Send email through Yahoo mail or Gmail with Java

Thanks for reminding me, I did some search on "Yahoo" and "Gmail". For Yahoo someone posted some code that didn't work, for gmail, there seems to be a solution for sending email from command line. I wonder if I can send full fledged email : with CC, BCC, Attachment, Html email with images inside ...

I've done it with a local mail host, but how to do it with Yahoo or Gmail ?

Frank

>Have you read the JavaMail FAQ? Search for "Yahoo" and "Gmail".

Ni_Mina at 2007-7-12 9:04:56 >

Well, in the FAQ (as I looked at six months ago), it doesn't have an concrete sample code of how to connect to Yahoo or Gmail, it points to MrPostman, and I found that it's few years old, the latest update was (08/27/2005), I wonder if it can still connect to the latest versions of Yahoo or Gmail. I remember I downloaded it a few months ago, and couldn't figure out how to send emails with it from a java program.

Is there any sample code showing how to do it ?

Frank

Ni_Mina at 2007-7-12 9:04:56 >

Woo, like magic, how come I didn't see it before ?! Was it there ? But thank you for reminding me ! ^_^

I've downloaded them (both activation.jar & mail.jar, I had the older versions), and will look into it, thanks again !

Frank

> Gee, I wonder if that information would be in the FAQ?

Ni_Mina at 2007-7-12 9:04:56 >

There is a standard way in JavaMail to configure access to SMTP,

IMAP, and POP3 servers. Not all web mail providers provide direct

access to their servers using those protocols. For example,

Hotmail does not. You'll need to check with your service provider.

If they provide instructions on how to configure other email clients

such as Thunderbird, you can probably configure JavaMail to access

the server.

bshannona at 2007-7-12 9:04:56 >

> I have several options as to use which host, either

> local or from several different web accounts, I

> wonder if there is a simply way to check which ones

> are available without actually sending a email to see

> if it succeeded or failed to find out ?

You can connect to the server, possibly authenticating,

and see if that works. Success connecting doesn't

guarantee that you'll be able to send mail, but it's a good

indicator.

bshannona at 2007-7-21 21:00:37 >

> Does anyone know why Gmail has the following error

> message :

>

> Technical details of permanent failure:

> PERM_FAILURE: Message rejected for Sector 5 policy

> reasons

No, but a quick google search shows that you're not alone.

If you figure it out, please post the answer here.

bshannona at 2007-7-21 21:00:37 >

I am accessing my ISP's mail host at work with JavaMail and got the following error, my actual valid email address is replaced below by

[ my_email@address.com ] :

===========================================================

To: my_email@address.com

Subject: Hello Frank

DEBUG: setDebug: JavaMail version 1.4ea

DEBUG: getProvider() returning javax.mail.Provider[TRANSPORT,smtp,com.sun.mail.smtp.SMTPTransport,Sun Microsystems, Inc]

DEBUG SMTP: useEhlo true, useAuth true

DEBUG SMTP: trying to connect to host "mail.nmjava.com", port 25, isSSL false

220 mail54.opentransfer.com ESMTP

DEBUG SMTP: connected to host "mail.nmjava.com", port: 25

EHLO IT-FC-D-FNI

250-mail54.opentransfer.com

250-PIPELINING

250-8BITMIME

250 SIZE 1048576000

DEBUG SMTP: Found extension "PIPELINING", arg ""

DEBUG SMTP: Found extension "8BITMIME", arg ""

DEBUG SMTP: Found extension "SIZE", arg "1048576000"

DEBUG SMTP: use8bit false

MAIL FROM:<fni@IT-FC-D-FNI>

250 ok

RCPT TO:<my_email@address.com>

553 sorry, that domain isn't allowed to be relayed thru this MTA (#5.7.1)

DEBUG SMTP: Invalid Addresses

DEBUG SMTP:my_email@address.com

DEBUG SMTP: Sending failed because of invalid destination addresses

RSET

DEBUG SMTP: EOF: [EOF]

QUIT

DEBUG SMTP: EOF: [EOF]

javax.mail.SendFailedException: Invalid Addresses;

nested exception is:

com.sun.mail.smtp.SMTPAddressFailedException: 553 sorry, that domain isn't allowed to be relayed thru this MTA (#5.7.1)

at com.sun.mail.smtp.SMTPTransport.rcptTo(SMTPTransport.java:1196)

at com.sun.mail.smtp.SMTPTransport.sendMessage(SMTPTransport.java:584)

at smtpsend.main(smtpsend.java:150)

Caused by: com.sun.mail.smtp.SMTPAddressFailedException: 553 sorry, that domain isn't allowed to be relayed thru this MTA (#5.7.1)

at com.sun.mail.smtp.SMTPTransport.rcptTo(SMTPTransport.java:1047)

... 2 more

ADDRESS FAILED:

Address: my_email@address.com

Command: RCPT TO:<my_email@address.com>

RetCode: 553

Response: 553 sorry, that domain isn't allowed to be relayed thru this MTA (#5.7.1)

===========================================================

Does anyone know why ?

