(Visual FoxPro) Send Email without Mail Server

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

Chilkat ActiveX Downloads ActiveX for 32-bit and 64-bit Windows

LOCAL loMailman
LOCAL lcRecipient
LOCAL lcSmtpHostname
LOCAL loEmail
LOCAL lnSuccess

* This example requires the Chilkat API to have been previously unlocked.
* See Global Unlock Sample for sample code.

* 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.
* For versions of Chilkat < 10.0.0, use CreateObject('Chilkat_9_5_0.MailMan')
loMailman = CreateObject('Chilkat.MailMan')

lcRecipient = "admin@chilkatsoft.com"

* Do a DNS MX lookup for the recipient's mail server.

lcSmtpHostname = loMailman.MxLookup(lcRecipient)
IF (loMailman.LastMethodSuccess <> 1) THEN
    ? loMailman.LastErrorText
    RELEASE loMailman
    CANCEL
ENDIF

? lcSmtpHostname

* Set the SMTP server.
loMailman.SmtpHost = lcSmtpHostname

* Create a new email object
* For versions of Chilkat < 10.0.0, use CreateObject('Chilkat_9_5_0.Email')
loEmail = CreateObject('Chilkat.Email')

loEmail.Subject = "This is a test"
loEmail.Body = "This is a test"
loEmail.From = "My Name <myname@mydomain.com>"
loEmail.AddTo("",lcRecipient)

lnSuccess = loMailman.SendEmail(loEmail)
IF (lnSuccess <> 1) THEN
    ? loMailman.LastErrorText
ELSE
    ? "Mail Sent!"
ENDIF

RELEASE loMailman
RELEASE loEmail