Can I set up HTML Email Templates with ASP NET

Question

I m working on a site that will send out a significant number of emails  I want to set up both header and footer text  or maybe even templates to allow the users to easily edit these emails if they need to   If I embed the HTML inside C  string literals  it s ugly and they would have to worry about escaping   Including flat files for the header and footer might work  but something about it just doesn t feel right   What would be ideal what be to use a  ASPX page as a template somehow  then just tell my code to serve that page  and use the HTML returned for the email   Is there a nice and easy way to do this  Is there a better way to go about solving this problem   Updated  I added an answer that enables you to use a standard  aspx page as the email template   Just replace all the variables like you normally would  use databinding  etc   Then just capture the output of the page  and voila   You have your HTML email   UPDATED WITH CAVEAT     I was using the MailDefinition class on some aspx pages just fine  but when trying to use this class during a server process that was running  it failed   I believe it was because the MailDefinition CreateMailMessage   method requires a valid control to reference  even though it doesn t always do something   Because of this  I would recommend my approach using an aspx page  or Mun s approach using an ascx page  which seems a little better

User · Answer

Look at SubSonic  www subsonicproject com   They re doing exactly this to generate code - the template is standard ASPX  and it outputs c   The same method would be reusable for your scenario

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Just throwing the library I m using into the mix   https   github com lukencode FluentEmail  It renders emails using RazorLight  uses the fluent style to build emails  and supports multiple senders out of the box  It comes with extension methods for ASP NET DI too  Simple to use  little setup  with plain text and HTML support

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DotLiquid is another option  You specify values from a class model as    user name    and then at runtime you provide the data in that class  and the template with the markup  and it will merge the values in for you   It is similar to using the Razor templating engine in many ways   It supports more complex things like loops and various function like ToUpper   The nice thing is these are  safe  so that user s who create the templates can t crash your system or write unsafe code like you would in razor  http   dotliquidmarkup org try-online

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Here is a simple way using the WebClient class   public static string GetHTMLBody string url        string htmlBody       using  WebClient client   new WebClient                   htmlBody   client DownloadString url              return htmlBody      Then just call it like this   string url    http   www yourwebsite com   message Body   GetHTMLBody url     Of course  your CSS will need to be in-lined in order to show the styles of the webpage in the most email clients  such as Outlook   If your e-mail displays dynamic content  ex  Customer Name   then I would recommend using QueryStrings on your website to populate the data   ex  http   www yourwebsite com CustomerName Bob

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If you want to pass parameters like user names  product names      etc  you can use open source template engine NVelocity to produce your final email   HTML s   An example of NVelocity template  MailTemplate vm      A sample email template by  lt b gt  name lt  b gt    lt br   gt   Foreach example    lt br   gt       foreach   item in  itemList    Date   item Date  Name   item Name  Value   itemValue Value  lt br   gt  lt br   gt    end   Generating mail body by MailTemplate vm in your application     VelocityContext context   new VelocityContext    context Put  name    ScarletGarden    context Put  itemList   itemList    StringWriter writer   new StringWriter     Velocity MergeTemplate  MailTemplate vm   context  writer    string mailBody   writer GetStringBuilder   ToString      The result mail body is       A sample email template by   ScarletGarden       Foreach example         Date  12 02 2009  Name  Item 1    Value  09       Date  21 02 2009  Name  Item 4    Value  52       Date  01 03 2009  Name  Item 2    Value  21       Date  23 03 2009  Name  Item 6    Value  24   For editing the templates  maybe you can use FCKEditor and save your templates to files

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If flexibility is one of your prerequisites  XSLT might be a good choice  which is completely supported by  NET framework and you would be able to even let the user edit those files   This article  http   www aspfree com c a XML XSL-Transformations-using-ASP-NET   might be useful for a start  msdn has more info about it   As said by ScarletGarden NVelocity is another good choice but I do prefer XSLT for its   built-in   NET framework support and platform agnostic

