Library code snippets

Sending email using SMTP and Java

By Kevin Saitta, published on 24 Feb 2002

I was on a project a while ago where we needed to be able to send email notifications from the application to the administrator of the database whenever certain errors were trapped. This example shows you how. There are a few libraries that we will need to add in order to get started.

Include the following in your project: 

import java.io.*;
import java.net.*;
import java.util.*;
import java.text.*;     // Used for date formatting.
After you have added the above libraries you are ready to start to get into the good stuff!

The first step to be able to send email it to create a connection to the SMTP port that is listening. Most of the time the SMTP port for a server is usually 25 but check with your email administrator first to get the right port.

Here is the code to make that initial connection: 

private Socket smtpSocket = null;
private DataOutputStream os = null;
private DataInputStream is = null;

Date dDate = new Date();
DateFormat dFormat = _
    DateFormat.getDateInstance(DateFormat.FULL,Locale.US);

try
{ // Open port to server
  smtpSocket = new Socket(m_sHostName, m_iPort);
  os = new DataOutputStream(smtpSocket.getOutputStream());
  is = new DataInputStream(smtpSocket.getInputStream());
            
  if(smtpSocket != null && os != null && is != null)
  { // Connection was made.  Socket is ready for use.
    [ Code to send email will be placed in here. ]
  }
}
catch(Exception e)
{ System.out.println("Host " + m_sHostName + "unknown"); }
Now that you have made the connection it is time to add the code to send off the email. This is pretty straight forward so I will add comments into the code sample itself. 
try                        
{   os.writeBytes("HELO\r\n");
    // You will add the email address that the server 
    // you are using know you as.
    os.writeBytes("MAIL From: <you@yourcompany.com>\r\n");
             
    // Who the email is going to.
    os.writeBytes("RCPT To: <theperson@theircompany.com>\r\n");
    //IF you want to send a CC then you will have to add this
    os.writeBytes("RCPT Cc: <theCC@anycompany.com>\r\n");

              
    // Now we are ready to add the message and the 
    // header of the email to be sent out.                
    os.writeBytes("DATA\r\n");
                  
    os.writeBytes("X-Mailer: Via Java\r\n");
    os.writeBytes("DATE: " + dFormat.format(dDate) + "\r\n");
    os.writeBytes("From: Me <me@mycompany.com>\r\n");
    os.writeBytes("To:  YOU <you@yourcompany.com>\r\n");
               
    //Again if you want to send a CC then add this.
    os.writeBytes("Cc: CCDUDE <CCPerson@theircompany.com>\r\n");
                
    //Here you can now add a BCC to the message as well
    os.writeBytes("RCPT Bcc: BCCDude<BCC@invisiblecompany.com>\r\n");
    }
                
    sMessage = "Your subjectline.";

    os.writeBytes("Subject: Your subjectline here\r\n");
    os.writeBytes(sMessage + "\r\n");
    os.writeBytes("\r\n.\r\n");
    os.writeBytes("QUIT\r\n");
                
    // Now send the email off and check the server reply.  
    // Was an OK is reached you are complete.
    String responseline;
    while((responseline = is.readLine())!=null)
    {  // System.out.println(responseline);
        if(responseline.indexOf("Ok") != -1)
            break;
    }
}
catch(Exception e)
{  System.out.println("Cannot send email as an error occurred.");  }
I hope this has helped you out!

Comments

  1. Taha Tungekar
    21 Feb 2007 at 11:47
    well.. i think
  2. rohit nayak
    20 Jan 2007 at 18:48
    i think that JavaMAIL API is better than the above listed simple socekt programming
  3. Van Glass
    27 Nov 2006 at 15:30
    while this code works well for short emails, it may experience problems when sending emails that exceed the 72 character per-line limit as defined by the RFC.

    Here are a few related tutorials on sending/retrieving emails with Java.

    http://www.jscape.com/articles/sending_email_smtp_ssl_gmail.html

    http://www.jscape.com/articles/retrieving_email_using_java.html

    http://www.jscape.com/articles/sending_email_attachments_using_java.html









  4. roddiack
    10 Nov 2006 at 07:35

    Dear kavitha madam,

    Iam designing a site ... iam using "Email Component" in that...

    I have seen ur code..I think it is for "Intranet" only..

    how can i develop a site with "Email to any Yahoomail , gmail, hotmail..etc"..

    I think u will understandmy problem....

    Iam designing in JSP, servlets..

    Plz help me ..urgently..

    Thanking u mam........and members

     

                     regards ,

              roddiack

  5. Desalegn Shitaw
    23 Nov 2005 at 07:43

    Hey guys I am 5th year Electrical Enginnering Student Jimma University Ethiopia
    I have planed  for final year project  Machine Controll using voice command through Telephone
    now I face difficulty only on speech-to-text source code on VB so please anyone who is worked on
    speech-to-text please send me source code.
    And I kindly aske that anyone who have knowledge on this field and he/she wants to advise me
    Please contact me


    Thank You Very Much


    my e-mail is   desuka4@gmail.com

  6. zahera
    08 May 2003 at 03:16

    Quote:
    [1]Posted by nextwave on 27 Feb 2003 09:09 PM[/1]
    how do you do the opposite (receive email).....
    can you use a ServerSocket to listen and a Socket for connections????
    if so what kinds of input stream do you use to read from the Socket????


    any help or resources would be greatley appreciated.

  7. nextwave
    27 Feb 2003 at 21:09

    how do you do the opposite (receive email).....
    can you use a ServerSocket to listen and a Socket for connections????
    if so what kinds of input stream do you use to read from the Socket????


    any help or resources would be greatley appreciated.

  8. zhen_leow
    09 Oct 2002 at 06:35


    DateFormat dFormat = _  
           DateFormat.getDateInstance(DateFormat.FULL,Locale.US);


    I have got problems with this statement..... can anyone help me see if there is any problem??? the error msg is something like this when i compil e it.........
    --->


    Email.java:13: ';' expected.
       DateFormat dFormat = _  
                             ^
    1 error
    Finished



  9. andy1234
    07 Oct 2002 at 14:23

    what is the need of this code !!!!
    cause when i use this i normally get time out.
    pls clarify thank
       
       while((responseline = in.readLine())!=null)
                           {  
                               if(responseline.indexOf("OK") != -1)
                               {l_send = "NO";
                                break;}
                            }

  10. Developer Fusion Bot
    01 Jan 1999 at 00:00

    This thread is for discussions of Sending email using SMTP and Java.

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java, smtp, email
Kevin Saitta Kevin Saitta is an independent Database/Programming consultant specializing in full life cycle development and database design. You can contact Kevin through the Internet at kev@kbaseonline.com.
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