettings>
<smtp deliveryMethod="Network" from="info@example.com">
userName="info@example.com" password="password"/>
</smtp>
</mailSettings>
</system.net>
</location>
4.10 How do I create a log file of the SMTP session?
The System.Net namespace allows you to log the contents of the SMTP session to a file.
This is done through a combination of trace switches in your app's configuration file.
The following example of trace switches will cause the SMTP session to be logged to a
file named "System.Net.trace.log".
<configuration>
<system.diagnostics>
<trace autoflush="true" />
<sources>
<source name="System.Net" >

<listeners>
<add name="MyTraceFile"/>
</listeners>
</source>
<source name="System.Net.Sockets">
<listeners>
<add name="MyTraceFile"/>
</listeners>
</source>
</sources>
<sharedListeners>
<add
name="MyTraceFile"
type="System.Diagnostics.TextWriterTraceListener"
initializeData="System.Net.trace.log" />
</sharedListeners>
<switches>
<add name="System.Net" value="Verbose" />
<add name="System.Net.Sockets" value="Verbose" />
</switches>
</configuration>
Here is what the log file might look like:
System.Net Verbose: 0 : [0992] SmtpClient::.ctor(host=127.0.0.1)
System.Net Information: 0 : [0992] Associating SmtpClient#47606018 with
SmtpTransport#5689696
System.Net Verbose: 0 : [0992] Exiting SmtpClient::.ctor() -> SmtpClient#47606018
System.Net Verbose: 0 : [0992] SmtpClient#47606018::Send(MailMessage#5138334)
System.Net Information: 0 : [0992]
SmtpClient#47606018::Send(DeliveryMethod=Network)
System.Net Information: 0 : [0992] Associating SmtpClient#47606018 with
MailMessage#5138334
System.Net Information: 0 : [0992] Associating SmtpTransport#5689696 with
SmtpConnection#31950948
System.Net Information: 0 : [0992] Associating SmtpConnection#31950948 with
ServicePoint#34920472
System.Net.Sockets Verbose: 0 : [0992] Socket#22453229::Socket(InterNetwork#2)
System.Net.Sockets Verbose: 0 : [0992] Exiting Socket#22453229::Socket()
System.Net.Sockets Verbose: 0 : [0992] Socket#22453229::Connect(1:25#16777318)
System.Net.Sockets Verbose: 0 : [0992] Exiting Socket#22453229::Connect()
System.Net Information: 0 : [0992] Associating SmtpConnection#31950948 with
SmtpPooledStream#48167163
System.Net.Sockets Verbose: 0 : [0992] Socket#22453229::Receive()
System.Net.Sockets Verbose: 0 : [0992] Data from Socket#22453229::Receive
System.Net.Sockets Verbose: 0 : [0992] 00000000 : 32 32 30 20 77 32 6B 20-4D 69 63
72 6F 73 6F 66 : 220 w2k Microsof
System.Net.Sockets Verbose: 0 : [0992] 00000010 : 74 20 45 53 4D 54 50 20-4D 41 49
4C 20 53 65 72 : t ESMTP MAIL Ser
System.Net.Sockets Verbose: 0 : [0992] 00000020 : 76 69 63 65 2C 20 56 65-72 73 69
6F 6E 3A 20 35 : vice, Version: 5
System.Net.Sockets Verbose: 0 : [0992] 00000030 : 2E 30 2E 32 31 39 35 2E-36 37 31
33 20 72 65 61 : .0.2195.6713 rea
System.Net.Sockets Verbose: 0 : [0992] 00000040 : 64 79 20 61 74 20 20 53-61 74 2C
20 33 31 20 44 : dy at Sat, 31 D
System.Net.Sockets Verbose: 0 : [0992] 00000050 : 65 63 20 32 30 30 35 20-32 32 3A
31 33 3A 31 34 : ec 2005 22:13:14
System.Net.Sockets Verbose: 0 : [0992] 00000060 : 20 2D 30 36 30 30 20 0D-0A
: -0600 ..
System.Net.Sockets Verbose: 0 : [0992] Exiting Socket#22453229::Receive() ->
105#105
System.Net.Sockets Verbose: 0 : [0992] Socket#22453229::Send()
System.Net.Sockets Verbose: 0 : [0992] Data from Socket#22453229::Send
System.Net.Sockets Verbose: 0 : [0992] 00000000 : 45 48 4C 4F 20 77 32 6B-0D 0A
: EHLO w2k..
System.Net.Sockets Verbose: 0 : [0992] Exiting Socket#22453229::Send() ->
10#10
System.Net.Sockets Verbose: 0 : [0992] 00000000 : 32 35 30 2D 77 32 6B 20-48 65 6C
6C 6F 20 5B 31 : 250-w2k Hello [1
System.Net.Sockets Verbose: 0 : [0992] 00000010 : 32 37 2E 30 2E 30 2E 31-5D 0D 0A
