Email Varification

[suzi9spal]

Hello,

I'm making a program, in wich I need to varify an email. Not by format(regular expressions), but if it actualy exists or not.
Is this possible without using a special library or dll? Can it be done with normal objects like SmtpClient, TcpClient, methods in System.Net?

Thank you for your time,
-suzi9spal

[dday9]

A quick google search brought me here. It imports System.Net

[DataMiser]

Seems like the only way to truly verify an email address is send an email to it and make the user respond to that email.

[Niya]

Seems like the only way to truly verify an email address is send an email to it and make the user respond to that email.

Not necessarily, I've seen sites that take send emails for registration refuse invalid email addresses presumably before sending them.

Here is a site that can actually do it. They even show portions of the SMTP protocol transmissions so that may give clue as to how its achieved.

[norman_bates]

There are several ways to authenticate an email address, from simple format to actually verifying the server exists and down to the email address exists on said server.

[DataMiser]

Yes, my point was that even if a valid email address is given it is not an indication that it is the valid email address of the person providing it so it really depends on the level of validation you are looking for. If you want to be sure that the user entered the correct email address then the only way I know of to confirm is by receiving a response from that address.

[Niya]

That's why most sites send an activation link when you sign up. If you typed in the wrong valid address then you're screwed. I don't think there is a way to get around that other than vigilance by the user typing the address.