Using outlook express in vb.net2003

[evy007]

Hai,

Is there anyone who can tell me how to use outlook express in vb.net2003?
I would like that when i click on my mailbutton that outlook express opens. I would also that i can attach a selected picture from my paint program. I don't know how to do
Anyone who can help me?

Greetz

[RobDog888]

The only way to do what you want is to start a process with the "mailto:' protocol. You can not automate or program Outlook Express since it doesnt expose any valid COM interfaces.

System.Diagnostics.Process.Start("mailto:[email protected]?subject=test&body=test&attach=" & Chr(34) & strFileToAttach & Chr(34) & ")

[evy007]

How do I get the picture as attachment in the mail? It always ask after a string. The image i will send is in a picturebox

[sevenhalo]

You could also look into System.Web.Mail. It's pretty straight forward and allows attachments.

Dim mail As New System.Web.Mail.MailMessage
        Dim smtp As System.Web.Mail.SmtpMail
 
        mail.To = "[email protected]"
        mail.From = "[email protected]"
        mail.Priority = Web.Mail.MailPriority.Normal
        mail.Subject = "subject"
        mail.Body = "body"
 
        Dim att As New System.Web.Mail.MailAttachment("C:\test2.bmp")
        mail.Attachments.Add(att)
 
        smtp.Send(mail)

[evy007]

Hello,

On your code it gives errors. It says it don't recognize System.Web.Mail.MailMessage :s

[sevenhalo]

You have to add a reference to System.Web.

Robdog has a better solution if you can make it work. It will use your system's default settings instead of tring to go around them.

[kleinma]

I just wanted to note that I remember reading that attaching a file is not part of the official MAILTO: syntax... so while it may work if the specific email client supports it, its not guaranteed that it will work with every mail client.

[sevenhalo]

I should have also asked, are you using an SMTP engine for your mail server? Or is it POP3 or http? This is only going to work with smtp, http and pop3 have their own mechanics.

[RobDog888]

Yes, thats right klienma. You also need to parse out the special characters and replace them with their web hex equilivalent.

[evy007]

I'm using an SMTP server. So when i use this code System.Diagnostics.Process.Start("mailto:[email protected]?subject=test&body=test&attach=" & Chr(34) & strFileToAttach & Chr(34) & ") Can i attach something from my picturebox then?

[RobDog888]

Yes, but the filepath needs to be in the variable - strFileToAttach and be formatted so the path chars are correctly converted to hex.

[evy007]

Yes, but the filepath needs to be in the variable - strFileToAttach and be formatted so the path chars are correctly converted to hex.

somthing like this: Dim StrAttachment As String = CStr(PictureBox1.Image) or.... But this doesn't work

[RobDog888]

Nope, it wont because your trying to attach a binary image instead of a file on your hard drive and replace the invalid chars with their Hex equilivalent.

[evy007]

So can you give an example please, my english isn't very well.

[RobDog888]

You need to save the image file to your disk. Then use that file path to pass into the attachment argument with the bad chars converted to hex.

C:\Some path\some file.txt
 
'Should be having the :\ and spaces as hex
%20 = space
'not sure what the other two would be.
'This is partially converted.
C:\Some%20path\some%20file.txt

[evy007]

Thx, but is there also a posibility to get a picture from a database and then set them in the mail?

[jmcilhinney]

I think you might want to edit post #15 Rob.

[RobDog888]

Done.