32 35 30 2D 41 : 27.0.0.1]..250-A
System.Net.Sockets Verbose: 0 : [0992] 00000020 : 55 54 48 20 47 53 53 41-50 49 20
4E 54 4C 4D 20 : UTH GSSAPI NTLM
System.Net.Sockets Verbose: 0 : [0992] 00000030 : 4C 4F 47 49 4E 0D 0A 32-35 30 2D
41 55 54 48 3D : LOGIN..250-AUTH=
System.Net.Sockets Verbose: 0 : [0992] 00000040 : 4C 4F 47 49 4E 0D 0A 32-35 30 2D
54 55 52 4E 0D : LOGIN..250-TURN.
System.Net.Sockets Verbose: 0 : [0992] 00000050 : 0A 32 35 30 2D 41 54 52-4E 0D 0A
32 35 30 2D 53 : .250-ATRN..250-S
System.Net.Sockets Verbose: 0 : [0992] 00000060 : 49 5A 45 20 32 30 39 37-31 35 32
0D 0A 32 35 30 : IZE 2097152..250
System.Net.Sockets Verbose: 0 : [0992] 00000070 : 2D 45 54 52 4E 0D 0A 32-35 30 2D
50 49 50 45 4C : -ETRN..250-PIPEL
System.Net.Sockets Verbose: 0 : [0992] 00000080 : 49 4E 49 4E 47 0D 0A 32-35 30 2D
44 53 4E 0D 0A : INING..250-DSN..
System.Net.Sockets Verbose: 0 : [0992] 00000090 : 32 35 30 2D 45 4E 48 41-4E 43 45
44 53 54 41 54 : 250-ENHANCEDSTAT
System.Net.Sockets Verbose: 0 : [0992] 000000A0 : 55 53 43 4F 44 45 53 0D-0A 32 35
30 2D 38 62 69 : USCODES..250-8bi
System.Net.Sockets Verbose: 0 : [0992] 000000B0 : 74 6D 69 6D 65 0D 0A 32-35 30 2D
42 49 4E 41 52 : tmime..250-BINAR
System.Net.Sockets Verbose: 0 : [0992] 000000C0 : 59 4D 49 4D 45 0D 0A 32-35 30 2D
43 48 55 4E 4B : YMIME..250-CHUNK
System.Net.Sockets Verbose: 0 : [0992] 000000D0 : 49 4E 47 0D 0A 32 35 30-2D 56 52
46 59 0D 0A 32 : ING..250-VRFY..2
System.Net.Sockets Verbose: 0 : [0992] 000000E0 : 35 30 20 4F 4B 0D 0A
: 50 OK..
231#231
System.Net.Sockets Verbose: 0 : [0992] 00000000 : 4D 41 49 4C 20 46 52 4F-4D 3A 3C
6D 65 40 6D 79 : MAIL FROM:..
30#30
System.Net.Sockets Verbose: 0 : [0992] 00000000 : 32 35 30 20 32 2E 31 2E-30 20 6D
65 40 6D 79 63 : 250 2.1.0 me@myc
System.Net.Sockets Verbose: 0 : [0992] 00000010 : 6F 6D 70 61 6E 79 2E 63-6F 6D 2E
2E 2E 2E 53 65 : ompany.com....Se
System.Net.Sockets Verbose: 0 : [0992] 00000020 : 6E 64 65 72 20 4F 4B 0D-0A
: nder OK..
41#41
System.Net.Sockets Verbose: 0 : [0992] 00000000 : 52 43 50 54 20 54 4F 3A-3C 68 69
6D 40 68 69 73 : RCPT TO:..
30#30
System.Net.Sockets Verbose: 0 : [0992] 00000000 : 35 35 30 20 35 2E 37 2E-31 20 55
6E 61 62 6C 65 : 550 5.7.1 Unable
System.Net.Sockets Verbose: 0 : [0992] 00000010 : 20 74 6F 20 72 65 6C 61-79 20 66
6F 72 20 68 69 : to relay for hi
System.Net.Sockets Verbose: 0 : [0992] 00000020 : 6D 40 68 69 73 63 6F 6D-70 61 6E
79 2E 63 6F 6D : m@hiscompany.com
System.Net.Sockets Verbose: 0 : [0992] 00000030 : 0D 0A : ..
50#50
System.Net Error: 0 : [0992] Exception in the SmtpClient#47606018::Send - Mailbox
unavailable. The server response was: 5.7.1 Unable to relay for him@hiscompany.com
System.Net Error: 0 : [0992] at
System.Net.Mail.SmtpTransport.SendMail(MailAddress sender, MailAddressCollection
recipients, String deliveryNotify, SmtpFailedRecipientException& exception)
at System.Net.Mail.SmtpClient.Send(MailMessage message)
System.Net.Sockets Verbose: 0 : [0992] Socket#22453229::Dispose()
System.Net Verbose: 0 : [0992] Exiting SmtpClient#47606018::Send()
In this example, an exception was actually thrown. The exception basically said I don't
have permission to relay through the mail server to send email.
4.11 How do I encrypt messages using s/mime or pgp?
You can't. System.Net.Mail does not support encrypted messages.
4.2 How do I authenticate to send an email?
To authenticate with System.Net.Mail is much more intuitive than it was with
System.Web.Mail. No longer do you have to set a fields property. Instead, you simply
create a NetworkCredential's object, and set the username and password.
Below is an example setting the username and password.
[ C# ]
static void Authenticate()
{
//set the addresses

