Windows Azure + SendGrid example

gistfile1.md

#How to: Create an email

Use the static SendGrid.GetInstance method to create an email message that is of type SendGrid. Once the message is created, you can use SendGrid properties and methods to set values including the email sender, the email recipient, and the subject and body of the email.

The following example demonstrates how to create an email object and populate it:

// Create the email object first, then add the properties.
var myMessage = SendGrid.GetInstance();

// Add the message properties.
myMessage.From = new MailAddress("john@contoso.com");

// Add multiple addresses to the To field.
List<String> recipients = new List<String>
{
    @"Jeff Smith <jeff@contoso.com>",
    @"Anna Lidman <anna@contoso.com>",
    @"Peter Saddow <peter@contoso.com>"
};

myMessage.AddTo(recipients);

myMessage.Subject = "Testing the SendGrid Library";

//Add the HTML and Text bodies
myMessage.Html = "<p>Hello World!</p>";
myMessage.Text = "Hello World plain text!";

For more information on all properties and methods supported by the SendGrid type, see sendgrid-csharp on GitHub.

#How to: Send an Email

After creating an email message, you can send it using either SMTP or the Web API provided by SendGrid. For details about the benefits and drawbacks of each API, see SMTP vs. Web API in the SendGrid documentation.

Sending email with either protocol requires that you supply your SendGrid account credentials (username and password). The following code demonstrates how to wrap your credentials in a NetworkCredential object:

// Create network credentials to access your SendGrid account.
var username = "your_sendgrid_username";
var pswd = "your_sendgrid_password";

var credentials = new NetworkCredential(username, pswd);

To send an email message, use the Deliver method on either the SMTP class, which uses the SMTP protocol, or the Web transport class, which calls the SendGrid Web API. The following examples show how to send a message using both SMTP and the Web API.

##SMTP

// Create the email object first, then add the properties.
SendGrid myMessage = SendGrid.GetInstance();
myMessage.AddTo("anna@contoso.com");
myMessage.From = new MailAddress("john@contoso.com", "John Smith");
myMessage.Subject = "Testing the SendGrid Library";
myMessage.Text = "Hello World!";

// Create credentials, specifying your user name and password.
var credentials = new NetworkCredential("username", "password");

// Create an SMTP transport for sending email.
var transportSMTP = SMTP.GetInstance(credentials);

// Send the email.
transportSMTP.Deliver(myMessage);

##Web API

// Create the email object first, then add the properties.
SendGrid myMessage = SendGrid.GenerateInstance();
myMessage.AddTo("anna@contoso.com");
myMessage.From = new MailAddress("john@contoso.com", "John Smith");
myMessage.Subject = "Testing the SendGrid Library";
myMessage.Text = "Hello World!";

// Create credentials, specifying your user name and password.
var credentials = new NetworkCredential("username", "password");

// Create a Web transport for sending email.
var transportWeb = Web.GetInstance(credentials);

// Send the email.
transportWeb.Deliver(myMessage);

#How to: Add an Attachment

Attachments can be added to a message by calling the AddAttachment method and specifying the name and path of the file you want to attach, or by passing a stream. You can include multiple attachments by calling this method once for each file you wish to attach. The following example demonstrates adding an attachment to a message:

SendGrid myMessage = SendGrid.GenerateInstance();
myMessage.AddTo("anna@contoso.com");
myMessage.From = new MailAddress("john@contoso.com", "John Smith");
myMessage.Subject = "Testing the SendGrid Library";
myMessage.Text = "Hello World!";

myMessage.AddAttachment(@"C:\file1.txt");

#How to: Use filters to enable footers, tracking, and analytics

SendGrid provides additional email functionality through the use of filters. These are settings that can be added to an email message to enable specific functionality such as click tracking, Google analytics, subscription tracking, and so on. For a full list of filters, see Filter Settings.

Filters can be applied to SendGrid email messages using methods implemented as part of the SendGrid class. Before you can enable filters on an email message, you must first initialize the list of available filters by calling the InitializeFilters method.

The following examples demonstrate the footer and click tracking filters:

##Footer

// Create the email object first, then add the properties.
SendGrid myMessage = SendGrid.GetInstance();
myMessage.AddTo("anna@contoso.com");
myMessage.From = new MailAddress("john@contoso.com", "John Smith");
myMessage.Subject = "Testing the SendGrid Library";
myMessage.Text = "Hello World!";

myMessage.InitializeFilters();
// Add a footer to the message.
myMessage.EnableFooter("PLAIN TEXT FOOTER", "<p><em>HTML FOOTER</em></p>");

##Click tracking

// Create the email object first, then add the properties.
SendGrid myMessage = SendGrid.GetInstance();
myMessage.AddTo("anna@contoso.com");
myMessage.From = new MailAddress("john@contoso.com", "John Smith");
myMessage.Subject = "Testing the SendGrid Library";
myMessage.Html = "<p><a href=\"http://www.windowsazure.com\">Hello World Link!</a></p>";
myMessage.Text = "Hello World!";

myMessage.InitializeFilters();
// true indicates that links in plain text portions of the email 
// should also be overwritten for link tracking purposes. 
myMessage.EnableClickTracking(true);

#How to: Use additional SendGrid services SendGrid offers web-based APIs that you can use to leverage additional SendGrid functionality from your Windows Azure application. For full details, see the SendGrid API documentation.

#Next Steps Now that you’ve learned the basics of the SendGrid Email service, follow these links to learn more.

• SendGrid C# library repo: sendgrid-csharp
• SendGrid Documentation: http://www.sendgrid.com/docs