how to send email with c++

Question

i am trying to send an email using c++ visual studio 2013. from a search online i found a few code samples for doing so, however i am still unable to send an email. in some code i gt an error of cant include file no such file or directory on

#include sys/socket.h

i also tryed boost but it just got stuck. can anyone help me? last code i tryed:

#include<iostream>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/socket.h>
#include <netinet/in.h>
#include <netdb.h>
#include <stdio.h>

using namespace std;
#define HELO "HELO 192.168.1.1\r\n"
#define DATA "DATA\r\n"
#define QUIT "QUIT\r\n"

//#define h_addr h_addr_list[0]
//FILE *fin;
int sock;
struct sockaddr_in server;
struct hostent *hp, *gethostbyname();
char buf[BUFSIZ+1];
int len;
char *host_id="192.168.1.10";
char *from_id="[email protected]";
char *to_id="[email protected]";
char *sub="testmail\r\n";
char wkstr[100]="hello how r u\r\n";

/*=====Send a string to the socket=====*/

void send_socket(char *s)
{
    write(sock,s,strlen(s));
    write(1,s,strlen(s));
    //printf("Client:%s\n",s);
}

//=====Read a string from the socket=====*/

void read_socket()
{
    len = read(sock,buf,BUFSIZ);
    write(1,buf,len);
    //printf("Server:%s\n",buf);
}

/*=====MAIN=====*/
int main(int argc, char* argv[])
{

    /*=====Create Socket=====*/
    sock = socket(AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, 0);
    if (sock==-1)
    {  
        perror("opening stream socket");
        exit(1);
    }
    else
        cout << "socket created\n";

    /*=====Verify host=====*/
    server.sin_family = AF_INET;
    hp = gethostbyname(host_id);
    if (hp==(struct hostent *) 0)
    {
        fprintf(stderr, "%s: unknown host\n", host_id);
        exit(2);
    }

    /*=====Connect to port 25 on remote host=====*/
    memcpy((char *) &server.sin_addr, (char *) hp->h_addr, hp->h_length);
    server.sin_port=htons(25); /* SMTP PORT */
    if (connect(sock, (struct sockaddr *) &server, sizeof server)==-1)
    {
        perror("connecting stream socket");
        exit(1);
    }
    else
        cout << "Connected\n";
    /*=====Write some data then read some =====*/
    read_socket(); /* SMTP Server logon string */
    send_socket(HELO); /* introduce ourselves */
    read_socket(); /*Read reply */
    send_socket("MAIL FROM: "); 
    send_socket(from_id);
    send_socket("\r\n");
    read_socket(); /* Sender OK */
    send_socket("VRFY ");
    send_socket(from_id);
    send_socket("\r\n");
    read_socket(); // Sender OK */
    send_socket("RCPT TO: "); /*Mail to*/
    send_socket(to_id);
    send_socket("\r\n");
    read_socket(); // Recipient OK*/
    send_socket(DATA);// body to follow*/
    send_socket("Subject: ");
    send_socket(sub);
    read_socket(); // Recipient OK*/
    send_socket(wkstr);
    send_socket(".\r\n");
    read_socket(); 
    send_socket(QUIT); /* quit */
    read_socket(); // log off */

    //=====Close socket and finish=====*/
    close(sock);
    exit(0);
}

Answer 1

Use a network library like POCO

http://pocoproject.org/docs/Poco.Net.SMTPClientSession.html

MailMessage msg;
msg.addRecipient (MailRecipient (MailRecipient::PRIMARY_RECIPIENT,
                                       "[email protected]", "Bob"));
msg.setSender ("Me <[email protected]>");
msg.setSubject ("Subject");
msg.setContent ("Content");

SMTPClientSession smtp ("mail.example.com");
smtp.login ();
smtp.sendMessage (msg);
smtp.close ();

Answer 2

Most of the header files are POSIX specific, and does not exist on Windows.

Instead of

#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/socket.h>
#include <netinet/in.h>
#include <netdb.h>

include just

#include <winsock2.h>

Also, on Windows you don't use read or write to read from/write to sockets, you use recv and send.

You may want to read about getting started with Winsock.