Send mail using System.Web.Mail namespace

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Introduction

The System.Web.Mail namespace provides the classes for sending email in .NET. This tutorial explains how to send emails with attachments.

Class: MailMessage manages the mail message contents.

Properties

• Attachment specifies the list of the attachments that are transmitted with the message.
• Bcc is a list of semicolon delimited email addresses that receive a Blind Carbon Copy of the message.
• Body contains the message text that has to be sent.
• BodyEncoding is the encoding type of the email message.
• BodyFormat defines the content type of the body of the message.
• Cc is a list of semicolon delimited email addresses that receive a Carbon Copy of the message.
• From is the email address of the sender.
• Header specifies the custom headers which are transmitted with the Message.
• Priority is the priority of the email message.
• Subject is the subject line of the email message.
• To is the email address of the recipient.

Class: MailAttachments manages the mail attachment.

Class: SmtpMail sends email to the mail server.

The code

Let us see it step by step:

Create a Visual Basic .NET application and drop the following controls and set the properties accordingly.

Now let us see the coding part

Invoke the code window and type the following statement above the Class declaration.

Imports System.Web.Mail

Within the Class declaration, in the general section, declare variables required for this project.

' Variable which will send the mail

Dim obj As System.Web.Mail.SmtpMail

'Variable to store the attachments 

Dim Attachment As System.Web.Mail.MailAttachment 

'Variable to create the message to send

Dim Mailmsg As New System.Web.Mail.MailMessage()

Double click on the "Add attachment" button to add the code. Type the following lines:

'Show open dialogue box to select the files to attach


Dim Counter As Integer
OFD.CheckFileExists = True
OFD.Title = "Select file(s) to attach"
OFD.ShowDialog()

For Counter = 0 To UBound(OFD.FileNames)
   lstAttachment.Items.Add(OFD.FileNames(Counter))
Next

Double click on the "Remove attachment" button. Type the following lines:

'Remove the attachments

If lstAttachment.SelectedIndex > -1 Then
    lstAttachment.Items.RemoveAt(lstAttachment.SelectedIndex)
End If

Double click on the "Send" button. Type the following lines:

Dim Counter As Integer

'Validate the data

If txtSMTPServer.Text = "" Then
  MsgBox("Enter the SMTP server info ...!!!", _
           MsgBoxStyle.Information, "Send Email")
  Exit Sub
End If

If txtFrom.Text = "" Then
  MsgBox("Enter the From email address ...!!!", _
           MsgBoxStyle.Information, "Send Email")
  Exit Sub
End If

If txtTo.Text = "" Then
  MsgBox("Enter the Recipient email address ...!!!", _
           MsgBoxStyle.Information, "Send Email")
  Exit Sub
End If

If txtSubject.Text = "" Then
  MsgBox("Enter the Email subject ...!!!", _
           MsgBoxStyle.Information, "Send Email")
  Exit Sub
End If

'Set the properties

'Assign the SMTP server

obj.SmtpServer = txtSMTPServer.Text

'Multiple recepients can be specified using ; as the delimeter

'Address of the recipient

Mailmsg.To = txtTo.Text

'Your From Address

'You can also use a custom header Reply-To for a different replyto address

Mailmsg.From = "\" & txtFromDisplayName.Text & "\ <" & txtFrom.Text & ">"

'Specify the body format
If chkFormat.Checked = True Then
  Mailmsg.BodyFormat = MailFormat.Html 'Send the mail in HTML Format
Else
  Mailmsg.BodyFormat = MailFormat.Text
End If

'If you want you can add a reply to header 
'Mailmsg.Headers.Add("Reply-To", "sample@sample.net")
'custom headersare added like this
'Mailmsg.Headers.Add("Manoj", "TestHeader")

'Mail Subject
Mailmsg.Subject = txtSubject.Text

'Attach the files one by one
For Counter = 0 To lstAttachment.Items.Count - 1
  Attachment = New MailAttachment(lstAttachment.Items(Counter))
  'Add it to the mail message
  Mailmsg.Attachments.Add(Attachment)
Next

'Mail Body
Mailmsg.Body = txtMessage.Text

'Call the send method to send the mail
obj.Send(Mailmsg)

This application is now ready to run, try it.