Java - Sending Email

To send an e-mail using your Java Application is simple enough but to start with you should have JavaMail API and Java Activation Framework (JAF) installed on your machine.

·        You can download latest version of JavaMail (Version 1.2) from Java's standard website.

·        You can download latest version of JAF (Version 1.1.1) from Java's standard website.

Download and unzip these files, in the newly created top level directories you will find a number of jar files for both the applications. You need to add mail.jar and activation.jar files in your CLASSPATH.

Send a Simple E-mail

Here is an example to send a simple e-mail from your machine. It is assumed that your localhost is connected to the Internet and capable enough to send an e-mail.

Example

// File Name SendEmail.java

import java.util.*;

import javax.mail.*;

import javax.mail.internet.*;

import javax.activation.*;

public class SendEmail {

  public static void main(String [] args) {   

     // Recipient's email ID needs to be mentioned.

     String to = "abcd@gmail.com";

     // Sender's email ID needs to be mentioned

     String from = "web@gmail.com";

     // Assuming you are sending email from localhost

     String host = "localhost";

     // Get system properties

     Properties properties = System.getProperties();

     // Setup mail server

     properties.setProperty("mail.smtp.host", host);

     // Get the default Session object.

     Session session = Session.getDefaultInstance(properties);

     try {

        // Create a default MimeMessage object.

        MimeMessage message = new MimeMessage(session);

        // Set From: header field of the header.

        message.setFrom(new InternetAddress(from));

        // Set To: header field of the header.

        message.addRecipient(Message.RecipientType.TO, new InternetAddress(to));

        // Set Subject: header field

        message.setSubject("This is the Subject Line!");

        // Now set the actual message

        message.setText("This is actual message");

        // Send message

        Transport.send(message);

        System.out.println("Sent message successfully....");

     }catch (MessagingException mex) {

        mex.printStackTrace();

     }

  }

}

Compile and run this program to send a simple e-mail −

Output

$ java SendEmail

Sent message successfully....

If you want to send an e-mail to multiple recipients then the following methods would be used to specify multiple e-mail IDs −

void addRecipients(Message.RecipientType type, Address[] addresses)

  throws MessagingException

Here is the description of the parameters −

·        type − This would be set to TO, CC or BCC. Here CC represents Carbon Copy and BCC represents Black Carbon Copy. Example: Message.RecipientType.TO

·        addresses − This is an array of e-mail ID. You would need to use InternetAddress() method while specifying email IDs.

Send an HTML E-mail

Here is an example to send an HTML e-mail from your machine. Here it is assumed that your localhost is connected to the Internet and capable enough to send an e-mail.

This example is very similar to the previous one, except here we are using setContent() method to set content whose second argument is "text/html" to specify that the HTML content is included in the message.

Using this example, you can send as big as HTML content you like.

Example

// File Name SendHTMLEmail.java

import java.util.*;

import javax.mail.*;

import javax.mail.internet.*;

import javax.activation.*;

public class SendHTMLEmail {

  public static void main(String [] args) {

     // Recipient's email ID needs to be mentioned.

     String to = "abcd@gmail.com";

     // Sender's email ID needs to be mentioned

     String from = "web@gmail.com";

     // Assuming you are sending email from localhost

     String host = "localhost";

     // Get system properties

     Properties properties = System.getProperties();

     // Setup mail server

     properties.setProperty("mail.smtp.host", host);

     // Get the default Session object.

     Session session = Session.getDefaultInstance(properties);

     try {

        // Create a default MimeMessage object.

        MimeMessage message = new MimeMessage(session);

        // Set From: header field of the header.

        message.setFrom(new InternetAddress(from));

        // Set To: header field of the header.

        message.addRecipient(Message.RecipientType.TO, new InternetAddress(to));

        // Set Subject: header field

        message.setSubject("This is the Subject Line!");

       // Send the actual HTML message, as big as you like

        message.setContent("<h1>This is actual message</h1>", "text/html");

        // Send message

        Transport.send(message);

        System.out.println("Sent message successfully....");

     }catch (MessagingException mex) {

        mex.printStackTrace();

     }

  }

}

Compile and run this program to send an HTML e-mail −

Output

$ java SendHTMLEmail

Sent message successfully....

Send Attachment in E-mail

Here is an example to send an e-mail with attachment from your machine. Here it is assumed that your localhost is connected to the internet and capable enough to send an e-mail.

Example

// File Name SendFileEmail.java

import java.util.*;

import javax.mail.*;

import javax.mail.internet.*;

import javax.activation.*;

public class SendFileEmail {

  public static void main(String [] args) {    

     // Recipient's email ID needs to be mentioned.

     String to = "abcd@gmail.com";

     // Sender's email ID needs to be mentioned

     String from = "web@gmail.com";

     // Assuming you are sending email from localhost

     String host = "localhost";

     // Get system properties

     Properties properties = System.getProperties();

     // Setup mail server

     properties.setProperty("mail.smtp.host", host);

     // Get the default Session object.

     Session session = Session.getDefaultInstance(properties);

     try {

        // Create a default MimeMessage object.

        MimeMessage message = new MimeMessage(session);

        // Set From: header field of the header.

        message.setFrom(new InternetAddress(from));

        // Set To: header field of the header.

        message.addRecipient(Message.RecipientType.TO,new InternetAddress(to));

        // Set Subject: header field

        message.setSubject("This is the Subject Line!");

        // Create the message part

        BodyPart messageBodyPart = new MimeBodyPart();

        // Fill the message

        messageBodyPart.setText("This is message body");

        // Create a multipar message

        Multipart multipart = new MimeMultipart();

        // Set text message part

        multipart.addBodyPart(messageBodyPart);

        // Part two is attachment

        messageBodyPart = new MimeBodyPart();

        String filename = "file.txt";

        DataSource source = new FileDataSource(filename);

        messageBodyPart.setDataHandler(new DataHandler(source));

        messageBodyPart.setFileName(filename);

        multipart.addBodyPart(messageBodyPart);

        // Send the complete message parts

        message.setContent(multipart );

        // Send message

        Transport.send(message);

        System.out.println("Sent message successfully....");

     }catch (MessagingException mex) {

        mex.printStackTrace();

     }

  }

}

Compile and run this program to send an HTML e-mail −

Output

$ java SendFileEmail

Sent message successfully....

User Authentication Part

If it is required to provide user ID and Password to the e-mail server for authentication purpose, then you can set these properties as follows −

props.setProperty("mail.user", "myuser");

props.setProperty("mail.password", "mypwd");

Rest of the e-mail sending mechanism would remain as explained above.