//set the content

//send the message

//to authenticate we set the username and password properites on the SmtpClient
smtp.Credentials = new NetworkCredential("username", "secret");
smtp.Send(mail);
[ VB.NET ]
Sub Authenticate()
'set the addresses

'set the content

'send the message

'to authenticate we set the username and password properites on the SmtpClient
smtp.Credentials = New NetworkCredential("username", "secret")
smtp.Send(mail)
End Sub 'Authenticate
4.3 How do I change the SMTP port number?
Changing the SMTP port (the port email will be sent to), is also much easier than it was
in System.Web.Mail. In System.Net.Mail, you simply set the .Port property on the
SmtpClient object.
Below is an example that changes the SMTP port to the lesser used port number 587.
[ C# ]
static void ChangePort()
{
//set the addresses

//set the content

//send the message

//to change the port (default is 25), we set the port property
smtp.Port = 587;
smtp.Send(mail);
}
[ VB.NET ]
Sub ChangePort()
'set the addresses

'set the content

'send the message

'to change the port (default is 25), we set the port property
smtp.Port = 587
smtp.Send(mail)
End Sub 'ChangePort
4.4 How do I embed images in an email?
Embedding images is something that is new with System.Net.Mail. To embed an image
you will need to
Create a LinkedResource object. The LinkedResource will actually contain the binary
data of the Image. This binary data is encoded as part of the email, and sent along as part
of the MailMessage.
Give the LinkedResource a unique name, also known as a Content-Id.
Create a HTML AlternateView.
Inside that HTML text, you need to use the standard <img> tag.
For the "src" value, you need to point it at the Content-Id of the LinkedResource image.
This is done by using the syntax <img src="cid:whatever"> The "src=cid:" part is
required for the email client to recognize the <img> tag as an embedded image, while the
"whatever" part is the actual Content-Id of the LinkedResource image. This will instruct
the mail client to find an embedded image named "whatever" and display the contents
*without* making a http:// request.
That's all there is to create a linked image. Below is a short but complete example that
demonstrates creating an embedded image.
[ C# ]
static void EmbedImages()
{
//set the addresses

//set the content



//to embed images, we need to use the prefix 'cid' in the img src value
//the cid value will map to the Content-Id of a Linked resource.
//thus <img src='cid:companylogo'> will map to a LinkedResource with a ContentId of
'companylogo'
AlternateView htmlView = AlternateView.CreateAlternateViewFromString("Here is an
embedded image.<img src=cid:companylogo>", null, "text/html");
//create the LinkedResource (embedded image)

LinkedResource logo = new LinkedResource( "c:\\temp\\logo.gif" );
logo.ContentId = "companylogo";
//add the LinkedResource to the appropriate view
htmlView.LinkedResources.Add(logo);
//add the views

