How to Write a Bulk Emails Application in Vb.Net and Mysql: Step by Step Fully Working Program

By Lotfi Ferchichi

Why am I writing this book?

When I start writing programs and market them, I had a problem on finding an easy way to solve my problems, I found a lot of documents and articles talking about different subjects and I have to go through all of them to find what Im looking for, I was always asking the same question, and I guess a lot of you, are doing the same: why they dont just give an example so people can try it, see how it works and this is how we get better.
In this book we will learn how to develop a program from A to Z, I will try to guide you step by step. For sure, all codes here could be better optimized but this is not the goal of this book, the goal is to put on hands a fully working example.
I found once this article on the internet, it inspires me a lot and I guess it resumes the final aim of this book, the author says: I think human beings in general are great innovators, but only after a period of copying first. Essentially, the "great copying" period is necessary to build a foundation of knowledge and resources, innovation just doesn't come from out of nowhere, all by itself. You don't get to build a skyscraper if you don't have the steel, glass and concrete needed to actually make the thing.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris AU
• Release date: Feb 5, 2014
• ISBN: 9781493132881

Lotfi Ferchichi

Author Biography Coming Up Soon

Book preview

HOW TO WRITE A BULK EMAILS APPLICATION IN

VB.NET AND MYSQL

_____________

Step By Step Fully Working Program

Lotfi Ferchichi

Copyright © 2014 by Lotfi Ferchichi.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Rev. date: 01/23/2014

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris LLC

1-800-455-039

www.Xlibris.com.au

[e-mail]

524619

Powerfull Product

I believe this kind of software could be a powerful product you can customize and market, this tool answers the question how to send thousands of emails, it can use unlimited number of SMTP servers and can use many instances to maximize the the profit of these servers.

I have put here a lot of commons and very handy functions that can be used with any kind of software, I have put a strong class to manage all the connections with database, the SQL scripts and almost everything related to databases, you will discover after using this class that you have in hand a powefull class that allows you to master all the database headache.

What we need to start?

We will need the following:

–   Visual studio .net

–   MySQL server

–   Framework 4.5.1

Note that we are not taking care of the design; this is something you have to take care of yourself.

No more talking, let’s start

Open visual studio .net and click on New Project

From the framework combo box choose .NET Framework 4.5.1

On the text box Name, write emails_bulker, and try to keep the same names so you won’t lose yourself later on.

image001.jpg

Click on ok, you will have your project ready

image002.jpg

Let’s write some quick info, click on the form and go to the properties window (mine is on the right), go the text property and write Email Bulker V1.0.

image003.jpg

Note: if you are not seeing the properties window, please go to menu View -> Properties Window

image004.jpg

Save the project, click on the button save

image005.jpg

Click on button Save.

Usually I organize my files into folders, so let’s create a main folder where we will store our main objects like the form we just created.

So let’s create a folder and call it MAIN

Right click on the project name -> Add -> New Folder

image006.jpg

–   Rename the new folder to MAIN

–   Right click on FROM1.vb and then cut it

–   Right Click on our new folder MAIN and click on Paste

Now let’s rename our form to frm_startup.vb

image007.jpg

Now, we will add our design,

First I will change the size of my form to 805, 465 or you can set any size you want

image008.jpg

I’m going to add a statusStrip.

image009.jpg

And also, I will add a TabControl.

image010.jpg

Set the dock to fill

image011.jpg

We remove the second Tab, so go again the properties window and click on Tab Pages

image012.jpg

Select the TabPage2 and click on remove

image013.jpg

And rename the first tab to Log

image014.jpg

Now click on OK.

Now we will add a new listview where we will display all logs, from the toolbox, look for listview

image015.jpg

Select the listview from the toolbox and add it the form

image016.jpg

Now we add the columns, on the properties window click on columns

image017.jpg

This dialog will pop up, click on button Add to add the column

image018.jpg

Ye should add the following columns

image019.jpg

Now we change the view to details, go to properties window and choose view and change it to Details

image020.jpg

Now, I guess you know how to change the dock to fill

You can resize the columns size, move the mouse over the column border and you will be able to change the size.

image021.jpg

Now we add a timer control, again, go to the toolbox and look for timer

image022.jpg

Set the interval to 1000 (1 second)

image023.jpg

Installing MySQL server and creating our database

Go to MySQL website, download and install the server, this is the link where you can get the installer http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/installer/

Don’t forget to install the workbench we will use it a lot.

