MailKit
Getting Started
Sending Messages
One of the more common operations that MailKit is meant for is sending email messages.
using System;
using MailKit.Net.Smtp;
using MailKit;
using MimeKit;
namespace TestClient {
class Program
{
public static void Main (string[] args)
{
var message = new MimeMessage ();
message.From.Add (new MailboxAddress ("Joey Tribbiani", "[email protected]"));
message.To.Add (new MailboxAddress ("Mrs. Chanandler Bong", "[email protected]"));
message.Subject = "How you doin'?";
message.Body = new TextPart ("plain") {
Text = @"Hey Chandler,
I just wanted to let you know that Monica and I were going to go play some paintball, you in?
-- Joey"
};
using (var client = new SmtpClient ()) {
// For demo-purposes, accept all SSL certificates (in case the server supports STARTTLS)
client.ServerCertificateValidationCallback = (s,c,h,e) => true;
client.Connect ("smtp.friends.com", 587, false);
// Note: since we don't have an OAuth2 token, disable
// the XOAUTH2 authentication mechanism.
client.AuthenticationMechanisms.Remove ("XOAUTH2");
// Note: only needed if the SMTP server requires authentication
client.Authenticate ("joey", "password");
client.Send (message);
client.Disconnect (true);
}
}
}
}
Retrieving Messages (via Pop3)
One of the other main uses of MailKit is retrieving messages from pop3 servers.
using System;
using MailKit.Net.Pop3;
using MailKit;
using MimeKit;
namespace TestClient {
class Program
{
public static void Main (string[] args)
{
using (var client = new Pop3Client ()) {
// For demo-purposes, accept all SSL certificates (in case the server supports STARTTLS)
client.ServerCertificateValidationCallback = (s,c,h,e) => true;
client.Connect ("pop.friends.com", 110, false);
// Note: since we don't have an OAuth2 token, disable
// the XOAUTH2 authentication mechanism.
client.AuthenticationMechanisms.Remove ("XOAUTH2");
client.Authenticate ("joey", "password");
for (int i = 0; i < client.Count; i++) {
var message = client.GetMessage (i);
Console.WriteLine ("Subject: {0}", message.Subject);
}
client.Disconnect (true);
}
}
}
}
Using IMAP
More important than POP3 support is the IMAP support. Here's a simple use-case of retreiving messages from an IMAP server:
using System;
using MailKit.Net.Imap;
using MailKit.Search;
using MailKit;
using MimeKit;
namespace TestClient {
class Program
{
public static void Main (string[] args)
{
using (var client = new ImapClient ()) {
// For demo-purposes, accept all SSL certificates
client.ServerCertificateValidationCallback = (s,c,h,e) => true;
client.Connect ("imap.friends.com", 993, true);
// Note: since we don't have an OAuth2 token, disable
// the XOAUTH2 authentication mechanism.
client.AuthenticationMechanisms.Remove ("XOAUTH2");
client.Authenticate ("joey", "password");
// The Inbox folder is always available on all IMAP servers...
var inbox = client.Inbox;
inbox.Open (FolderAccess.ReadOnly);
Console.WriteLine ("Total messages: {0}", inbox.Count);
Console.WriteLine ("Recent messages: {0}", inbox.Recent);
for (int i = 0; i < inbox.Count; i++) {
var message = inbox.GetMessage (i);
Console.WriteLine ("Subject: {0}", message.Subject);
}
client.Disconnect (true);
}
}
}
}
However, you probably want to do more complicated things with IMAP such as fetching summary information so that you can display a list of messages in a mail client without having to first download all of the messages from the server:
foreach (var summary in inbox.Fetch (0, -1, MessageSummaryItems.Full | MessageSummaryItems.UniqueId)) {
Console.WriteLine ("[summary] {0:D2}: {1}", summary.Index, summary.Envelope.Subject);
}
The results of a Fetch command can also be used to download individual MIME parts rather than downloading the entire message. For example:
foreach (var summary in inbox.Fetch (0, -1, MessageSummaryItems.UniqueId | MessageSummaryItems.BodyStructure)) {
if (summary.TextBody != null) {
// this will download *just* the text/plain part
var text = inbox.GetBodyPart (summary.UniqueId, summary.TextBody);
}
if (summary.HtmlBody != null) {
// this will download *just* the text/html part
var html = inbox.GetBodyPart (summary.UniqueId, summary.HtmlBody);
}
// if you'd rather grab, say, an image attachment... it might look something like this:
if (summary.Body is BodyPartMultipart) {
var multipart = (BodyPartMultipart) summary.Body;
var attachment = multipart.BodyParts.OfType<BodyPartBasic> ().FirstOrDefault (x => x.FileName == "logo.jpg");
if (attachment != null) {
// this will download *just* the attachment
var part = inbox.GetBodyPart (summary.UniqueId, attachment);
}
}
}
You may also be interested in sorting and searching...
