What is the best way to validate a email domain?

Question

In my application I validate a email domain like this:

public bool DomainValid(string domainName)
{
    try
    {
        IPHostEntry entry = Dns.GetHostEntry(domainName);
        return true;
    }
    catch (Exception)
    {
        return false;
    }
}

The method is good, but not on every cases, like 'mpg.ro' is a valid email domain but it catches an Exception.

Can someone give me another idea of email domain validation in C#?

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 09 '11 at 15:23

2

You could request the root of the domain, then parse the HTTP response? If it's 200, you're good to go

answered Nov 09 '11 at 15:23

Jeremy Massel

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can you give me an example? Thanks – Jeff Norman Nov 09 '11 at 15:30
check out: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1330856/getting-http-status-code-number-200-301-404-etc-from-httpwebrequest-and-ht You'll definitely want the exception handling recommended there too. – Jeremy Massel Nov 09 '11 at 15:32
yes but... HttpWebRequest expects a web page and 'mpg.ro' (for example) is just a domain, there is no web page www.mpg.ro, so it enters an exception there too.. – Jeff Norman Nov 09 '11 at 15:43

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 09 '11 at 15:50

2

You could do a dns lookup on the mx record. Here's an example at Code Project:
http://www.codeproject.com/KB/IP/dnslookupdotnet.aspx

I hope it will helps you ...

answered Nov 09 '11 at 15:50

rockyashkumar

1,302
4
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As I can see there you need a dns server address.. Is there a way that it can be done without any ip? – Jeff Norman Nov 09 '11 at 16:08

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 09 '11 at 16:02

1

From command prompt:

nslookup -type=mx <domain.name>

you can implement this inside C# too and read the answer.

answered Nov 09 '11 at 16:02

Andrei Bularca

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What is the best way to validate a email domain?

3 Answers3