Database SQL script

Once everything is well installed, let’s start the workbench

Create a new database and call it emails_bulk_messages

image024.jpg

–   This is the database script, copy and paste it in the SQL query box and run it to create your database

CREATE DATABASE IF NOT EXISTS emails_bulk_messages

USE emails_bulk_messages;

DROP TABLE IF EXISTS eb_activities;

CREATE TABLE eb_activities (

id int(11) NOT NULL,

receiver_id int(11) DEFAULT NULL,

message_id int(11) DEFAULT NULL,

eb_system_message text,

post_date datetime DEFAULT NULL,

eb_email varchar(45) DEFAULT NULL,

PRIMARY KEY (id),

KEY act_key_idx (message_id),

CONSTRAINT act_key FOREIGN KEY (message_id) REFERENCES eb_messages (id) ON DELETE CASCADE ON UPDATE CASCADE

) DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8;

DROP TABLE IF EXISTS eb_email_addresses;

CREATE TABLE eb_email_addresses (

id bigint(20) NOT NULL,

hm_email varchar(245) DEFAULT NULL,

hm_status int(11) DEFAULT ‘1’,

source_file_name varchar(45) DEFAULT NULL,

hm_next_use_date datetime DEFAULT NULL,

hm_priority int(11) DEFAULT ‘10’,

hm_trial_number int(11) DEFAULT ‘0’,

PRIMARY KEY (id)

) DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8;

DROP TABLE IF EXISTS eb_messages;

CREATE TABLE eb_messages (

id int(11) NOT NULL,

subject text,

eb_body longtext,

sender_name varchar(245) DEFAULT NULL,

sender_email varchar(245) DEFAULT NULL,

reply_to_email varchar(245) DEFAULT NULL,

post_date datetime DEFAULT NULL,

message_key varchar(245) DEFAULT NULL,

eb_status varchar(45) DEFAULT ‘pending’,

eb_number_of_messages int(11) DEFAULT ‘0’,

eb_report_check_date datetime DEFAULT NULL,

eb_is_report_message int(11) DEFAULT ‘1’,

eb_message_type int(11) DEFAULT ‘3’,

eb_html_body longtext,

eb_next_try_date datetime DEFAULT NULL,

eb_sent_date datetime DEFAULT NULL,

eb_attached_files text,

eb_instance_number int(11) DEFAULT ‘0’,

PRIMARY KEY (id)

) DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8;

DROP TABLE IF EXISTS eb_receivers;

CREATE TABLE eb_receivers (

id int(11) NOT NULL,

eb_email varchar(245) DEFAULT NULL,

eb_name varchar(245) DEFAULT NULL,

eb_message_id int(11) DEFAULT NULL,

eb_status varchar(45) DEFAULT ‘pending’,

eb_try_number int(11) DEFAULT ‘0’,

eb_last_used_host text,

eb_instance_number int(11) DEFAULT ‘0’,

eb_priority int(11) DEFAULT ‘10’,

eb_next_try_date datetime DEFAULT NULL,

PRIMARY KEY (id),

KEY msg_idx (eb_message_id),

CONSTRAINT msg FOREIGN KEY (eb_message_id) REFERENCES eb_messages (id) ON DELETE CASCADE ON UPDATE CASCADE

) DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8;

DROP TABLE IF EXISTS eb_settings;

CREATE TABLE eb_settings (

id int(11) NOT NULL,

eb_instances_number int(11) DEFAULT ‘5’,

eb_max_trial_number int(11) DEFAULT ‘2’,

eb_show_instances_consoles int(11) DEFAULT ‘0’,

eb_max_pending_emails int(11) DEFAULT ‘30’,

PRIMARY KEY (id)

) DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8;

DROP TABLE IF EXISTS eb_smtps;

CREATE TABLE eb_smtps (

id int(11) NOT NULL,

eb_host varchar(245) DEFAULT NULL,

eb_port int(11) DEFAULT ‘25’,

eb_required_authentication int(11) DEFAULT ‘0’,

eb_username varchar(245) DEFAULT NULL,

eb_password varchar(245) DEFAULT NULL,

eb_number_of_use int(11) DEFAULT ‘0’,

eb_enableSSL int(11) DEFAULT ‘0’,

is_active int(11) DEFAULT NULL,

eb_title varchar(245) DEFAULT NULL,

eb_next_use_date datetime DEFAULT NULL,

eb_system_note text,

PRIMARY KEY (id)

) DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8;

Let’s write the code now

Now right click on frm_startup.vb and choose View Code.

image025.jpg

We organize the code by regions

image026.jpg

We will create the timer sub,

From the interface of our form frm_startup, double-click on the timer

image027.jpg

We will treat the exception, write try and press Enter

image028.jpg

We will write some functions that we will use frequently, so we will add and create a new folder we call LIBRARY and we add a class we call it eb_library, so let’s do it.

1—Right click on the project name and -> Add - > New Folder

image029.jpg

2—Right click on the folder Library -> Add -> Class

image030.jpg

Rename the class to eb_library.vb

image031.jpg

3—Click on Add button.

Like we did on the form frm_startup.vb, we will add the regions.

image032.jpg

We add the first function print_out_error. This function will display errors on the console.

image033.jpg

We will add a new module to declare the global variables, right click on the folder MAIN -> Add -> Module

image034.jpg

Rename the file to dec.vb

image035.jpg

Click on button Add.

We declare a global variable library.

image036.jpg

Now, back to the frm_startup.vb.

Add a line in the catch part to print out the details in the console.

image037.jpg

We create a new function where we will run all the scripts and processing.

image038.jpg

Now, we call the function run_scripts in the timer sub.

image039.jpg

Now, we will back to the database and create the connection with the MySQL server, we will create a new class and we will write some code, so let’s create our class.

1—Right click on the project -> Add - > New Folder

2—Rename the folder to CONNECT.

We create a new class now, right click on the connect folder -> Add -> Class

image040.jpg

I won’t explain all the functions in the class eb_connect, when we call a fucntion I will explain the parameters and the result expected, I believe they are not hard to understand at all, they are very usefull.

Now we have to add a reference to be able to connect the MySQL database, the driver is called MySql.Data.dll , you can download the MySQL Connector 6.7.4 or later from here http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/connector/net/.

We add the reference MySql.Data

1—Right click on the project name - > Add Reference.

image041.jpg

This screen will pop up , click on Browse

image042.jpg

Locate the file MySql.Data.dll

image043.jpg

Finally click on button Add.

Back to class eb_connect and import some package

image044.jpg

We will add another class, we will call it eb_connection_parameters, we add it in the folder CONNECT,

Right click on the folder CONNECT -> Add - > class

image045.jpg

We will create a simple encryption functions in the class eb_library.vb, we will use this functions

‘’’

‘’’ decrypt a string

‘’’

‘’’ Input>

‘’’

‘’’

Public Function decrypt(ByVal Input As String, key As String) As String

Try

Dim buffer() As Byte = Convert.FromBase64String(Input)

Dim des As TripleDESCryptoServiceProvider = New TripleDESCrypto

ServiceProvider

Dim Vector() As Byte = {&H12, &H44, &H16, &HEE, &H88, &H15, &HDD, &H41}

‘

‘Perfom key

‘***********

des.Key = Me.get_encryption_Key(key)

des.IV = Vector

Return Encoding.UTF8.GetString(des.CreateDecryptor().TransformFinalBlock(buffer, 0, buffer.Length()))

Catch ex As Exception

Return

End Try

End Function

‘’’

‘’’ Encrypt a string

‘’’

‘’’ Input>

‘’’

‘’’