// let's search for all messages received after Jan 12, 2013 with "MailKit" in the subject...
var query = SearchQuery.DeliveredAfter (DateTime.Parse ("2013-01-12"))
.And (SearchQuery.SubjectContains ("MailKit")).And (SearchQuery.Seen);
foreach (var uid in inbox.Search (query)) {
var message = inbox.GetMessage (uid);
Console.WriteLine ("[match] {0}: {1}", uid, message.Subject);
}
// let's do the same search, but this time sort them in reverse arrival order
var orderBy = new [] { OrderBy.ReverseArrival };
foreach (var uid in inbox.Search (query, orderBy)) {
var message = inbox.GetMessage (uid);
Console.WriteLine ("[match] {0}: {1}", uid, message.Subject);
}
// you'll notice that the orderBy argument is an array... this is because you
// can actually sort the search results based on multiple columns:
orderBy = new [] { OrderBy.ReverseArrival, OrderBy.Subject };
foreach (var uid in inbox.Search (query, orderBy)) {
var message = inbox.GetMessage (uid);
Console.WriteLine ("[match] {0}: {1}", uid, message.Subject);
}
Of course, instead of downloading the message, you could also fetch the summary information for the matching messages or do any of a number of other things with the UIDs that are returned.
How about navigating folders? MailKit can do that, too:
// Get the first personal namespace and list the toplevel folders under it.
var personal = client.GetFolder (client.PersonalNamespaces[0]);
foreach (var folder in personal.GetSubfolders (false))
Console.WriteLine ("[folder] {0}", folder.Name);
If the IMAP server supports the SPECIAL-USE or the XLIST (GMail) extension, you can get ahold of the pre-defined All, Drafts, Flagged (aka Important), Junk, Sent, Trash, etc folders like this:
if ((client.Capabilities & (ImapCapabilities.SpecialUse | ImapCapabilities.XList)) != 0) {
var drafts = client.GetFolder (SpecialFolder.Drafts);
} else {
// maybe check the user's preferences for the Drafts folder?
}
In cases where the IMAP server does not support the SPECIAL-USE or XLIST extensions, you'll have to come up with your own heuristics for getting the Sent, Drafts, Trash, etc folders. For example, you might use logic similar to this:
static string[] CommonSentFolderNames = { "Sent Items", "Sent Mail", /* maybe add some translated names */ };
static IFolder GetSentFolder (ImapClient client, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
{
var personal = client.GetFolder (client.PersonalNamespaces[0]);
foreach (var folder in personal.GetSubfolders (false, cancellationToken)) {
foreach (var name in CommonSentFolderNames) {
if (folder.Name == commonName)
return folder;
}
}
return null;
}
Using LINQ, you could simplify this down to something more like this:
static string[] CommonSentFolderNames = { "Sent Items", "Sent Mail", /* maybe add some translated names */ };
static IFolder GetSentFolder (ImapClient client, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
{
var personal = client.GetFolder (client.PersonalNamespaces[0]);
return personal.GetSubfolders (false, cancellationToken).FirstOrDefault (x => CommonSentFolderNames.Contains (x.Name));
}
Another option might be to allow the user of your application to configure which folder he or she wants to use as their Sent folder, Drafts folder, Trash folder, etc.
How you handle this is up to you.
Donate
MailKit is a personal open source project that I have put thousands of hours into perfecting with the goal of making it not only the very best email framework for .NET, but the best email framework for any programming language. I need your help to achieve this.
https://components.xamarin.com/gettingstarted/mailkit