Frank

Ni_Mina at 2007-7-21 21:00:37 >

I found out why, I used the wrong port.

Now it can relay my email through my ISP, but the receiver can't see the correct "From" address.

When I send the email, I set the "From" address to something like : 123@xyz.com, but the receiver sees something like this : my_user_Id_at_work@my_PC_id_at_work

It's not the From address I set. And it's not even a valid email address.

How to correct this ?

Frank

Ni_Mina at 2007-7-21 21:00:37 >

What's the relations among the following items :

smtp/smtps , ssl, protocol, auth, user_name/password ?

My understanding is :

ssl: protocol==smtps

non-ssl : protocol==smtp

auth : use user_name/password

non-auth : no need for user_name/password ( yet you can still supply them )

Can there be a combination of [ non-ssl + auth ] and [ ssl + non-auth ] ?

I just need a quick answer, thanks.

Frank

Ni_Mina at 2007-7-21 21:00:37 >

I have the following method that sends email, but I doubt if the logic is correct, it works, but it's not 100% correct when it comes to the relations of : user_name, password, Protocol, Ssl, Auth ...

Now it assumes Auth if there is a user_name, password, and if not Ssl, it will do : Transport.send(message)

Am I doing it the right way ? Need expert advice :

boolean Verbose=false,Debug=false,

Ssl=true,

Auth=true;

// Ssl=false,

// Auth=false;

// Ssl=false,

// Auth=true;

public void Send(String from,String to,String cc,String bcc,String host,String smtpPort,String subject,String body,String fileAttachment,String username,String password) throws Exception

{

String Attachments[];

Properties props=new Properties();// Create some properties and get the default Session

props.put("mail.smtp.host",host);

props.put("mail.smtp.port",smtpPort);

// props.put("mail.debug","true");

Session session=null;

Protocol=Ssl?"smtps":"smtp";

if (username != null && username.length()>0 && password != null && password.length()>0)

{

// props.put("mail.smtp.auth","true");

props.put("mail."+Protocol+".auth","true");

//session=Session.getDefaultInstance(props,new SMTPAuthenticator(username,password));

session=Session.getInstance(props,new SMTPAuthenticator(username,password));

}

//else session=Session.getDefaultInstance(props,null);

else session=Session.getInstance(props,null);

if (Debug) session.setDebug(true);

MimeMessage message=new MimeMessage(session);// Create a message

message.setFrom(new InternetAddress(from));

InternetAddress[] To_Address=InternetAddress.parse(to.replace(";",","),false);

message.setRecipients(Message.RecipientType.TO,To_Address);

InternetAddress[] Cc_Address=InternetAddress.parse(cc.replace(";",","),false);

message.addRecipients(Message.RecipientType.CC,Cc_Address);

InternetAddress[] Bcc_Address=InternetAddress.parse(bcc.replace(";",","),false);

message.addRecipients(Message.RecipientType.BCC,Bcc_Address);

message.setSubject(subject);

// You may need to encode the subject with this special method !

// message.setSubject(javax.mail.internet.MimeUtility.encodeText("Testing javamail with french : "));

message.setSentDate(new Date());

MimeBodyPart messageBodyPart=new MimeBodyPart();// Create the message part

messageBodyPart.setText(body); // Fill message

Multipart multipart=new MimeMultipart();

multipart.addBodyPart(messageBodyPart);

if (fileAttachment != null)// Part two is attachment

{

if (fileAttachment.indexOf(",")!=-1) Attachments=fileAttachment.split(",");

else if (fileAttachment.indexOf(";")!=-1) Attachments=fileAttachment.split(";");

else Attachments=new String[]{fileAttachment};

for (int i=0;i<Attachments.length;i++)

{

if (new File(Attachments[i]).exists())

{

messageBodyPart=new MimeBodyPart();

FileDataSource fds=new FileDataSource(Attachments[i]);

messageBodyPart.setDataHandler(new DataHandler(fds));

messageBodyPart.setFileName(Attachments[i]);

multipart.addBodyPart(messageBodyPart);

}

}

}

message.setContent(multipart); // Put parts in message

// message.setText(text); // If there is no attachment

if (!Ssl) Transport.send(message);// Send the message

else

{

// The simple way to send a message is : Transport.send(message);

// But we're going to use some SMTP-specific features for demonstration purposes so we need to manage the Transport object explicitly.

