In this example/demo, i will explain how to send an email from your ASP.Net website or C# application using your GMail account but it can be easily be modified to use other email accounts.

If you want to use a different email account then you need the following checklist:

• Port number - This is usually "25" but can be different as some block this port to prevent spam which i know we all hate!
• SMTP host address - usually "smtp.YourEmailDomain.com" but this can also be different
• SSL - Is ssl needed? if yes then make sure the property is set to true
• Email & Password - The email and password of your email account

The code example below has some details hardcoded in for easier viewing but when you add it to your website/application then i would advise to make the details like port/email/password/smtp as parameters.

First make sure you add the following namespace:

using System.Net.Mail;

public void sendGmail(string emailTo, string subject, string body)

{

    //Creates a new message and sets the From address

    System.Net.Mail.MailMessage msg = new System.Net.Mail.MailMessage();

    msg.From = new MailAddress("YOUREMAIL@gmail.com", "Your Name");

    // Adds addresses the To/CC/Bcc fields

    msg.To.Add(emailTo);

    msg.CC.Add("CCEmailAddress@whatever.com");

    msg.Bcc.Add("BccEmailAddress@whatever.com");

    //Creates a new attachement and adds it to the message

    Attachment file = new Attachment("c:/test.txt");

    msg.Attachments.Add(file);

    // Sets the subject text and the Encoding

    msg.Subject = subject;

    msg.SubjectEncoding = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8;

    // Sets the body text and the Encoding

    msg.Body = body;

    msg.BodyEncoding = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8;

    // Sets the mail to be a HTML message

    msg.IsBodyHtml = true;

    // Creates a new SMTP client to send the above message

    SmtpClient client = new SmtpClient();

    // Sets the login credentials for your email account

    client.Credentials = new System.Net.NetworkCredential("YOUREMAIL@gmail.com", "YOURPASSWORD");

    // Sets the port number for the Gmail server

    client.Port = 587;

    // Sets the smtp server to Gmails

    client.Host = "smtp.gmail.com";

    // Enables SSL

    client.EnableSsl = true;

    // This will send the message based on all the previous details

    client.Send(msg);

}

Acronyms

SSL: Secure Sockets Layer

SMTP: Simple Mail Transfer Protocol