AspEmail.com - User Manual Chapter 2: Getting Started

1. Introduction
2. Getting Started
3. Attachments
4. Embedded Images
5. Security
6. Unicode
7. Queuing Part I
8. Queuing Part II
Object Reference

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Chapter 2. Getting Started

Creating an Instance of the AspEmail Object

ASP
To use AspEmail in an ASP environment, you must create an instance of the AspEmail object in your ASP script as follows:
<%
...
Set Mail = Server.CreateObject("Persits.MailSender")
...
%>

VB
To use AspEmail in a VB environment, open your VB project, go to Project/References... and check the box next to Persits Software AspEmail 5.0. Declare an AspEmail object variable as follows:
Dim Mail As MailSender
Create an instance of the AspEmail object as follows:
Set Mail = New MailSender
ASP.NET
AspEmail comes with an ASP.NET wrapper assembly, ASPEMAILLib.dll, which has to be placed in the \Bin subdirectory of your ASP.NET application. Alternatively, you can place this file in the Global Assembly Cache.
In C#, create an instance of AspEmail as follows:
<%@ Import Namespace="ASPEMAILLib" %>
<script runat="server" LANGUAGE="C#">
void Page_Load(Object Source, EventArgs E)
{
...
ASPEMAILLib.IMailSender objMail;
objMail = ASPEMAILLib.MailSender();
...
}
</script>

Essential Properties and Methods

In order to send email, AspEmail "talks" to an SMTP server. The SMTP server does not have to be running on the same machine as AspEmail, in fact it can be located anywhere on the local network or the Internet.
You must specify the address of your SMTP server via the Host property. The default port number for SMTP services is 25, but if your SMTP server runs on a different port, you must also specify it via the Port property:
Mail.Host = "smtp.mycompany.com" ' Required
Mail.Port = 25 ' Optional. Port is 25 by default
You may also specify a comma- or semicolon-separated list of SMTP hosts, as follows:
Mail.Host = "smtp.domain1.com;smtp2.domain1.com;host.domain2.com"
If the first host on the list is down, AspEmail will automatically attempt to connect to the second host, etc. If none of the specified hosts are working, an error exception will be thrown.
You must also specify the sender's email address and, optionally, name as follows:
Mail.From = "sales@mycompany.com" ' Required
Mail.FromName = "Sales Department" ' Optional
To add message recipients, CCs, BCCs, and Reply-To's, use the AddAddress, AddCC, AddBcc and AddReplyTo methods, respectively. These methods accept two parameters: the email address and, optionally, name. Notice that you must not use an '=' sign to pass values to the methods. For example,
Mail.AddAddress "jsmith@company1.com", "John Smith"
Mail.AddCC "bjohnson@company2.com" ' Name is optional
Use the Subject and Body properties to specify the message subject and body text, respectively. A body can be in a text or HTML format. In the latter case, you must also set the IsHTML property to True. For example,
' text format
Mail.Subject = "Sales Receipt"
Mail.Body = "Dear John:" & chr(13) & chr(10) & "Thank you for your business. Here is your receipt."
or
' HTML format
Mail.Subject = "Sales Receipt"
Mail.Body = "<HTML><BODY BGCOLOR=#0000FF>Dear John:....</BODY></HTML>"
Mail.IsHTML = True
To send a file attachment with a message, use the AddAttachment method. It accepts the full path to a file being attached. Call this method as many times as you have attachments. Notice that you must not use the '=' sign to pass a value to the method:
Mail.AddAttachment "c:\dir\receipt.doc"
To send a message, call the Send method. The method throws exceptions in case of an error. You may choose to handle them by using the On Error Resume Next statement, as follows:
On Error Resume Next
Mail.Send
If Err <> 0 Then
Response.Write "An error occurred: " & Err.Description
End If

Code Samples

The following code sample demonstrates a simple email-sending form.

<%
' change to address of your own SMTP server
strHost = "mail.elinkisp.com"
If Request("Send") <> "" Then
   Set Mail = Server.CreateObject("Persits.MailSender")
   ' enter valid SMTP host
   Mail.Host = strHost
   Mail.From = Request("From") ' From address
   Mail.FromName = Request("FromName") ' optional
   Mail.AddAddress Request("To")
   ' message subject
   Mail.Subject = Request("Subject")
   ' message body
   Mail.Body = Request("Body")
   strErr = ""
   bSuccess = False
   On Error Resume Next ' catch errors
   Mail.Send ' send message
   If Err <> 0 Then ' error occurred
      strErr = Err.Description
   else
      bSuccess = True
   End If
End If
%>
<HTML>
<BODY BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF">
<% If strErr <> "" Then %>
<h3>Error occurred: <% = strErr %>
<% End If %>
<% If bSuccess Then %>
Success! Message sent to <% = Request("To") %>.
<% End If %>
<FORM METHOD="POST" ACTION="Simple.asp">
<TABLE CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=2 BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0">
<TR>
   <TD>Host (change as necessary in script):</TD>
   <TD><B><% = strHost %></B></TD>
</TR>
<TR>
   <TD>From (enter sender's address):</TD>
   <TD><INPUT TYPE="TEXT" NAME="From"></TD>
</TR>
<TR>
   <TD>FromName (optional, enter sender's name):</TD>
   <TD><INPUT TYPE="TEXT" NAME="FromName"></TD>
</TR>
<TR>
   <TD>To: (enter one recipient's address):</TD>
   <TD><INPUT TYPE="TEXT" NAME="To"></TD>
</TR>
<TR>
   <TD>Subject:</TD>
   <TD><INPUT TYPE="TEXT" NAME="Subject"></TD>
</TR>
<TR>
   <TD>Body:</TD>
   <TD><TEXTAREA NAME="Body"></TEXTAREA></TD>
</TR>
<TR>
   <TD COLSPAN=2><INPUT TYPE="SUBMIT" NAME="Send" VALUE="Send Message">
</TD>
</TR>
</TABLE>
</FORM>
</BODY>
</HTML>

Click the links below to run this code sample (ASP and ASP.NET versions, respectively):
http://localhost/aspemail/Simple/Simple.asp
http://localhost/aspemail/Simple/Simple.aspx
The following code sample sends email in the HTML format. The script is essentially the same except that the message body is set to an HTML string, and the property IsHTML is set to True:

strHTML = message body in HTML format
...
Mail.IsHTML = True
Mail.Body = "<HTML><BODY><CENTER>" & strHTML & "</CENTER></BODY></HTML>"
...

Click the links below to run this code sample.
http://localhost/aspemail/HtmlFormat/HtmlFormat.asp
http://localhost/aspemail/HtmlFormat/HtmlFormat.aspx