Sending Emails In ASP.NET MVC From Controller Using WebMail Helper

Background

In my previous article on Sending Emails In ASP.NET MVC From Razor View, we have learned how to send emails from View using WebMail Class , Now in this article we will learn how to send emails in ASP.NET MVC from controller with the help WebMail helper class. So let's learn step by step so beginners can also learn how to send emails in ASP.NET MVC from controller.

Prerequisites

Active internet connection.
Email id of any provider such as Gmail, Yahoo or your organization to send emails.

Now let's create a simple MVC application to demonstrate this.

Step 1: Create an MVC Application.

Now let us start with a step by step approach from the creation of a simple MVC application as in the following:

"Start", then "All Programs" and select "Microsoft Visual Studio 2015".
"File", then "New" and click "Project", then select "ASP.NET Web Application Template", then provide the Project a name as you wish and click OK. After clicking, the following window will appear:

3. As shown in the preceding screenshot, click on Empty template and check MVC option, then click OK. This will create an empty MVC web application whose Solution Explorer will look like the following:

Step 2: Create Model Class.

Now let us create the model class named EmployeeModel.cs by right clicking on model folder as in the following screenshot:

Note:

It is not mandatory that Model class should be in Model folder, it is just for better readability you can create this class anywhere in the solution explorer. This can be done by creating different folder names or without folder name or in a separate class library.
EmployeeModel.cs class code snippet:

using System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations;
namespace SendingEmailsFromController.Models
{
public class EmployeeModel
{
[DataType(DataType.EmailAddress),Display(Name ="To")]
[Required]
public string ToEmail { get; set; }
[Display(Name ="Body")]
[DataType(DataType.MultilineText)]
public string EMailBody { get; set; }
[Display(Name ="Subject")]
public string EmailSubject { get; set; }
[DataType(DataType.EmailAddress)]
[Display(Name ="CC")]
public string EmailCC { get; set; }
[DataType(DataType.EmailAddress)]
[Display(Name ="BCC")]
public string EmailBCC { get; set; }
}
}

Step 3 : Add Controller Class.

Now let us add the MVC 5 controller as in the following screenshot:

After clicking on Add button it will show the window. specify the Controller name as Home with suffix Controller.

Note:

The controller name must be having suffix as 'Controller' after specifying the name of controller. Now the default code in HomeController.cs will look like as follows,

HomeController.cs

using SendingEmailsFromController.Models;
using System;
using System.Web.Helpers;
using System.Web.Mvc;
namespace SendingEmailsFromController.Controllers
{
public class HomeController : Controller
{
// GET: Home
public ActionResult SendEmail()
{
return View();
}
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult SendEmail(EmployeeModel obj)
{
try
{
//Configuring webMail class to send emails
//gmail smtp server
WebMail.SmtpServer = "smtp.gmail.com";
//gmail port to send emails
WebMail.SmtpPort = 587;
WebMail.SmtpUseDefaultCredentials = true;
//sending emails with secure protocol
WebMail.EnableSsl = true;
//EmailId used to send emails from application
WebMail.UserName = "[email protected]";
WebMail.Password = "YourGmailPassword";
//Sender email address.
WebMail.From = "[email protected]";
//Send email
WebMail.Send(to: obj.ToEmail, subject: obj.EmailSubject, body: obj.EMailBody, cc: obj.EmailCC, bcc: obj.EmailBCC, isBodyHtml: true);
ViewBag.Status = "Email Sent Successfully.";
}
catch (Exception)
{
ViewBag.Status = "Problem while sending email, Please check details.";
}
return View();
}
}
}

Step 4 :

Create strongly typed view named SendEmail using EmployeeModel class.

Right click on View folder of created application and choose add view , select employee model class and scaffolding template as create . As shown in the following image,

Now open the SendEmail.cshtml view , Then following default code you will see which is generated by MVC scaffolding template as,

