Mail not going through

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1.00/5 (2 votes)

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Hello fellas,

I have been teaching myself MVC and following tutorials and I have this almost done except I am getting this error I can't figure out.

C#

[HttpPost]
        public ActionResult Contact(ContactsModel model)
        {
            if (ModelState.IsValid)
            {
                InsertContact(model.Name, model.Phone, model.Email, model.Comments);

                MailMessage message = new MailMessage();
                message.From = new MailAddress(model.Email);
                message.To.Add(new MailAddress("lotusms@outlook.com"));
                message.Subject = "You've got mail!";
                message.Body = model.Comments;
                string[] args = { "Name : ", model.Name, "\nPhone : ", model.Phone, "\nComments : ", model.Comments };
                string strBody = String.Concat(args);
                SmtpClient client = new SmtpClient();
                client.Send(message);

                TempData["notice"] = "Someone will reply as soon as possible.";
                return RedirectToAction("Index", "Home");
            }

            return View();
            
        }

and the error I m getting is

The specified string is not in the form required for an e-mail address.

Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of the current web request. Please review the stack trace for more information about the error and where it originated in the code.<br />
<br />
Exception Details: System.FormatException: The specified string is not in the form required for an e-mail address.

Hope this helps.

Thanks a million

Posted 22-May-13 8:38am

Rei Brazilva

Updated 22-May-13 18:44pm

Thanks7872

v2

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Comments

Zoltán Zörgő 22-May-13 14:41pm

And you get the exception right on the constructor? Really, not at the line below it? What is the content of model.Email?

[no name] 23-May-13 8:18am

Zoltan,
I was a s baffled as you are. I wish I could send a screenshot. It is unclear however, where the error is point to from the actual run of the site. But when I put a breakpoint on it, it points right to the constructor. Anyway, this is my model.Email

[Required]
[RegularExpression(@".*@.*", ErrorMessage = "Must be a valid email")]
public string Email { get; set; }

joshrduncan2012 22-May-13 14:42pm

What line is the error pointing to?

[no name] 23-May-13 8:18am

read above please

ZurdoDev 22-May-13 14:42pm

Is this on message.From or message.To? Likely message.From so the question is what is the value of model.Email? Can you put a breakpoint and see what that value is?

[no name] 22-May-13 14:50pm

Believe it or not is pointing to the line I underlined. But something just came up and I have to go. So sorry. If no one figures it out, I'll be back here tomorrow to answer any questions. Sorry. Unexpected affair.

ZurdoDev 22-May-13 14:55pm

Something about that is not right. I would still believe it has to be on the From. Look at what model.Email is.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms144707.aspx?cs-save-lang=1&cs-lang=csharp#code-snippet-1 - empty constructor is OK for MailMessage.

[no name] 23-May-13 8:21am

Thanks for the link. I'l;l check it out right now, but trust me, I was as baffled as you are when I got that error. I thought there was nothing wrong with that script. I put a breakpoint in it and the information is being passed, but it doesn't send
This is my model
[Required]
[RegularExpression(@".*@.*", ErrorMessage = "Must be a valid email")]
public string Email { get; set; }

ZurdoDev 23-May-13 8:32am

So the issue is not in calling the MailMessage but actually in your regular expression on the property of your model?

[no name] 23-May-13 8:35am

By the looks of the error, that's what I thought. But I commented out the expression to accept any kind of string and it still throws off the error pointing to the constructor. Well, I should say, it points to the constructor when I debug. But when I run it live it doesn't say anything about the constructor. It just gives me the error. Would you like to see the stack trace?

ZurdoDev 23-May-13 8:51am

Ya, the stack trace should help. Also, are you running the code through Visual Studio? It just doesn't seem possible to get that error on that line of code.

[no name] 23-May-13 8:55am

ok, I'll post the stack trace in codepad... check it out http://codepad.org/SmdItRSH

and yes, it is VS 2012

ZurdoDev 23-May-13 9:07am

It is acting as if you are passing in a string to your constructor.

[no name] 23-May-13 9:13am

yup. But the expression is clearly defined

[RegularExpression(@".*@.*", ErrorMessage = "Must be a valid email")]

:(

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 22-May-13 14:43pm

The exception is not thrown in the line you underlined, isn't it? This is one of the legit constructors. So, in what line?
—SA

[no name] 23-May-13 8:22am

Sergey, it actually is :(

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 23-May-13 8:56am

In certain situations, debugger can show inaccurate location. You can check exception stack...
—SA

[no name] 23-May-13 8:59am

I thought that myself. Because the constructor seems fine, but then again, so does the model.Email so I don't know. But here is the stack trace if you want to look at it

http://codepad.org/SmdItRSH

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 23-May-13 9:03am

Your have an exception, right? Catch is somewhere up stack and get Exception.StackTrace member. This is just a string, but shows all the way from first exception throw to all its propagation to the current point of catch. If debug information is available, it will show all files and line numbers. You should have the fresh code of course.
—SA

4 solutions

Solution 2

You already asked this question here[^].

Apparently you're ignoring the answer: You haven't told the SmtpClient what server, port, username and password to use to send the message.

Posted 22-May-13 8:53am

Dave Kreskowiak

Comments

[no name] 23-May-13 8:25am

Dave, this is a different problem. I have the right credentials and smpt in the web.config file. The error is telling me there is a problem with the email validation.