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Sure you can create an html template and I would recommend also a text template  In the template you can just put  BODY  in the place where the body would be placed and then you can just read in the template and replace the body with the new content  You can send  the email using  Nets Mail Class  You just have to loop through the sending of the email to all recipients after you create the email initially  Worked like a charm for me   using System Net Mail      Email content string HTMLTemplatePath     path   string TextTemplatePath     path   string HTMLBody       string TextBody        HTMLBody   File ReadAllText HTMLTemplatePath   TextBody   File ReadAllText TextTemplatePath    HTMLBody   HTMLBody Replace    BODY    content   TextBody   HTMLBody Replace    BODY    content       Create email code MailMessage m   new MailMessage     m From   new MailAddress  address gmail com    display name    m To Add  address gmail com    m Subject    subject    AlternateView plain   AlternateView CreateAlternateViewFromString  EmailBody   text  new System Net Mime ContentType  text plain     AlternateView html   AlternateView CreateAlternateViewFromString  EmailBody   body  new System Net Mime ContentType  text html     mail AlternateViews Add plain   mail AlternateViews Add html    SmtpClient smtp   new SmtpClient  server    smtp Send m

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bardev provides a good solution  but unfortunately it s not ideal in all cases  Mine was one of them   I m using WebForms in a Website  I swear I ll never use a Website again--what a PITA  in VS 2013   I tried the Razor suggestion  but mine being a Website I didn t get the all-important IntelliSense that the IDE delivers in an MVC project  I also like to use the designer for my templates--a perfect spot for a UserControl   Nix on Razor again   So I came up with this little framework instead  hat tips to  mun for UserControl and  imatoria for Strong Typing   Just about the only potential trouble spot I can see is that you have to be careful to keep your  ASCX filename in sync with its class name  If you stray  you ll get a runtime error   FWIW  In my testing at least the RenderControl   call doesn t like a Page control  so I went with UserControl   I m pretty sure I ve included everything here  let me know if I left something out   HTH  Usage   Partial Class Purchase   Inherits UserControl    Private Sub SendReceipt       Dim oTemplate As MailTemplates PurchaseReceipt      oTemplate   MailTemplates Templates PurchaseReceipt Me      oTemplate Name    James Bond      oTemplate OrderTotal   3500000     oTemplate OrderDescription    Q-Stuff      oTemplate InjectCss  PurchaseReceipt        Utils SendMail   0   lt james bond mi6 co uk gt   ToFormat oTemplate Name    Purchase Receipt   oTemplate ToHtml    End Sub End Class   Base Class   Namespace MailTemplates   Public MustInherit Class BaseTemplate     Inherits UserControl      Public Shared Function GetTemplate Caller As TemplateControl  Template As Type  As BaseTemplate       Return Caller LoadControl    MailTemplates  0  ascx  ToFormat Template Name       End Function        Public Sub InjectCss FileName As String        If Me Styler IsNot Nothing Then         Me Styler Controls Add New Controls Styler FileName         End If     End Sub        Private ReadOnly Property Styler As PlaceHolder       Get         If  Styler Is Nothing Then            Styler   Me FindNestedControl GetType PlaceHolder           End If          Return  Styler       End Get     End Property     Private  Styler As PlaceHolder   End Class End Namespace    Factory  Class   Namespace MailTemplates   Public Class Templates     Public Shared ReadOnly Property PurchaseReceipt Caller As TemplateControl  As PurchaseReceipt       Get         Return BaseTemplate GetTemplate Caller  GetType PurchaseReceipt         End Get     End Property   End Class End Namespace   Template Class   Namespace MailTemplates   Public MustInherit Class PurchaseReceipt     Inherits BaseTemplate      Public MustOverride WriteOnly Property Name As String     Public MustOverride WriteOnly Property OrderTotal As Decimal     Public MustOverride WriteOnly Property OrderDescription As String   End Class End Namespace   ASCX Header    lt    Control Language  VB  ClassName   Header    gt    lt  DOCTYPE html PUBLIC  -  W3C  DTD XHTML 1 0 Transitional   EN   http   www w3 org TR xhtml1 DTD xhtml1-transitional dtd  gt    lt  --   See https   www campaignmonitor com blog post 3317  for discussion of DocType in HTML Email -- gt    lt html xmlns  http   www w3 org 1999 xhtml  gt   lt head gt     lt title gt  lt  title gt     lt asp PlaceHolder