//send the message

smtp.Send(mail);
}
[ VB.NET ]
Sub EmbedImages()
'set the addresses

'set the content



'to embed images, we need to use the prefix 'cid' in the img src value
'the cid value will map to the Content-Id of a Linked resource.
'thus <img src='cid:companylogo'> will map to a LinkedResource with a ContentId of
'companylogo'
AlternateView.CreateAlternateViewFromString("Here is an embedded image.<img
src=cid:companylogo>", Nothing, "text/html")
'create the LinkedResource (embedded image)

Dim logo As New LinkedResource("c:\temp\logo.gif")
logo.ContentId = "companylogo"
'add the LinkedResource to the appropriate view
htmlView.LinkedResources.Add(logo)
'add the views

'send the message

smtp.Send(mail)
End Sub 'EmbedImages
4.5 How do I send an email over SSL?
Sending an email over Ssl is really simply with System.Net.Mail. In fact, all you need to
do is set the .EnableSsl property on the SmtpClient property to true.
Below you will find an example of of SMTP over SSL.
Note: Due to what I believe is a bug in System.Net.Mail you *cannot* use SSL and
Credentials (username/password) at the same time. I was never able to get that to work. I
always got an exception from the remote mail server. I believe it has to do with the steps
System.Net.Mail takes to initiate the SSL session and SMTP authentication.
[ C# ]
static void SSL()
{
//set the addresses

//set the content

//Port 587 is another SMTP port

SmtpClient smtp = new SmtpClient("127.0.01", 587);
smtp.EnableSsl = true;
smtp.Send(mail);
}
[ VB.NET ]
Sub SSL()
'set the addresses

'set the content

'Port 587 is another SMTP port

Dim smtp As New SmtpClient("127.0.0.1", 587)
smtp.EnableSsl = True
smtp.Send(mail)
End Sub
4.6 How do I send email asynchronously?
System.Net.Mail has also added asynchronous support for sending email. To send
asynchronously, you need need to
Wire up a SendCompleted event
Create the SendCompleted event
Call SmtpClient.SendAsync
These steps are demonstrated in the code below.
[ C# ]
static void SendAsync()
{
//set the addresses

//set the content

//send the message

//the userstate can be any object. The object can be accessed in the callback
method
//in this example, we will just use the MailMessage object.
object userState = mail;
//wire up the event for when the Async send is completed

smtp.SendCompleted += new
SendCompletedEventHandler(SmtpClient_OnCompleted);
smtp.SendAsync( mail, userState );

}
public static void SmtpClient_OnCompleted(object sender,
AsyncCompletedEventArgs e)
{
//Get the Original MailMessage object
MailMessage mail= (MailMessage)e.UserState;
//write out the subject

string subject = mail.Subject;
if (e.Cancelled)
{
Console.WriteLine("Send canceled for mail with subject [{0}].", subject);
}
if (e.Error != null)
{
Console.WriteLine("Error {1} occurred when sending mail [{0}] ", subject,
e.Error.ToString());
}
else
{
Console.WriteLine("Message [{0}] sent.", subject );
}
}
[ VB.NET ]
Sub SendAsync()
'set the addresses

'set the content

'send the message

'the userstate can be any object. The object can be accessed in the callback method
'in this example, we will just use the MailMessage object.
Dim userState As Object = mail
'wire up the event for when the Async send is completed

AddHandler smtp.SendCompleted, AddressOf SmtpClient_OnCompleted
smtp.SendAsync(mail, userState)
End Sub 'SendAsync
Public Sub SmtpClient_OnCompleted(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As

AsyncCompletedEventArgs)
'Get the Original MailMessage object
Dim mail As MailMessage = CType(e.UserState, MailMessage)
'write out the subject

