retrieving form data by email using asp.net core razor

Question

I have a form in my asp.net core Razor web app. I want the contents of the form to be sent back to me via email. Code I have so far is on the razor page:

<div class="col-4">

<form method="post">

<div class="mb-3">

<label for="name">Name: </label>

<input class="form-control" type="text" name="Name" />

<label for="email">e-mail: </label>

<input class="form-control" type="email" name="Email" />

<label for="query">Your Query</label>

<input class="form-control" type="text-area" name="Query" />

</div>

<button class="btn btn-primary">Submit</button>

</form>

<p>@Model.message</p>

</div>

and in the code behind (cshtml.cs) model page:

public string message { get; set; }

public void OnPost()

{

if (!StringValues.IsNullOrEmpty(Request.Form["Name"]))

{

message = $"Thank you {Request.Form["Name"]}, we will be in touch by either phone or e-mail.";

}

}

I need to take the input values and convert them to an email (or html) to send to my email through an smtp server.

Any help would be appreciated.

Answer 1

I assume you already have the data retrieved from the client in your razor page. So you just need to send an email. That is done using [SmtpClient](https://learn.microsoft.com/en- us/dotnet/api/system.net.mail.smtpclient?view=net-7.0).

var client = new SmtpClient();
var from = new MailAddress("******@somewhere.com");
var to = new MailAddress("******@somewhere.com");
var msg = new MailMessage(from, to);
msg.Subject = "Sending an email";
msg.Body = "Body of message";
client.Send(msg);

As for building the message you can use any approach you want depending on what you are trying to do. For a simple message just use a string. If you need to build a formatted message with some simple values then use string interpolation. If you need to format more complex messages then use StringBuilder.

msg.Body = "Hello";

//More elaborate
var name = "Bob";
msg.Body = $"Hello {name}";

//Most complex
var builder = new StringBuilder();
builder.Append("Hello ");
if (isFemale)
   builder.Append("Mrs ");
else
   builder.Append("Mr ");
builder.Append(name);
builder.Append($"You owe us {amount:c}. Please remit");

msg.Body = builder.ToString();

Answer 2

Hi @Nigel

After generating the mail message, you can try to use the following code to send mail using SMTP server:

//reference:
using System.Net;    
using System.Net.Mail; 
using System.Text;

//code in the post method
        string sender = "******@hotmail.com"; //sender address    
        string receiver= "******@hotmail.com"; //receiver address    
        MailMessage message = new MailMessage(sender, receiver);

        //build the mail body and add the hyperlink
        string mailbody = "<h1>Hi <a href= '" + _config.GetSection("contacturl").Value + "' > Contact Us </a> Thank you.</h1>";
        message.Subject = "Contact Us";

        //set the mail body format
        message.Body = mailbody;
        message.BodyEncoding = Encoding.UTF8;
        message.IsBodyHtml = true; //

        SmtpClient client = new SmtpClient("smtp.live.com", 587); //outlook smtp    
        System.Net.NetworkCredential basicCredential1 = new
        System.Net.NetworkCredential("sender email", "password");
        client.EnableSsl = true;
        client.UseDefaultCredentials = false;
        client.Credentials = basicCredential1;
        try
        {
            client.Send(message);
        }

        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            throw ex;
        }
        client.Dispose();

The received email is this:

[Note] In the above sample, I'm sending the email via the outlook email, so when create the SmtpClient instance, I use the outlook smtp and set the port to 587, if you want to send an email using another SMTP Server, you can refer the following table:

Besides, to send email, you can also try to use MailKit, SendGrid or other libraries. Refer to my reply in this thread:

How to create a "contact us" page

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Best regards,

Dillion