Solution 3

You are missing client.EnableSsl=true;
Solution:

C#

var client = new SmtpClient();
client.EnableSsl = true;
client.Send(message);

Posted 22-May-13 20:10pm

Mehul1988

Updated 22-May-13 22:43pm

v4

Comments

[no name] 23-May-13 8:25am

mehul,

I tried that...no cigar :(

Solution 4

I finally came to an answer that solved all the problems. I figured I post it here so in case anyone stops by with the same problem. I couldn't have done it without the help of all the guys here so I'm not taking credit from them. But basically I had to use a thrid party smpt. And this is how:

Use your email smtp information (Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, etc) in my case it was outlook. I found the server they use is 'smtp.live.com'. Then use your username and password that you would normally use for your email.

Use the code below and adjust as needed.

C#

SmtpClient MySMTPClient;
                MailMessage myEmail;

                MySMTPClient = new SmtpClient("smtp.live.com", 25);
                MySMTPClient.Credentials = new NetworkCredential("youremail@email.com", "your password");
                MySMTPClient.EnableSsl = true;
                myEmail = new MailMessage(new MailAddress(model.Email), new MailAddress("youremail@email.com"));
                myEmail.Body = model.Comments;
                myEmail.Subject = "Email from an Azure app!";
                //string[] args = { "Name : ", model.Name, "\nPhone : ", model.Phone, "\nComments : ", model.Comments };
                //string strBody = String.Concat(args);
                MySMTPClient.Send(myEmail);

                TempData["notice"] = "Someone will reply as soon as possible.";
                return RedirectToAction("Index", "Home");

And this was all I needed to do!

Posted 23-May-13 8:00am

Rei Brazilva

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Tadit Dash (ତଡିତ୍ କୁମାର ଦାଶ) · Accepted Answer · 2013-05-22T08:50:00

Solution 1

Refer - MailAddress Constructor (String)[^].

This constructor expects parameter to be one string and it should be in the email format.

So, put a debugger and check the value of model.Email, because it is not in the correct email format as per the error.

[Update]
The web config file includes the system.net node like below.

XML

<mailsettings>
    <smtp from="http://djfitz.azurewebsites.net/">
      <network host="smtp.sendgrid.net" password="Password" username="username" port="25">
    </network></smtp>
  </mailsettings>

In this from address is mentioned as http://djfitz.azurewebsites.net/, which is not a
email address.

So, when you call the default constructor, it takes the from address from here and it throws exception. As you are passing the from address from code, so you can remove from here, wlse provide the correct email address here.
[/Update]

Posted 22-May-13 8:50am

Tadit Dash (ତଡିତ୍ କୁମାର ଦାଶ)

Updated 23-May-13 4:00am

v2

Comments

[no name] 23-May-13 8:23am

That's what I get from that as well, but the model.Email is correct.

[Required]
[RegularExpression(@".*@.*", ErrorMessage = "Must be a valid email")]
public string Email { get; set; }

Tadit Dash (ତଡିତ୍ କୁମାର ଦାଶ) 23-May-13 8:44am

Ok then. Can you provide me the project.
Please upload online somewhere.
You can use Ge.tt for this.

Then provide me the link. I will debug at my local.

[no name] 23-May-13 8:49am

Ok,,Here it is http://ge.tt/5M1PCRh/v/0 I titled it with the site url. Thanks

Tadit Dash (ତଡିତ୍ କୁମାର ଦାଶ) 23-May-13 8:53am

It is a very big file. Can you minimize the project and create another project with just this page and its related functions. Can you do it ?

[no name] 23-May-13 8:57am

That will probably take me a long time to do. I'm pretty new in MVC and I am not sure about the dependency of the files. I'm afraid I'll miss something. But I did post the stack trace in code pad if you want to take a look at it http://codepad.org/SmdItRSH

Tadit Dash (ତଡିତ୍ କୁମାର ଦାଶ) 23-May-13 9:00am

Ok. Tell me the exact value what you get for model.Email while debugging.

Tadit Dash (ତଡିତ୍ କୁମାର ଦାଶ) 23-May-13 9:05am

Do you have any node for <system.net> in web.config file ?

[no name] 23-May-13 9:11am

what do you mean by node? I have the <mailsettings> if that is what youre talking about. They are also correct.

Tadit Dash (ତଡିତ୍ କୁମାର ଦାଶ) 23-May-13 9:07am

Please answer my questions below. I have a solution for you.

[no name] 23-May-13 9:12am

which question below. I'm sorry I don't see anything

Tadit Dash (ତଡିତ୍ କୁମାର ଦାଶ) 23-May-13 9:15am

Do you have any node for <system.net> in web.config file ?

Tadit Dash (ତଡିତ୍ କୁମାର ଦାଶ) 23-May-13 9:17am

Ok post the web.config file's <system.net> node code here.

[no name] 23-May-13 9:24am

Tadit Dash (ତଡିତ୍ କୁମାର ଦାଶ) 23-May-13 10:01am

I have updated my answer. Please check. You have problem in this web config node.

[no name] 23-May-13 10:12am

Tadit,

seems like that error now have changed for another one. But at least we are getting somewhere ha ha .

It says now:

Unable to read data from the transport connection: net_io_connectionclosed.

Tadit Dash (ତଡିତ୍ କୁମାର ଦାଶ) 23-May-13 10:21am

Ok. Please follow the question “Unable to read data from the transport connection: net_io_connectionclosed.”. It might help you.

Please mark this as answer and up-vote as this problem is solved. As you have got another issue, so add another question in Code Project.

Thanks a lot. Nice talking to you,
Tadit

[no name] 23-May-13 10:55am

Thanks. I'll post a new thread if I can't figure it out. So far none of their answers help me. But thanks

Tadit Dash (ତଡିତ୍ କୁମାର ଦାଶ) 23-May-13 13:48pm

Ok. Thanks for accepting the answer...

I will take a loot at the new thread.

[no name] 23-May-13 9:08am

It passes the right email. For example. I put email@email.com in the email texbox and that is what was passed into the model.Email