Dim subject As String = mail.Subject
If e.Cancelled Then
Console.WriteLine("Send canceled for mail with subject [{0}].", subject)
End If
If Not (e.Error Is Nothing) Then
Console.WriteLine("Error {1} occurred when sending mail [{0}] ", subject,
e.Error.ToString())
Else
Console.WriteLine("Message [{0}] sent.", subject)
End If
End Sub 'SmtpClient_OnCompleted
4.7 How do I write to the Pickup directory?
Writing email to the IIS Server's SMTP service pickup directory is another new feature of
System.Net.Mail. The SMTP pickup directory is a special directory used by Microsoft's
SMTP service to send email. Any email files found in that directory are processed and
delivered over SMTP. If the delivery process fails, the files are stored in a queue
directory for delivery at another time. If a fatal error occurs (such as a DNS resolution
error), the files are moved to the Badmail directory.
By writing to the pickup directory, this speeds up the process because the entire chatting
SMTP layer used for relaying is by passed. Below is an example of how to write directly
to the Pickup directory.
[ C# ]
public static void PickupDirectory()
{
//set the addresses

//set the content

//if we are using the IIS SMTP Service, we can write the message
//directly to the PickupDirectory, and bypass the Network layer
SmtpClient smtp = new SmtpClient();
smtp.DeliveryMethod = SmtpDeliveryMethod.PickupDirectoryFromIis;
smtp.Send(mail);
}
[ VB.NET ]
Public Sub PickupDirectory()
'set the addresses

'set the content

'if we are using the IIS SMTP Service, we can write the message
'directly to the PickupDirectory, and bypass the Network layer
Dim smtp As New SmtpClient()
smtp.DeliveryMethod = SmtpDeliveryMethod.PickupDirectoryFromIis
smtp.Send(mail)
End Sub 'PickupDirectory
4.8 How do I send a web page?
System.Net.Mail does not natively support sending a web page. However, using the
WebRequest class, you can screen scrape web pages, and pass the resulting Html string to
the MailMessage object. The following example demonstrates this technique.
Note: Be sure to import the System.Net and System.IO namespaces for this code snippet.
[ C# ]
public static void EmailWebPage()
{
//set the addresses

//set the content

//screen scrape the html

string html = ScreenScrapeHtml("http://localhost/example.htm");
mail.Body = html;
mail.IsBodyHtml = true;
//send the message

smtp.Send(mail);
}
public static string ScreenScrapeHtml(string url)
{
WebRequest objRequest = System.Net.HttpWebRequest.Create(url);
StreamReader sr = new
StreamReader(objRequest.GetResponse().GetResponseStream());
string result = sr.ReadToEnd();
sr.Close();
return result;
}
[ VB.NET ]
Public Sub EmailWebPage()
'set the addresses

'set the content

'screen scrape the html

Dim html As String = ScreenScrapeHtml("http://localhost/example.htm")
mail.Body = html
mail.IsBodyHtml = True
'send the message

smtp.Send(mail)
End Sub 'EmailWebPage
Public Function ScreenScrapeHtml(ByVal url As String) As String

Dim objRequest As WebRequest = System.Net.HttpWebRequest.Create(url)
Dim sr As New StreamReader(objRequest.GetResponse().GetResponseStream())
Dim result As String = sr.ReadToEnd()
sr.Close()
Return result
End Function 'ScreenScrapeHtml
4.9 How do I send non US-ASCII emails?
In the beginning, when email was first being used, it was all us-ascii content. To handle
different languages and character sets, different encodings must be used. The following
example demonstrates sending a non us-ascii email, using the ISO-8859-1 character set
as an example. The hardest part of sending non us-ascii email, is to determine the correct
character set. For reference, an easy to use character set chart can be found at
aspNetEmail's website, here: http://www.aspnetemail.com/charsets.aspx .
The following example demonstrates this technique.
[ C# ]
public static void NonAsciiMail()
{
//set the addresses

//set the content

//to send non-ascii content, we need to set the encoding that matches the
//string characterset.
//In this example we use the ISO-8859-1 characterset
mail.Body = "this text has some ISO-8859-1 characters: âÒÕÇ";
mail.BodyEncoding = Encoding.GetEncoding("iso-8859-1");
//send the message

smtp.Send(mail);
[ VB.NET ]
Public Sub NonAsciiMail()
'set the addresses

'set the content

'to send non-ascii content, we need to set the encoding that matches the
'string characterset.
'In this example we use the ISO-8859-1 characterset
mail.Body = "this text has some ISO-8859-1 characters: âÒÕÇ"
mail.BodyEncoding = Encoding.GetEncoding("iso-8859-1")
'send the message

