Configuring Mail Sending From Web.config

I am using SmtpClient to send emails from my Web apps since a long time. But only recently I realized that you can configure mail sending options (the SMTP server address, port number, from address, username, password, etc.) from the Web.config file instead of using constructor arguments and/or setting the SmtpClient properties. The Web.config approach allows administrators to change the configuration later without having to recompile.

To configure mail sending add to your Web.config file a <mailSettings> element under <system.net> under the root <configuration> element.

<configuration>

  <system.net>

    <mailSettings>

Here is the configuration I used to send emails from my Gmail account.

<mailSettings>

  <smtpfrom="bassem.mf@gmail.com">

    <network host="smtp.gmail.com" port="587"

             userName="bassem.mf@gmail.com" password="•••••••"

             enableSsl="true" />

  </smtp>

</mailSettings>

SmtpClient’s default constructor initializes the new instance from the values specified in the mailSettings section

MailMessage mailMessage = new MailMessage()

{

    Subject = "Sent by My Code",

    Body = "This email was sent by my code.",

    IsBodyHtml = false

};

mailMessage.To.Add(new MailAddress("bassem.mf@hotmail.com"));

SmtpClient smtpClient = new SmtpClient();

smtpClient.SendAsync(mailMessage, null);