ID  plcStyler  runat  server  gt  lt  asp PlaceHolder gt   lt  head gt   lt body gt    ASCX Footer    lt    Control Language  VB  ClassName   Footer    gt    lt  body gt   lt  html gt    ASCX Template    lt    Control Language  VB  AutoEventWireup  false  CodeFile  PurchaseReceipt ascx vb  Inherits  PurchaseReceipt    gt    lt    Register Src   Header ascx  TagName  Header  TagPrefix  uc    gt   lt    Register Src   Footer ascx  TagName  Footer  TagPrefix  uc    gt    lt uc Header ID  ctlHeader  runat  server    gt      lt p gt Name   lt asp Label ID  lblName  runat  server  gt  lt  asp Label gt  lt  p gt     lt p gt Order Total   lt asp Label ID  lblOrderTotal  runat  server  gt  lt  asp Label gt  lt  p gt     lt p gt Order Description   lt asp Label ID  lblOrderDescription  runat  server  gt  lt  asp Label gt  lt  p gt    lt uc Footer ID  ctlFooter  runat  server    gt    ASCX Template CodeFile   Partial Class PurchaseReceipt   Inherits MailTemplates PurchaseReceipt    Public Overrides WriteOnly Property Name As String     Set Value As String        lblName Text   Value     End Set   End Property      Public Overrides WriteOnly Property OrderTotal As Decimal     Set Value As Boolean        lblOrderTotal Text   Value     End Set   End Property      Public Overrides WriteOnly Property OrderDescription As Decimal     Set Value As Boolean        lblOrderDescription Text   Value     End Set   End Property End Class   Helpers       FindNestedControl helpers based on tip by  andleer   at http   stackoverflow com questions 619449     Public Module Helpers    lt Extension gt    Public Function AllControls Control As Control  As List Of Control      Return Control Controls Flatten   End Function       lt Extension gt    Public Function FindNestedControl Control As Control  Id As String  As Control     Return Control Controls Flatten Function C  C ID   Id  SingleOrDefault   End Function       lt Extension gt    Public Function FindNestedControl Control As Control  Type As Type  As Control     Return Control Controls Flatten Function C  C GetType   Type  SingleOrDefault   End Function       lt Extension gt    Public Function Flatten Controls As ControlCollection  As List Of Control      Flatten   New List Of Control       Controls Traverse Sub Control  Flatten Add Control     End Function      lt Extension gt    Public Function Flatten Controls As ControlCollection  Predicate As Func Of Control  Boolean   As List Of Control      Flatten   New List Of Control       Controls Traverse Sub Control                          If Predicate Control  Then                           Flatten Add Control                          End If                       End Sub    End Function       lt Extension gt    Public Sub Traverse Controls As ControlCollection  Action As Action Of Control       Controls Cast Of Control  ToList ForEach Sub Control As Control                                                 Action Control                                                  If Control HasControls Then                                                  Control Controls Traverse Action                                                 End If                                              End Sub    End Sub       lt Extension   gt    Public Function ToFormat Template As String  ParamArray Values As Object    As String     Return String Format Template  Values    End Function       lt Extension   gt    Public Function ToHtml Control As Control  As String     Dim oSb As StringBuilder      oSb   New StringBuilder      Using oSw As New StringWriter oSb        Using oTw As New HtmlTextWriter oSw          Control RenderControl oTw          Return oSb ToString       End Using     End Using   End Function End Module    Namespace Controls   Public Class Styler     Inherits LiteralControl      Public Sub New FileName As String        Dim           sFileName          sFilePath As String        sFileName   Path GetFileNameWithoutExtension FileName        sFilePath   HttpContext Current Server MapPath    Styles  0  css  ToFormat sFileName          If File Exists sFilePath  Then         Me Text     0  lt style type   text css   gt  0  1  lt  style gt  0   ToFormat vbCrLf  File ReadAllText sFilePath         Else         Me Text   String Empty       End If     End Sub   End Class End Namespace    Public Class Utils   Public Shared Sub SendMail Recipient As MailAddress  Subject As String  HtmlBody As String      Using oMessage As New MailMessage       oMessage To Add Recipient        oMessage IsBodyHtml   True       oMessage Subject   Subject Trim       oMessage Body   HtmlBody Trim        Using oClient As New SmtpClient         oClient Send oMessage        End Using     End Using   End Sub End Class