smtp.Send(mail)
End Sub 'NonAsciiMail
5 Troubleshooting System.Net.Mail
* You Are Here * [ Scroll To Answer ]
5.1 Bccs are not so blind.
5.2 Cannot enable SSL with a username and password.
5.3 System.Net.Mail with SSL to authenticate against port 465
5 Troubleshooting System.Net.Mail
System.Net.Mail seems like a pretty stable class of email objects. There are a few known
issues. I'm sure more will crop up over time. At the time I put this FAQ together,
System.Net.Mail has been out of beta for less than 30 days. Check the forums for more
ideas and help.
If you do get any exceptions, be sure to always check the inner exception for more
additional information. Usually the inner exceptions will provide the additional
information to solve your problem. Here's a code example for checking inner exceptions
in a console application. If you want to use this code in an ASP.NET page, be sure to
change Console.WriteLine(...) to Response.Write(...).
[ C# ]
public static void InnerExceptions()
{
//set the addresses

mail.To.Add("him@hiscompany.com");
//set the content

//send the message

try
{
smtp.Send(mail);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
Exception ex2 = ex;
string errorMessage = string.Empty;
while (ex2 != null)
{
errorMessage += ex2.ToString();
ex2 = ex2.InnerException;
}
Console.WriteLine(errorMessage);
}
}
[ VB.NET ]
Public Shared Sub InnerExceptions()
'set the addresses

mail.To.Add("him@hiscompany.com")
'set the content

'send the message

Try
smtp.Send(mail)
Catch ex As Exception
Dim ex2 As Exception = ex
Dim errorMessage As String = String.Empty
While Not (ex2 Is Nothing)
errorMessage += ex2.ToString()
ex2 = ex2.InnerException
End While
Console.WriteLine(errorMessage)
End Try
End Sub 'InnerExceptions
5.1 Bccs are not so blind.
Bcc stands for Blind Carbon Copy. You typically BCC someone on an email when you
don't want any of the other recipients to know someone else is being copied on the email.
Unfortunately there is a bug in System.Net.Mail when you BCC someone. If you look at
the raw headers of the sent mail message you will see X-Receiver header for everyone
that was sent the message. This includes the To, CC, and BCC addresses. Thus anyone
who was BCC'd on the message is recorded in headers.
5.2 Cannot enable SSL with a username and password.
I don't really know if this is a problem or not, but I have not been able to enable SSL and
also use a username/password for authentication. I believe this has to do with the order in
which System.Net.Mail sends the commands to the SMTP server. For whatever reason I
received an "Authentication failed" exception from the remote SMTP server. As soon as I
turned SSL off, everything worked. If I didn't set a username/password, the SSL session
worked just fine. It was the combination of SSL and a username/password that wouldn't
let me email.
5.3 System.Net.Mail with SSL to authenticate against port 465
This is an excellent blog post from
http://blogs.msdn.com/webdav_101/archive/2008/06/02/system-net-mail-with-ssl-to-
authenticate-against-port-465.aspx
Dan does a good job explaining the implicit SSL limitation of System.Net.Mail.
System.Net.Mail with SSL to authenticate against port 465

Sending mail using System.Net.Mail with SSL will fail:
System.Net.NetworkCredential aCred = new System.Net.NetworkCredential("myacct",

"mypassword");SmtpClient smtp = new SmtpClient("smtp.mail.myserver.com", 465);
smtp.EnableSsl = true; smtp.UseDefaultCredentials = false; smtp.Credentials = aCred;
System.Net.Mail only supports "Explicit SSL".
Explicit SSL
System.Net.Mail only supports "Explicit SSL". Explicit SSL starts as unencrypted on
port 25, then issues a STARTDLS and switches to an Encrypted connection. See RFC
2228.
Explicit SLL would go something like: Connect on 25 -> StartTLS (starts to encrypt) ->
authenticate -> send data
If the SMTP server expects SSL/TLS connection right from the start then this will not
work.
Implicit SSL
There is no way to use Implicit SSL (SMTPS) with System.Net.Mail. Implicit SSL would
have the entire connection is wrapped in an SSL layer. A specific port would be used
(port 465 is common). There is no formal RFC covering Implicit SSL.
Implicit SLL would go something like: Start SSL (start encryption) -> Connect ->
Authenticate -> send data
This is not considered a bug, it’s a feature request. There are two types of SSL
authentication for SMTP, and we only support one (by design) – Explicit SSL.
6 Additional Help
The following list of links are places to find additional information on System.Net.Mail
System.Net.Mail Forums
You can use the forums found on this site for discussing different System.Net.Mail
issues. The forums are found here:
http://www.SystemNetMail.com/forums.aspx
Yahoo ASP.NET Email Peer-To-Peer support group. We discuss anything .NET and
email related here:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspnetemail/
Search the internet using Google for System.Net.Mail resources here:

