Send Email without Mail Server

How to send an email without a mail server (so-to-speak).

Download Chilkat Email ActiveX for POP3 / SMTP

Download Chilkat IMAP ActiveX

CREATE PROCEDURE ChilkatSample
AS
BEGIN
    DECLARE @hr int
    DECLARE @sTmp0 nvarchar(4000)

    --  Is it really possible to send email without connecting to
    --  a mail server?  Not really.

    --  When people ask 'Do you support sending email without
    --  a mail server'?  what they're really asking is: 'I don't
    --  have an SMTP server, and I want to send email.  I see
    --  other components available where it's not necessary
    --  to specify an SMTP server.  Does your component have that
    --  ability?'  In short, the answer is Yes.  But you need
    --  to understand some things before you jump in...

    --  Here's what happens inside those other components
    --  that claim to not need a mail server:  The component does
    --  a DNS MX lookup using the intended recipient's email address
    --  to find the mail server (i.e. SMTP server) for that
    --  domain.  It then connects to that server and delivers the
    --  email.  You're still connecting to an SMTP server -- just
    --  not YOUR server.

    --  Chilkat provides an MxLookup method where you can lookup
    --  the SMTP hostname that services any given email address.
    --  You would then assign the SmtpHost property to this value.
    --  Chilkat can then connect directly to the recipient's mail
    --  server and deliver the email.

    --  There are a few gotcha's though...

    --  First, if you're writing an application that is widely
    --  distributed, your app might be running within a network
    --  that blocks outgoing connections to the SMTP port.
    --  Earthlink, for example, is one major ISP that does this.
    --  When you are connected to the Internet via Earthlink,
    --  your apps can *only* connect to Earthlink's SMTP server
    --  and will not be able to reach any remote servers.  To send
    --  email, you must use Earthlink's SMTP as a relay.  This is
    --  common with ISPs.  So... if your application is coded
    --  as in this example, it will not work within those networks.
    -- 
    --  Second, some SMTP servers will reject unauthenticated
    --  sessions attempting to send email from dynamic IP addresses.
    --  You may see this error in your LastErrorText:
    --  553-Your attempt to send email to us has been blocked
    --  553-because your email server is not currently on that domain's Accepted
    --  553-Senders list. To request addition to their Accepted Senders list,
    --  553-please navigate with a Web browser to the following URL:
    --  553-http://reportrbl.gate2service.com/Whitelist/?IPAddress=67.173.123.150
    --  553 See http://www.dnsbl.us.sorbs.net/ (dul)

    --  In a nutshell, just because you were able to do the MxLookup
    --  and connect to the recipient's mail server, doesn't mean
    --  you'll be able to send email -- it depends on the IP address
    --  from which you're connecting.

    --  Finally, the DNS lookup is potentially time consuming.
    --  In addition, you cannot use somebody else's email server
    --  as a relay, so if you're connecting to smtp.xyz.com, you
    --  can only send email to email addresses at xyz.com.
    --  To send email to 3 recipients at different domains means
    --  making 3 separate connections to 3 separate SMTP servers
    --  to send the email one at a time.

    --  The mailman object is used for sending and receiving email.
    DECLARE @mailman int
    EXEC @hr = sp_OACreate 'Chilkat.MailMan2', @mailman OUT
    IF @hr <> 0
    BEGIN
        PRINT 'Failed to create ActiveX component'
        RETURN
    END

    --  Any string argument automatically begins the 30-day trial.
    DECLARE @success int

    EXEC sp_OAMethod @mailman, 'UnlockComponent', @success OUT, '30-day trial'
    IF @success <> 1
      BEGIN
        PRINT 'Component unlock failed'
        RETURN
      END

    DECLARE @recipient nvarchar(4000)

    SELECT @recipient = 'admin@chilkatsoft.com'

    --  Do a DNS MX lookup for the recipient's mail server.
    DECLARE @smtpHostname nvarchar(4000)

    EXEC sp_OAMethod @mailman, 'MxLookup', @smtpHostname OUT, @recipient
    IF @smtpHostname Is NULL 
      BEGIN
        EXEC sp_OAGetProperty @mailman, 'LastErrorText', @sTmp0 OUT
        PRINT @sTmp0
        RETURN
      END


    PRINT @smtpHostname

    --  Set the SMTP server.
    EXEC sp_OASetProperty @mailman, 'SmtpHost', @smtpHostname

    --  Create a new email object
    DECLARE @email int
    EXEC @hr = sp_OACreate 'Chilkat.Email2', @email OUT
    IF @hr <> 0
    BEGIN
        PRINT 'Failed to create ActiveX component'
        RETURN
    END

    EXEC sp_OASetProperty @email, 'Subject', 'This is a test'
    EXEC sp_OASetProperty @email, 'Body', 'This is a test'
    EXEC sp_OASetProperty @email, 'From', 'Chilkat Support <support@chilkatsoft.com>'
    EXEC sp_OAMethod @email, 'AddTo', NULL, '', @recipient

    EXEC sp_OAMethod @mailman, 'SendEmail', @success OUT, @email
    IF @success <> 1
      BEGIN
        EXEC sp_OAGetProperty @mailman, 'LastErrorText', @sTmp0 OUT
        PRINT @sTmp0
      END
    ELSE
      BEGIN
        PRINT 'Mail Sent!'
      END
END
GO