FAQ

Question Index

Comparison to Competition

• Q. How do you differ from using CDONTS?
  A. MailListBot will benefit your project by the feature set provided. MailListBot has four key features that CDONTS does not: HTML Email formatting; plus the ability to have an HTML and plain text message within one email. Mail Merge with your existing database; Database connectivity for reduced programming on your part; and Email address verification.

  Other advantages to using MailListBot: MailListBot can authenticate with a mail server, CDONTS cannot. MailListBot can connect to any SMTP mail server, CDONTS cannot. MailListBot has internal database functionality helping you write less code, CDONTS does not. MailListBot can verify email addresses, CDONTS cannot. And so on...

  Current Version

• Q. What is the current version and build of MailListBot? How do I get the latest version and build?
  A. The current version of MailListBot is 3.0 and the build number is 1133.
  The current version and build number are displayed in the log file created each time you run MailListBot. You can also get the current version and build number directly from the object using the GetVersionInfo property.
  If you have purchased a license for MailListBot and you wish to get the latest build, please send us an email to Support@ExclamationSoft.com. Please include the name and email address used to purchase the license and we will send you an updated copy as soon as possible.

  Email Address Verification

• Q. How does email address verification work?
  A. Email address verification is performed in the following way:

  1. The email’s domain is queried for a mail server through DNS (Domain name service). If no mail servers for the email address exist, then the email address is considered BAD.
  2. A connection over the Internet to the first (preferred) mail server is made. If not successful, then the email address is considered BAD.
  3. The mail server command VRFY (Verify) is requested of the mail server. This command asked the mail server to actually verify the email address – not all mail server support this feature. If Verify is supported and the mail server reports the email address as good, then processing stops. If Verify is supported and the mail server reports the email address as BAD, then processing stops.
  4. If the Verify command is not supported by the mail server, then a dummy message is addressed to the email address being verified. The mail server may report the email address as bad at this point.
  
  
  Examples:
  Email address: info@exclamationsoft.com
  1. The domain exclamationsoft.com is queried through DNS. The mail server mail.exclamationsoft.com is returned.
  2. A connection is made to the mail server and is successful.
  3. The VRFY command is issued to the mail server and succeeds. The mail server reports the email address as GOOD.
  
  
  Email address: timhodgson@hotmail.com
  1. The domain exclamationsoft.com is queried through DNS. The mail server mx01.hotmail.com is returned.
  2. A connection is made to the mail server and is successful.
  3. The VRFY command is issued to the mail server. The mail server does not support this feature.
  4. A message is addressed to timhodgson@hotmail.com and the mail server accepts this email address. The email address is considered GOOD.
  
  
  One important note: to combat SPAM, some mail server administrators will report false and misleading information, which does negate the verification process. Our products cannot circumvent this, but it will at least find most bad email addresses when the mail servers are configured properly and report true results.

• Q. How can I reduce the number of bounced/bad emails?
  A. The email address verification feature of NetMailBot will reduce the number of bad emails, however, you cannot completely eliminate all bad email addresses for a number of reasons:
  1. To combat SPAM some mail servers will falsely report the validity of an email address. This keeps the Spammers on their toes.
  2. If a person with an email account exceeds the space quota, the mail server normally rejects all new messages, giving the appearance that the email address is bad.
  3. An email address may become “bad” between the time of acquisition and the time of sending the email message.