User · Answer

I think the easy answer is MvcMailer  It s NuGet package that lets you use your favorite view engine to generate emails  See the NuGet package here and the project documentation  Hope it helps

User · Answer

Here is one more alternative that uses XSL transformations for more complex email templates  Sending HTML-based email from  NET applications

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You might also want to try loading a control  and then rendering it to a string and setting that as the HTML Body      Declare stringbuilder to render control to StringBuilder sb   new StringBuilder        Load the control UserControl ctrl    UserControl  LoadControl    Controls UserControl ascx        Do stuff with ctrl here     Render the control into the stringbuilder StringWriter sw   new StringWriter sb   Html32TextWriter htw   new Html32TextWriter sw   ctrl RenderControl htw       Get full body text string body   sb ToString      You could then construct your email as usual   MailMessage message   new MailMessage    message From   new MailAddress  from email com    from name    message Subject    Email Subject   message Body   body  message BodyEncoding   Encoding ASCII  message IsBodyHtml   true   SmtpClient smtp   new SmtpClient  server    smtp Send message     You user control could contain other controls  such as a header and footer  and also take advantage of functionality such as data binding

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Mail dll email component includes email template engine   Here s the syntax overview    lt html gt   lt body gt  Hi  FirstName   LastName    Here are your orders    foreach Orders      Order   Name   sent to  lt strong gt  Street  lt  strong gt     end    lt  body gt   lt  html gt    And the code that loads the template  fills data from c  object and sends an email   Mail Html Template                FromFile  template txt                  DataFrom  contact                 Render         Text  This is text version of the message         From new MailBox  alice mail com    Alice         To new MailBox  bob mail com    Bob         Subject  Your order        UsingNewSmtp        WithCredentials  alice mail com    password        Server  mail com        WithSSL        Send      You can get more info on email template engine blog post   Or just download Mail dll email component and give it a try   Please note that this is a commercial product I ve created

User · Answer

Set the set the Email Message IsBodyHtml   true  Take your object that contains your email contents Serialize the object  and use xml xslt to generate the html content     If you want to do AlternateViews do the same thing that jmein only use a different xslt template to create the plain text content   one of the major advantages to this is if you want to change your layout all you have to do update the xslt template

User · Answer

You could try the MailDefinition class

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What would be ideal what be to use a  ASPX page as a template somehow  then just tell my code to serve that page  and use the HTML returned for the email    You could easily just construct a WebRequest to hit an ASPX page and get the resultant HTML  With a little more work  you can probably get it done without the WebRequest  A PageParser and a Response Filter would allow you to run the page and capture the output   though there may be some more elegant ways