SendEmail.cshtml

@model SendingEmailsFromController.Models.EmployeeModel
@{
ViewBag.Title = "www.compilemode.com";
}
@using (Html.BeginForm())
{
@Html.AntiForgeryToken()
<div class="form-horizontal">
<hr />
@Html.ValidationSummary(true, "", new { @class = "text-danger" })
<div class="form-group">
@Html.LabelFor(model => model.ToEmail, htmlAttributes: new { @class = "control-label col-md-2" })
<div class="col-md-10">
@Html.EditorFor(model => model.ToEmail, new { htmlAttributes = new { @class = "form-control" } })
@Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.ToEmail, "", new { @class = "text-danger" })
</div>
</div>
<div class="form-group">
@Html.LabelFor(model => model.EMailBody, htmlAttributes: new { @class = "control-label col-md-2" })
<div class="col-md-10">
@Html.EditorFor(model => model.EMailBody, new { htmlAttributes = new { @class = "form-control" } })
@Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.EMailBody, "", new { @class = "text-danger" })
</div>
</div>
<div class="form-group">
@Html.LabelFor(model => model.EmailSubject, htmlAttributes: new { @class = "control-label col-md-2" })
<div class="col-md-10">
@Html.EditorFor(model => model.EmailSubject, new { htmlAttributes = new { @class = "form-control" } })
@Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.EmailSubject, "", new { @class = "text-danger" })
</div>
</div>
<div class="form-group">
@Html.LabelFor(model => model.EmailCC, htmlAttributes: new { @class = "control-label col-md-2" })
<div class="col-md-10">
@Html.EditorFor(model => model.EmailCC, new { htmlAttributes = new { @class = "form-control" } })
@Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.EmailCC, "", new { @class = "text-danger" })
</div>
</div>
<div class="form-group">
@Html.LabelFor(model => model.EmailBCC, htmlAttributes: new { @class = "control-label col-md-2" })
<div class="col-md-10">
@Html.EditorFor(model => model.EmailBCC, new { htmlAttributes = new { @class = "form-control" } })
@Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.EmailBCC, "", new { @class = "text-danger" })
</div>
</div>
<div class="form-group">
<div class="col-md-offset-2 col-md-10">
<input type="submit" value="Send" class="btn btn-primary" />
</div>
</div>
<div class="form-group">
<div class="col-md-offset-2 col-md-10 text-success">
@ViewBag.Status
</div>
</div>
</div>
}

Now after adding the model , view and controller our application solution explorer will look as follows,

Now we have done all coding to send emails using WebMail class.

Step 5 : Now run the application.

After running the application initial screen will look as follows,

The preceding view is used to send the emails , now click on send button without entering To email address and invalid cc and Bcc email address it throws the following errors .

Now Enter the valid details as follows,

Now click on Send button , after successfully sending the email the following message will be shown,

Now open the your gmail inbox and see the details which we have used to send the email as,

Now open the email , It will show the email content as follows,

I hope from all the preceding examples we have learned how to send email in ASP.NET MVC from controller using WebMail helper class .

Note:

Download the Zip file of the sample application for a better understanding.
Since this is a demo, it might not be using proper standards, so improve it depending on your skills.
You need an active internet connection to send the email .

Summary

I hope this article is useful for all readers. If you have any suggestions please contact me.

Read more articles on ASP.NET:

20 Comments

Join the conversation! Your thoughts help the community grow.

Abhijeet Agrawal7y ago
How to integrate it with database
PK raman7y ago
Problem while sending email, Please check details. this is my problem....I try to break point "" WebMail.Send(to: obj.ToEmail, subject: obj.EmailSubject, body: obj.EMailBody, cc: obj.EmailCC, bcc: obj.EmailBCC, isBodyHtml: true); "" after this line the control moves to catch directly it not show any specific error
- Trung Winn7y ago
  Try to change the port to 25. It works for me.
Darryl Mickhel Flores8y ago
Problem while sending email, Please check details. this is my problem
- Vithal Wadje8y ago
  What exception are you getting
asep roni8y ago
But, How i want sent to many receipt email?
- Vithal Wadje8y ago
  Add list of recipients into the to email object
asep roni8y ago
Thank you, this tutorial success, useful article.
Shakir Ali8y ago
Very nice article thanks for sharing.....
- Vithal Wadje8y ago
  Nice to know it thanks for reading
Abbas Hamza9y ago
This is a useful article, but what if you have a dropdown list when select from it it will point to the selected item email e.g. if i select Info it should send email to [email protected] or if General is selected from the list the email should go to [email protected] how do I go about doing that
- Vithal Wadje9y ago
  Call email method on your drop down change event with the help of jQuery Ajax call
Bart Van9y ago
Great post! I have a question on how I can send an email to a dedicated email address? Users should only fill-in the From, Subject and Body fields?
- Vithal Wadje9y ago
  Stored your dedicated emailed at back-end side , That's it
Vithal Wadje10y ago
thanks
Humayun Kabir Mamun10y ago
Nice...
Vithal Wadje10y ago
thanks
Jaipal Reddy10y ago
Nice. . .
Vithal Wadje10y ago
Thanks
Vignesh Mani10y ago
Nice