SMTPTransport t=(SMTPTransport)session.getTransport(Protocol);

try

{

if (Auth) t.connect(host,username,password);

else t.connect();

t.sendMessage(message,message.getAllRecipients());

}

finally

{

if (Verbose) System.out.println("Response: "+t.getLastServerResponse());

t.close();

}

}

session=null;

}

>

Ni_Mina at 2007-7-21 21:00:42 >

The smtpPort is used in props, which in turn is used to get a session, so user can specify any port they want, am I right ?

Are you saying if I use : "if (Auth) t.connect(host,username,password)" down there, then I don't need to use : SMTPAuthenticator at the beginning ?

To simplify, I can change :

if (!Ssl) Transport.send(message);// Send the message

else

{

// The simple way to send a message is : Transport.send(message);

// But we're going to use some SMTP-specific features for demonstration purposes so we need to manage the Transport object explicitly.

SMTPTransport t=(SMTPTransport)session.getTransport(Protocol);

try

{

if (Auth) t.connect(host,username,password);

else t.connect();

t.sendMessage(message,message.getAllRecipients());

}

finally

{

if (Verbose) System.out.println("Response: "+t.getLastServerResponse());

t.close();

}

}

Into this ? :

// The simple way to send a message is : Transport.send(message);

// But we're going to use some SMTP-specific features for demonstration purposes so we need to manage the Transport object explicitly.

SMTPTransport t=(SMTPTransport)session.getTransport(Protocol);

try

{

if (Auth) t.connect(host,username,password);

else t.connect();

t.sendMessage(message,message.getAllRecipients());

}

finally

{

if (Verbose) System.out.println("Response: "+t.getLastServerResponse());

t.close();

}

Frank

Ni_Mina at 2007-7-21 21:00:42 >

That's because I wasn't clear how the process works, how do you know weather a mail server requires auth ? Do you get the info from the server admin ? In case of Yahoo, Gmail who do I ask ? Is there a way to automatically detect the requirement ?

So, I think I need to tell the program weather to auth or not, if it needs to, I then supply it with password, if it doesn't need to, just ignore the user_name and password, is this logical ?

Frank

Ni_Mina at 2007-7-21 21:00:43 >

Now I have 3 versions of code, which is the best ?

========================================= [ 1 ] =========================================

Protocol=ssl?"smtps":"smtp";

if (auth && username != null && password != null)

{

props.put("mail."+Protocol+".auth","true");

//session=Session.getDefaultInstance(props,new SMTPAuthenticator(username,password));

session=Session.getInstance(props,new SMTPAuthenticator(username,password));

}

//else session=Session.getDefaultInstance(props,null);

else session=Session.getInstance(props,null);

...

=== create message ===

...

SMTPTransport t=(SMTPTransport)session.getTransport(Protocol);

try

{

if (Auth) t.connect(host,username,password);

else t.connect();

t.sendMessage(message,message.getAllRecipients());

}

catch (Exception e)

{

...

}

========================================= [ 2 ] =========================================

Protocol=ssl?"smtps":"smtp";

if (auth && username != null && password != null)

{

props.put("mail."+Protocol+".auth","true");

//session=Session.getDefaultInstance(props,new SMTPAuthenticator(username,password));

session=Session.getInstance(props,new SMTPAuthenticator(username,password));

}

//else session=Session.getDefaultInstance(props,null);

else session=Session.getInstance(props,null);

...

=== create message ===

...

SMTPTransport t=(SMTPTransport)session.getTransport(Protocol);

try

{

t.connect();

t.sendMessage(message,message.getAllRecipients());

}

catch (Exception e)

{

...

}

========================================= [ 3 ] =========================================

Protocol=ssl?"smtps":"smtp";

if (auth) props.put("mail."+Protocol+".auth","true");

//session=Session.getDefaultInstance(props,null);

session=Session.getInstance(props,null);

...

=== create message ===

...

SMTPTransport t=(SMTPTransport)session.getTransport(Protocol);

try

{

if (Auth) t.connect(host,username,password);

else t.connect();

t.sendMessage(message,message.getAllRecipients());

}

catch (Exception e)

{

...

}

Also, when to use : Session.getDefaultInstance ?

And when to use : Session.getInstance ?

Frank

Ni_Mina at 2007-7-21 21:00:43 >

Alright, it seems the best solution is :

Protocol=ssl?"smtps":"smtp";

if (auth) props.put("mail."+Protocol+".auth","true");

session=Session.getInstance(props,null);

...

=== create message ===

...

SMTPTransport t=(SMTPTransport)session.getTransport(Protocol);

try

{

if (Auth && username != null && password != null) t.connect(host,username,password);

else t.connect();

t.sendMessage(message,message.getAllRecipients());

}

catch (Exception e)

{

...

}

Ni_Mina at 2007-7-21 21:00:43 >