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i had a similar requirement on 1 of the projects where you had to send huge number of emails each day  and the client wanted complete control over html templates for different types of emails   due to the large number of emails to be sent  performance was a primary concern   what we came up with was static content in sql server where you save entire html template mark up  along with place holders  like  UserFirstName    UserLastName  which are replaced with real data at run time  for different types of emails  then we loaded this data in asp net cache - so we dont read the html templates over and over again - but only when they are actually changed  we gave the client a WYSIWYG editor to modify these templates via a admin web form  whenever updates were made  we reset asp net cache   and then we had a seperate table for email logs - where every email to be sent was logged  this table had fields called emailType  emailSent and numberOfTries    we simply ran a job every 5 minutes for important email types  like new member sign up  forgot password  which need to be sent asap  we ran another job every 15 minutes for less important email types  like promotion email  news email  etc   this way you dont block your server sending non stop emails and you process mails in batch  once an email is sent you set the emailSent field to 1

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I like Raj s answer   Programs like ListManager  amp  frameworks like DNN do similar things  and if easy editing by non-technical users is required  WYSIWYG editors to modify HTML stored in SQL is a mostly easy  straightforward way to go and can easily accommodate editing headers independently from footers  etc  as well as using tokens to dynamically insert values    One thing to keep in mind if using the above method  or any  really  is to be strict and careful about which types of styling and tags you allow the editors to insert   If you think browsers are finicky  just wait until you see how differently email clients render the same thing

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There s a ton of answers already here  but I stumbled upon a great article about how to use Razor with email templating   Razor was pushed with ASP NET MVC 3  but MVC is not required to use Razor   This is pretty slick processing of doing email templates  As the article identifies   The best thing of Razor is that unlike its predecessor webforms  it is not tied with the web environment  we can easily host it outside the web and  use it as template engine for various purpose     Generating HTML emails with RazorEngine - Part 01 - Introduction  Leveraging Razor Templates Outside of ASP NET  They   re Not Just for HTML Anymore   Smarter email templates in ASP NET with RazorEngine  Similar Stackoverflow QA  Templating using new RazorEngine API  Using Razor without MVC  Is it possible to use Razor View Engine outside asp net

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I d use a templating library like TemplateMachine  this allows you mostly put your email template together with normal text and then use rules to inject replace values as necessary  Very similar to ERB in Ruby  This allows you to separate the generation of the mail content without tying you too heavily to something like ASPX etc  then once the content is generated with this  you can email away

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I think you could also do something like this   Create and  aspx page  and put this at the end of the OnLoad method  or call it manually       StringBuilder sb   new StringBuilder        StringWriter sw   new StringWriter sb       HtmlTextWriter htmlTW   new HtmlTextWriter sw       this Render htmlTW     I m not sure if there are any potential issues with this  but it looks like it would work   This way  you could use a full featured  aspx page  instead of the MailDefinition class which only supports Text replacements

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Note that the aspx and ascx solutions require a current HttpContext  so cannot be used asynchronously  eg in threads  without a lot of work

User · Answer

If you are able to allow the ASPNET and associated users permission to read  amp  write a file  you can easily use an HTML file with standard String Format   placeholders   0    1 C   etc   to accomplish this    Merely read in the file  as a string  using classes from the System IO namespace  Once you have that string  pass it as the first argument to String Format    and provide the parameters   Keep that string around  and use it as the body of the e-mail  and you re essentially done  We do this on dozens of  admittedly small  sites today  and have had no issues   I should note that this works best if  a  you re not sending zillions of e-mails at a time   b  you re not personalizing each e-mail  otherwise you eat up a ton of strings  and  c  the HTML file itself is relatively small

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Be careful when doing this  SPAM filters seem to block ASP net generated html  apparently because of ViewState  so if you are going to do this make sure the Html produced is clean   I personally would look into using Asp net MVC to achieve your desired results  or NVelocity is quite good at this

User · Answer

Similar to Canavar s answer  but instead of NVelocity  I always use  StringTemplate  which I load the template from a configuration file  or load an external file using File ReadAllText   and set the values   It s a Java project but the C  port is solid and I ve used it in several projects  just used it for email templating using the template in an external file    Alternatives are always good

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