Send Multiple Textbox Values in Mail Body using SMTP

Question

Guys I am trying to send mail through SMTP server. I am sending the mail using this code,

using(System.Net.Mail.MailMessage message = new System.Net.Mail.MailMessage())
{
    message.To.Add(textBox1.Text); //TextBox1 = Send To
    message.Subject = textBox2.Text; //TextBox2 = Subject
    message.From = new System.Net.Mail.MailAddress("email id");
    message.Body = textBox3.Text; //TextBox3 = Message Body

    using(System.Net.Mail.SmtpClient smtp = new System.Net.Mail.SmtpClient())
    {
        smtp.Host = "smtp.server.com";
        smtp.Credentials = new System.Net.NetworkCredential("user", "pass");
        smtp.Send(message);
    }
}

Now this code works perfectly. Now I want to send a whole form in the body of the mail, like selecting values of multiple textboxes. This is the form, I want to send in the mail :

enter image description here

How can I design a message template so that it may send a message with body containing all the values you see in the above form?

It would be better, to use the `using statement` for your MailMessage and SmtpClient. Resources will be released after using with a `using statement` — Max, Feb 27 '14 at 11:45
@user333170 , may I edit your question, so using statements are used? — Max, Feb 27 '14 at 12:26

Darren · Answer 1 · 2014-02-27T11:38:23.987

Use StringBuilder and build up a string from all of your textboxes in the desired format and assign it to message.Body

If you want the output to be displayed like your form you can add HTML to the string which will be rendered by the e-mail client, however you cannot use CSS for styling.

As an example:

    private string BuildMessageBody()
    {
        StringBuilder builder = new StringBuilder();
        builder.Append("<html>");
        builder.Append("<body>");

        // Custom HTML code could go here (I.e. a HTML table).
        builder.Append(TextBox1.Text); // Append the textbox value

        builder.Append("</body>");
        builder.Append("</html>");

        return builder.ToString();
    }

Then you could do:

message.Body = BuildMessageBody();

Remember to set the IsBodyHtml property to true for your MailMessage:

message.IsBodyHtml = true;

You could get slightly more complicated and iterate over your form for all textbox controls and build the string up this way, which would be a good solution IMO - however this should provide a starting point for what you need to achieve.

I haven't used StringBuilder before, can you give me a example with 2, 3 textbox values? How will I add HTML? Receiver will be using Outlook email client. — NewbieProgrammer, Feb 27 '14 at 11:36
Thank you so much. Going to try your code. Much appreciated. — NewbieProgrammer, Feb 27 '14 at 11:42
Basic CSS is possible, but the styles available are very limited; see http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4829254/best-practices-for-styling-html-emails for more information. — Adrian Wragg, Feb 27 '14 at 12:01

sasjaq · Accepted Answer · 2014-02-27T12:06:19.843

You can use StringBuilder:

StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
sb.AppendLine("Name: " + tbName.Text);
sb.AppendLine("SurName: " + tbSurName.Text);
message.Body = sb.ToString();

or string.Format:

message.Body = string.Format(@"
   Name: {0} 
   SurName: {1}
", tbName.Text, tbSurName.Text);

I prefer string.Format version. There are many other ways like Array joining, but this two are all enough.

Edit for HTML (from comment):

message.Body = string.Format(@"
    <html>
      <body>
        <div>
          <span class=""name"">Name:</span> <span class=""value"">{0}</span>
        </div>
        <div>
          <span class=""name"">SurName:</span> <span class=""value"">{1}</span>
        </div>
      </body>
    </html>", tbName.Text, tbSurName.Text);

Thank you for your answer. I will try this HTML method of string.format. — NewbieProgrammer, Feb 27 '14 at 11:58

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 27 '14 at 11:38

If you want to put an HTML file you can just set the MailMessage.BodyFormat property to MailFormat.Html, and then dump the contents of your html file to the MailMessage.Body property:

using (StreamReader reader = File.OpenText(htmlFilePath)) // Path to your 
{                                                         // HTML file
    MailMessage myMail = new MailMessage();
    myMail.From = "from@microsoft.com";
    myMail.To = "to@microsoft.com";
    myMail.Subject = "HTML Message";
    myMail.BodyFormat = MailFormat.Html;

    myMail.Body = reader.ReadToEnd();  // Load the content from your file...
    //...
}

Otherwise you can use StringBuilder to create a body itself. If you click you will find an example and usage of StringBuilder

Send Multiple Textbox Values in Mail Body using SMTP

3 Answers3