Email Services

Electronic mail is the most prevalent application in computer networking and its use has evolved beyond the simple exchange of text messages between two people. For the developer, email provides a reliable means for sending and receiving messages where the protocols are based on well-known and widely used standards. SocketTools provides an interface to email services, allowing developers to easily implement this functionality in their own software without requiring general knowledge of network programming or specific application protocols.

This section of the Quick Start Guide will cover a wide range of topics, from how email messages are structured, to how messages are delivered through relay servers. Even if you are only interested in a specific topic, such as how to send a message, we recommend that you read through this complete section so that you have a full understanding of how the various SocketTools controls are designed to work together.

The SocketTools ActiveX Edition consists of five controls which can be used to build a wide range of applications which use email services. Those controls are:

Domain Name Service Control
Internet Message Access Protocol Control
Mail Message Control
Post Office Protocol Control
Simple Mail Transfer Protocol Control

Each of these controls implements a specific aspect of sending and receiving email messages, or managing a user's messages on the mail server. The Domain Name Service (DNS) control is typically used in conjunction with the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) control to send email messages to other users. The Internet Message Access Protocol v4 (IMAP4) and Post Office Protocol v3 (POP3) controls are used to manage the messages that a user has received. The Mail Message (MIME) control is used to compose new messages, parse stored messages and modify them if needed. When combined together, these components form the foundation of any complete email based application.