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-
30,GGLG:en&q=System%2ENet%2EMail
Search the Microsoft .NET Newsgroups (using google) for various System.Net.Mail
keywords.
MailMessage
http://groups.google.as/groups?q=group
%3Amicrosoft.public.dotnet.*+MailMessage&start=0&scoring=d&hl=en&lr=&safe=off
&num=10&
SmtpClient
%3Amicrosoft.public.dotnet.*+SmtpClient&start=0&scoring=d&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&
num=10&
AlternateView
%3Amicrosoft.public.dotnet.*+AlternateView&start=0&scoring=d&hl=en&lr=&safe=of
f&num=10&
MSDN Documentation on various System.Net.Mail classes.

AlternateView
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms144582(en-US,VS.80).aspx
Attachment
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/e02kz1ak(en-US,VS.80).aspx
LinkedResource
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms144655(en-US,VS.80).aspx
MailMessage
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/8t22a8ww(en-US,VS.80).aspx
SmtpClient
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.net.mail.smtpclient.aspx
Another function to send simple mail
Imports System.Net.Mail
Public Shared Function SendMail(ByVal MailFrom As String, ByVal MailTo As String,

ByVal MailSubject As String, ByVal MailBody As String, Optional ByVal MailCC As
String = "", Optional ByVal MailBCC As String = "", Optional ByVal MyMailPriority
As MailPriority = MailPriority.Normal, Optional ByVal IsBodyHtml As Boolean =
False, Optional ByVal Attachment1 As String = "-999", Optional ByVal Attachment2 As
String = "-999", Optional ByVal Attachment3 As String = "-999", Optional ByVal
MailFromName As String = "-999") As Boolean
Try
Dim ObjSendMail As New MailMessage(MailFrom, MailTo, MailSubject,
MailBody)
If MailFromName <> "-999" Then
ObjSendMail.From = New MailAddress(MailFrom, MailFromName)
End If
If Attachment1 <> "-999" Then
Try
ObjSendMail.Attachments.Add(New Attachment(Attachment1))
End Try
End If
Try
End Try
End If
Try
End Try
End If
If IsBodyHtml = True Then
ObjSendMail.IsBodyHtml = True
Else
ObjSendMail.IsBodyHtml = False
End If
If MailCC > "" Then
ObjSendMail.CC.Add(MailCC)
End If
If MailBCC > "" Then
ObjSendMail.Bcc.Add(MailBCC)
End If
ObjSendMail.Priority = MyMailPriority
Dim client As New SmtpClient(mysmtpserver)
client.Send(ObjSendMail)
Return True
Return False
End Try
End Function

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System.Net.

1.2 What is the .NET Framework?

1.3 What do I need to send email in .NET?

1.4 What is a relay server?

1.5 What is the IIS SMTP Service?

1.6 Can System.Net.Mail read email?

2 Exploring System.Net.Mail Classes

//set the addresses

//set the content

//send the message

'set the addresses

'set the content

'send the message

Click here for MSDN docs.

Below is an example demonstrating the MailAddress class.

//set the addresses

//set the content

//send the message

'set the addresses

'set the content

'send the message

Click here for MSDN docs.

//set the addresses

//set the content

//add an attachment from the filesystem

//to add additional attachments, simply call .Add(...) again

//send the message

'set the addresses

'add an attachment from the filesystem

'to add additional attachments, simply call .Add(...) again

'send the message

Click here for MSDN docs.

Below is an example demonstrating the SmtpClient class.

//set the addresses

//set the content

//send the message

'set the addresses

'set the content

'send the message

Click here for MSDN docs.

//set the addresses

//set the content

//first we create the Plain Text part

//send the message

'set the addresses

'set the content

'first we create the Plain Text part

'send the message

Click here for MSDN docs.

//set the addresses

//set the content

//first we create the Plain Text part

//then we create the Html part

//create the LinkedResource (embedded image)

//add the views

//send the message

'set the addresses

'set the content

'first we create the Plain Text part

'then we create the Html part

'create the LinkedResource (embedded image)

'add the views

'send the message