Vasile's SendMail FAQ

1. What does VasSendMail?
2. When VasSendMail will work from my page?
3. How to configure the applet?
4. How to see if my webserver is a mailserver?
5. My webserver is also a mailserver, but it does not work!
6. How all this sending mail stuff works?
7. Everything is OK, but why sometimes I can't send mails?
8. What to do if my webserver is not a mailserver?
9. Can't you change it in order to specify the mailserver?
10. Can I use VasSendMail to send attachments (graphics, MSWord, etc.)?
11. Is VasSendMail a spam (unsollicited mail) source?
12. I made everything but it's still not working. What to do?

1. What does VasSendMail?
   It just sends an e-mail to the specified e-mail address, like every mail client program. It is a Java applet, so it is easy to understand and modify.

2. When VasSendMail will work from my page?
   In order to make it working from your web page, you must be sure that the hosting web server is in the same time a mail server (SMTP).

3. How to configure the applet?
   Normally, you have nothing to configure. Just see if your webserver is also a mailserver and make the correct call to the Java class from the webpage.

4. How to see if my webserver is a mailserver?
   To see if your web server is also a mail server (SMTP), under the command prompt type (when you are connected, of course) :
   telnet your_web_server 25, for example
   telnet technopole.le-village.com 25 for my page.
   If you have no errors, and it connects to, then the webserver is a mail server (SMTP) too.

5. My webserver is also a mailserver, but it does not work!
   Some mailservers are configured in order to not send mails outside their domain. It's means that they do not relay mails to other mailboxes then their own. To see if your mailserver relay or not, you have to try a complete SMTP session. For example: 220 ESMTP Sendmail 8.8.5/8.8.5; Sun, 7 Sep 1997 22:17:10 -1000
helo vasile.md
250 Hello vasile.md [194.158.108.66], pleased to meet you
mail from: vasile@ifrance.com
250 vasile@ifrance.com... Sender ok
rcpt to: vasile@ifrance.com
571 vasile@ifrance.com... Mail relaying for ppp-108-66.villette.club-internet.fr denied.
   The reply can also be: 553 vasile@ifrance.com... We do not support relaying
   Possible solutions : send the mails to a local address, ie to an address recognized by the SMTP server or use codebase tag.

6. How all this sending mail stuff works?
   Nothing complicated here. This is a standard SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) communication. Described in RFC (request for comments) number 821 at http://src.doc.ic.ac.uk/computing/internet/rfc/rfc821.txt
   1. You say HELO "your_host"<CarriageReturn/LineFeed> to the server (in general, you can put whatever you want there)
   2. You say MAIL FROM: you@youserver.com<CR/LF>
   3. You say RCPT TO: the_person@you_contact.com<CR/LF>
   4. You say DATA<CR/LF>
   5. You put the body of the e-mail
   6. You type .<CR/LF> at the end of the message
   7. You say QUIT<CR/LF>
   Type HELP<CR/LF> if you have problems.
   SMTP command keywords are case insensitive.

7. Everything is OK, but why sometimes I can't send mails?
   This applet may not work if the visitor is behind a firewall, where some connections are restricted. Also, sometimes the security configuration of Internet Explorer 4 does not allow the applets to connect to remote hosts. In other cases, the mailserver is simply down (it happens), retry then later.

8. What to do if my webserver is not a mailserver?
   You cannot then send mails using a Java applet from your host. Of course, you can always ask the system administrator to fix this situation, but it'll be hard to persuade him.
   Or you can launch this applet from my web page (using codebase) like this:
   <APPLET CODEBASE="http://212.73.208.226/vasile" CODE=VasSendMail.class WIDTH=470 HEIGHT=340></APPLET>

9. Can't you change it in order to specify the mailserver?
   No. Applets can connect only to the host they were downloaded from. It is a security restriction imposed to applets, see Java Security FAQ for more details.

10. Can I use VasSendMail to send attachments (graphics, MSWord, etc.)?
    The short answer is "No". Normally, an applet cannot access hard disk to load files, so VasSendMail does not implement an "attachment" function.
    Sending an email with attached files is exactly the same thing as sending just emails (like VasSendMail does). Simply, in the body (DATA part) of the message you have to add the MIME-encoded text representation of attached files.
    If your register VasSendMail (pro version), on your request, I'll send the code for sending e-mail attachments.

11. Is VasSendMail a spam (unsollicited mail) source?
    No, I don't think so. Spammers use automated email programs which also remove the headers from the messages. They don't push a button everytime to send an email (eg to 10 000 email addresses).
    I don't think it's possible technically to stop the spammers (maybe just the dumb ones). They are smart enough to send mails without using VasSendMail.
    I think there must be some legal issues on this question (on international level). This is the only way to stop them (as well as unsollicited phonecalls).

12. I made everything but it's still not working. What to do?
    Verify if your webserver is a mailserver too. If not, use codebase tag. Configure the applet properly. Check if you are not behind a firewall (if you are trying from your company's network, it's almost sure you are behind a firewall). Check if you have a Java-enabled browser (Netscape 2.02 or above, MSIE 3.0 or above). It won't work if you are launching it from your hardisk! Also, it won't work if you change the name of VasSendMail.class file. If it's still not working, contact the author (give as much details as you can).
    Don't forget that computers make never mistakes, there's always a human error. Even when creating buggy computers. :-)