Visual C++ - DomainKeys and DKIM signature

The following example codes demonstrate how to add DomainKeys and DKIM signature to email and send it using SMTP server.

DKIM and DomainKeys

DomainKeys is a technology proposal that can bring black and white back to this decision process by giving email providers a mechanism for verifying both the domain of each email sender and the integrity of the messages sent. But DomainKey is deprecated by DKIM now,

DKIM is a similar technology as Domainkeys. To learn more detail about DKIM, please refer to RFC4871.

Before you can add DKIM signature to email, you need to generate the DKIM configuration file like this:

Download Json Configuration File for your DomainKeys/DKIM key pair

Please click here to go to this online tool at first. Then input your email sender domain in it and click “Download Configuration Json” and save the downloaded json file to your local disk. This file contains your DomainKeys and DKIM key pair.

Deploy Public Key

Once you get the json file, you can open it by notepad, and find the public key:

{
"CanonAlgorithm": 0,
"Domain": "emailarchitect.net",
"IsActive": true,
"IsSignPartOfMessage": false,
"RsaHashAlgorithm": 1,
"Selector": "s1024",
"PublicKey":"MIGfMA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBAQUAA4GNADCBiQKBgQCydEgD9oTri865iNJqFVPJLEOW/uOHpjnnhMeGQQDodx/LqHlbs9iz3A95lXmFSlPgxCYNzGJPdqM7XXZnQCkaBO7DmKPJqdhgfOAECHOiT/5oXW9qMdQOymVdgy2iu2ZjKR2eXPnqYUHQycfQP82QigP3dLSi78xkruKlqlXvlQIDAQAB",
"PrivateKey":"-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----\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\n-----END PRIVATE KEY-----\n",
"SignedHeaders": "sender:from:to:cc:date:subject:mime-version:content-type:message-id:in-reply-to",
"SignPartMessageLength": 0
}

You should set a TXT record in your domain DNS server. For example: your selector is s1024, your domain is emailarchitect.net, and then you should create a TXT record for s1024._domainkey.emailarchitect.net and set the following content in the record.

s1024._domainkey.emailarchitect.net      text =

        "v=DKIM1; k=rsa; p=MIGfMA0GCSqGS...hSinuQIDAQAB"

To learn more detail about Public Key deployment, please refer to https://www.emailarchitec.net/domainkeys/kb

Installation

EASendMail is a SMTP component which supports all operations of SMTP/ESMTP protocols (RFC 821, RFC 822, RFC 2554). Before you can use the following example codes, you should download the EASendMail Installer and install it on your machine at first.

Add reference

To use EASendMail SMTP ActiveX Object in your C++ project, the first step is “Add header files of EASendMail to your project”. Please go to C:\Program Files\EASendMail\Include\tlh or C:\Program Files (x86)\EASendMail\Include\tlh folder, find easendmailobj.tlh and easendmailobj.tli, and then copy these files to your project folder.

add reference in Visual C++

C++ - DomainKeys and DKIM signature - example

The following example codes demonstrate sending email with DomainKeys and DKIM signature. In order to run it correctly, please change SMTP server, user, password, sender, recipient value to yours.

Note

To get full sample projects, please download and install EASendMail on your machine.

#include "stdafx.h"
#include <tchar.h>
#include <Windows.h>

#include "EASendMailObj.tlh"
using namespace EASendMailObjLib;

const int ConnectNormal = 0;
const int ConnectSSLAuto = 1;
const int ConnectSTARTTLS = 2;
const int ConnectDirectSSL = 3;
const int ConnectTryTLS = 4;

int _tmain(int argc, _TCHAR* argv[])
{
    ::CoInitialize(NULL);

    IDkimConfigPtr dkimConfig = NULL;
    dkimConfig.CreateInstance(__uuidof(EASendMailObjLib::DkimConfig));

    // Load DomainKeys and DKIM configuration file
    if (dkimConfig->LoadFromFile(_T("d:\\my folder\\emailarchitect.net.json")) != VARIANT_TRUE)
    {
        _tprintf(_T("failed to load dkim configuration file!"));
        return 0;
    }

    IMailPtr oSmtp = NULL;
    oSmtp.CreateInstance(__uuidof(EASendMailObjLib::Mail));
    oSmtp->LicenseCode = _T("TryIt");

    // Assign DkimConfig object to Smtp Mail
    oSmtp->DkimSignerConfig = dkimConfig;

    // Set your sender email address
    oSmtp->FromAddr = _T("test@emailarchitect.net");

    // Add recipient email address
    oSmtp->AddRecipientEx(_T("support@emailarchitect.net"), 0);

    // Set email subject
    oSmtp->Subject = _T("simple email from Visual C++ with DKIM");

    // Set email body
    oSmtp->BodyText = _T("this is a test email sent from Visual C++ project, do not reply");

    // Your SMTP server address
    oSmtp->ServerAddr = _T("smtp.emailarchitect.net");

    // User and password for ESMTP authentication, if your server doesn't
    // require User authentication, please remove the following codes.
    oSmtp->UserName = _T("test@emailarchitect.net");
    oSmtp->Password = _T("testpassword");

    // Most mordern SMTP servers require SSL/TLS connection now.
    // ConnectTryTLS means if server supports SSL/TLS, SSL/TLS will be used automatically.
    oSmtp->ConnectType = ConnectTryTLS;

    // If your SMTP server uses 587 port
    // oSmtp->ServerPort = 587;

    // If your SMTP server requires SSL/TLS connection on 25/587/465 port
    // oSmtp->ServerPort = 25; // 25 or 587 or 465
    // oSmtp->ConnectType = ConnectSSLAuto;

    _tprintf(_T("Start to send email ...\r\n"));

    if(oSmtp->SendMail() == 0)
    {
        _tprintf(_T("email was sent successfully!\r\n"));
    }
    else
    {
        _tprintf(_T("failed to send email with the following error: %s\r\n"),
            (const TCHAR*)oSmtp->GetLastErrDescription());
    }

    return 0;
}

Remarks

If your SMTP server has implemented DKIM, you don’t have to sign DKIM in your codes, your email will be signed by your server automatically.

TLS 1.2 protocol

TLS is the successor of SSL, more and more SMTP servers require TLS 1.2 encryption now.

If your operating system is Windows XP/Vista/Windows 7/Windows 2003/2008/2008 R2/2012/2012 R2, you need to enable TLS 1.2 protocol in your operating system like this:

Enable TLS 1.2 on Windows XP/Vista/7/10/Windows 2008/2008 R2/2012

32bit/x64 ActiveX DLL

Seperate builds of run-time dll for 32 and x64 platform

File Platform
Installation Path\Lib\native\x86\EASendMailObj.dll 32 bit
Installation Path\Lib\native\x64\EASendMailObj.dll 64 bit

Distribution

  • Standard EXE

    For VB6, C++, Delphi or other standard exe application, you can distribute EASendMailObj.dll with your application to target machine without COM-registration and installer. To learn more detail, please have a look at Registration-free COM with Manifest File.

  • Script

    For ASP, VBScript, VBA, MS SQL Stored Procedure, you need to install EASendMail on target machine by EASendMail installer, both 32bit/x64 DLL are installed and registered.

Appendix

Comments

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