CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#
bevacqua
bevacqua

Reputation: 48516

How does the MailAddress constructor validate mail addresses

In reading about what would be the best way to validate a mail address via regular expressions, I came across with an attempt to validate with

try
{
    new MailAddress(input);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
    // invalid
}

What method does the MailAddress class use to ensure a mail address is valid?

Upvotes: 2

Views: 4614

Answers (3)

Ionian316
Ionian316

Reputation: 2343

You can see the source code without using Reflector using the new .NET Reference Source. Here's the link to the MailAddress class.

Upvotes: 6

Anders Abel
Anders Abel

Reputation: 69270

According to the documentation

The address parameter can contain a display name and the associated e-mail address if you enclose the address in angle brackets. For example:

"Tom Smith <[email protected]>"

White space is permitted between the display name and the angle brackets.

So a "naked" address such as [email protected] or one with a displayed name as mentioned in the documentation is fine. It is impossible to tell how the validation is done internally without access to the code, but a regex doing that validation can of course be constructed.

Upvotes: 0

Tim
Tim

Reputation: 28530

If you mean by validate whether or not it's a valid e-mail address format, it supports several standard formats:

The MailAddress class supports the following mail address formats:

A simple address format of user@host. If a DisplayName is not set, this is the mail address format generated.

A standard quoted display name format of "display name" . If a DisplayName is set, this is the format generated.

Angle brackets are added around the User name, Host name for "display name" user@host if these are not included.

Quotes are added around the DisplayName for display name , if these are not included.

Unicode characters are supported in the DisplayName. property.

A User name with quotes. For example, "user name"@host.

Consecutive and trailing dots in user names. For example, user...name..@host.

Bracketed domain literals. For example, .

Comments. For example, (comment)"display name"(comment)<(comment)user(comment)@(comment)domain(comment)>(comment). Comments are removed before transmission

.

This is from MailAddress Class

As for what method it uses to validate the formats, I don't know. You could always try Reflector to see what it's doing internally. Is there a particular reason you want to know the internal details?

Upvotes: 2

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