SmtpClient Introduction

The SmtpClient module provides a set of classes that can be used for easy communication with SMTP servers for sending emails, with or without TLS/SSL encryption.

To use this module, use "%requires SmtpClient" in your code. See examples/email.q for an example program using this module

All the public symbols in the module are defined in the SmtpClient namespace

Classes provided:

SmtpClient: manages a connection to an SMTP server
SmtpConnection: provides a connection object to an SMTP server (based on the ConnectionProvider module)

The following supporting classes are provided by the MailMessage module:

MailMessage::Message: wraps a message to be sent via an SmtpClient object
MailMessage::Attachment: used to attach files to a MailMessage::Message object

Note that the SmtpClient class automatically detects if the SMTP server supports ESMTP and a "EHLO" command is executed automatically instead of "HELO" if so. Additionally, the class also automatically detects if the server supports the "STARTTLS" command by parsing the response to the "EHLO" command when talking to ESMTP servers.

If the tls flag is not set on the SmtpClient object and the server supports "STARTTLS" (and a transport layer TLS/SSL connection was not already established), then the SmtpClient object will automatically execute a "STARTTLS" command after connecting so that the rest of the SMTP session is performed securely. This also allows transparent logins and communication with ESMTP servers that require secure connections.

For the above reasons it's normally not required to use the "smtptls" or "esmtptls" protocols in the SmtpClient::constructor(string, *code, *code) RL argument.

SmtpClient::constructor(string, *code, *code) takes a URL argument, the protocol (scheme) component is handled as in the following table.

SmtpcClient Protocol Handling

Protocol	Default Port	Description
`"smtp"`	25	standard SMTP port without encryption; ESMPT and `"STARTTLS"` detection is supported automatically
`"smtps"`	465	note that port 465 is currently assigned to source-specific multicast audio/video </td>

(http://www.iana.org/assignments/port-numbers); \ its use as a port for secure SMTP listeners (where security is enforced at the transport layer because the \ server immediately negotiates a TLS/SSL connection before the application protocol communication starts) is \ deprecated but is included in this module because many SMTP servers still operate this way

"smtptls" 25 a "STARTTLS" command is executed unconditionally after the connection to ensure a secure </td>

connection, even if the server does not declare support for this command in the login response. It's \ normally not necessary to use this protocol as "STARTTLS" is used automatically when logging in to ESMTP \ servers that declare support for this command in the response to the "EHLO" command.

`"esmtp"`	587	like `"smtp"` just using port 587
`"esmtps"`	465	like `"smtps"`
`"esmtptls"`	587	like `"smtptls"` just using port 587

Example:: %requires SmtpClient

%requires Mime

Message msg("The Sender <[email protected]>", "My Subject");

msg.setBody(body);

msg.addTO("My Best Friend <[email protected]>");

msg.attach(filename, Mime::MimeTypeText, data);

code log = sub (string str) {printf("%y: %s\n", now_us(), str);};

SmtpClient::SmtpClient smtp("esmtptls://user@password:smtp.example.com", log, log);

smtp.sendMessage(msg);

now_us
date now_us()

printf
string printf(string fmt,...)

SmtpClient References

Based on:

http://james.apache.org/server/rfclist/smtp/rfc0821.txt
http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc821: initial SMTP protocol spec
http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1521: quoted printable & base 64 transfer encodings
http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2045: mime headers, content types, etc
http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2047: "Q" and "B" encoded words (implemented by the Mime module)
http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2822: message structure, headers, body, etc

SmtpClient Release Notes

SmtpClient 2.0

added support for the DataProvider API (issue 4564)

SmtpClient 1.9.3

fixed message serialization for SMTP handling in case of single "." characters on a line in serialized data (issue issue 3275)

SmtpClient 1.9.2

implemented support for a data provider scheme cache and rich option information for connections (issue 4025)

SmtpClient 1.9.1

fixed type errors sending mails (issue 3813)

SmtpClient 1.9

added the "estmps" scheme for completeness (issue 2833)

SmtpClient 1.8

removed the SmtpConnection::getConstructorInfo() and SmtpConnection::getConstructorInfoImpl() methods (issue 3696)
added support for socket events (issue 3425)

SmtpClient 1.7

added the SmtpConnection::getConstructorInfo() method to allow connections to be created dynamically, potentially in another process from a network call (removed in SmtpClient 1.8) (issue 2628)

SmtpClient 1.6

added the SmtpConnection class to support the ConnectionProvider module
updated for complex types

SmtpClient 1.5

converted to %new-style

SmtpClient 1.4

fixed missing username and missing password errors

SmtpClient 1.3

added socket instrumention support from Qore 0.8.9
optimized connection and login code; HELO/EHLO and authorization are performed when connecting only; not before each email

SmtpClient 1.2

added support for parsing a full URL in the SmtpClient::constructor(); added protocol support and setting the username / password from the URL
use Message::checkSendPossible() to throw a more descriptive exception if the message is incomplete and not ready to be sent
implemented support for automatically detecting if the server accepts the STARTTLS command and, if so, automatically setting the STARTTLS flag if it's not already set

SmtpClient 1.1

removed the Message and Attachment classes to the MailMessage module to be reused in the Pop3Client module

SmtpClient 1.0

updated to a user module, added initial rudimentary ESMTP handling, STARTTLS and quoted-printable encoding support + documentation

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