  General

• Q. Who should use MailListBot?
  A. Developers, Programmers, WebMasters, and Web Designers who want to add email capabilities to their ASP or VB applications. People considering MailListBot should be familiar with VBScript or Visual Basic. Our extensive code examples describe how to use the features of MailListBot and our Help Center will get you started in no time.
• Q. Will the "SetAltBody" and "SetAltBodyFile" properties work with all email clients?
  A. We've done extensive testing of the "SetAltBody" and "SetAltBodyFile" parameters with Netscape 4 and above, Outlook 98 and above, and Outlook Express 4 and above. Because of the wide array of email clients, we do not guarantee that these parameters will work with every email client. The ability to display HTML formatted email is a function of the email client software, not MailListBot.
• Q. Can I send to multiple TO:, CC:, and BCC: recipients?
  A. Absolutely - Simply specify the parameters for SetToList, SetCCList, and SetBCCList. Each will be addressed in that order.
• Q. How do I send HTML as the body of the message?
  A. MailListBot allows you to specify a file to use as the body of the message using the SetBodyFile property.
  Simply specify a file with a '.html' or '.htm' extension, and MailListBot will do the rest. You can also specify a URL, for example oMailListBot.SetBodyFile = "http://www.ExclamationSoft.com".
  This option is great for sending rich HTML content.
• Q. I know that MailListBot can verify email addresses, but what happens to the email addresses which are "bad"?
  A. The property SetBadEmailFile allows you to designate a file for all rejected email addresses. After you run MailListBot, the file will contain a comma delimited list of all rejected emails. You can then take that file and update your master mailing list -Or- You can specify the SetGoodEmailFile property to capture all validated addresses. Use this list as your updated/validated list for future mailings.
• Q. Where is the log file located?
  A. MailListBot creates a log file called 'MailListBotLog.txt' and it is located in your 'Temp' directory. You can find your temp directory by typing 'echo %TEMP%' at a DOS prompt. Common location: (Win95/98) C:\windows\temp. You can set the location of the log file with the SetLogFilename property.
• Q. Isn't MailListBot promoting/encouraging spam?
  A. ExclamationSoft does not condone or encourage the use of MailListBot to send spam or unsolicited email. To do so is a violation of our License Agreement and will terminate your right to use our software. Companies and individuals may use our software to send email to people who have agreed to receive it.
  
• Q. The SetFromFriendly property doesn't seem to work, or when used, an error is returned.
  A. Some SMTP Servers do not allow a friendly from name to be used. Rerun MailListBot with the SetDebugMode property. Check the logfile for the SMTP server name. Example logfile:

  -------***[ MailListBot Build Started: 03/09/2001 08:37:59 ]***-------
  Connecting to mail.server.com
  ---(Response: 220 x1 nt-esmtp server mail.server.com (imail 5.05 150855-2))---
  

  In this example, the mail server is "Imail 5.05" made by Ipswitch - This version of Imail does not support friendly names. Microsoft's IIS mail server is another mail server that does not support friendly names.

  Check with the SMTP Mail Server publisher to determine if there is an upgrade that allows from friendly names

• Q. Does it have some form of queuing?
  A. MailListBot does not have queuing.

  Known Issues

• Q. I'm getting the error message "no such interface supported..."
  A. This is a pretty common problem with the ODBC drivers not being up-to-date. You can download the latest from http://www.microsoft.com/data/

  Next Version

• Q. When will the next version of MailListBot be released?
  A. The next version of MailListBot will be released in the Fall of 2002. Please add your email address to our mailing list to be informed when it is released.

  Performance

• Q. What is the maximum performance of your object, i.e. how many emails can we send per hour?
  A. MailListBot has been performance tested internally and by our clients to send out an average of 10,000 emails per hour. This number is, of course, affected by the speed of the computer the product is running on, and if the mail server is local to your network or not.

  Other factors that influence performance is logging capabilities provided by MailListBot (which can be easily turned off), the size of the message, and the size of attachments, if any.

  The biggest performance gain is realized when using the built in database functionality which is faster than the traditional ASP/VB application using ADO.

  If you have downloaded the trial version, there is a directory under the examples directory called "performance". This contains two ASP pages that test two aspects of performance: Simple message sending and importing email addresses from a database.

• Q. What sort of speeds do you get in checking email addresses?
  A. This is dependent on how many email addresses and the speed of the mail servers of those email addresses. MailListBot verifies an email address by connecting to the email addresses mail server and asking that mail server for verification. Therefore, the speed is determined by the speed of connecting to that mail server and the response time associated with the inquiry.

  Checking one email address can take anywhere from less than one second, to 60 seconds.

  Purchasing our Products

• Q. When I purchase a product, how is it delivered?
  A. Our products are available electronicly by downloading them from our site or other authorized sites. You can also purchase MailListBot on CD from our online order page.