Develop Reference

Get email addresses from distribution list using c#

Update:
For me, LDAP way only worked for finding email addresses inside AD groups, for eg: named ITSolutionDeliveryDevelopers group. NOT inside Exchange Distribution Lists, for eg: named abc#domainname.com.
// I was able to figure out entry as suggested by #Gabriel Luci and
// all of the following possible formats worked for me:
// ngroupnet.com is my company domain name.
var entry = new DirectoryEntry();
var entry = new DirectoryEntry("LDAP://ngroupnet.com");
var entry = new DirectoryEntry("LDAP://ngroupnet.com", "MyAccountUsername", "MyAccountPassword");
var entry = new DirectoryEntry("LDAP://ngroupnet.com", "MyName#mycompany.com", "MyEmailAccountPassword");
For my complete answer, take a look below: https://stackoverflow.com/a/71518937/8644294
Original Question:
What is the best way to get all the individual email addresses comprising an exchange distribution list?
For eg: I have this distribution list called abc#domainname.com that has email addresses:
a#domainname.com
b#domainname.com
c#domainname.com
Now I need to get these addresses using C# code.
I found solution using LDAP but I felt it'd be a hassle to figure out LDAP path to my Active Directory.
// How do I get this LDAP Path, username and password?
// Is the username and password service account credentials of the app?
// And do they need to be registered in AD?
var entry = new DirectoryEntry("LDAP Path");//, username, password);
LDAP Way:
public static List<string> GetDistributionListMembers(string dlName = "abc#domainname.com")
{
var result = new List<string>();
try
{
// How do I get this LDAP Path?
var entry = new DirectoryEntry("LDAP Path");//, username, password);
var search = new DirectorySearcher(entry);
search.Filter = $"CN={dlName}";
int i = search.Filter.Length;
string str = "", str1 = "";
foreach (SearchResult AdObj in search.FindAll())
{
foreach (String objName in AdObj.GetDirectoryEntry().Properties["member"])
{
str += Convert.ToString(objName) + "<Br>";
int selIndex = objName.IndexOf("CN=") + 3;
int selEnd = objName.IndexOf(",OU") - 3;
str1 += objName.Substring(selIndex, selEnd).Replace("\\", "");
DirectorySearcher dsSearch = new DirectorySearcher(entry);
dsSearch.Filter = "CN=" + objName.Substring(selIndex, selEnd).Replace("\\", "");
foreach (SearchResult rs in dsSearch.FindAll())
{
//str1 += "<p align='right'><font face='calibri' color='#2266aa' size=2>" + Convert.ToString(rs.GetDirectoryEntry().Properties["mail"].Value) + "|" + Convert.ToString(rs.GetDirectoryEntry().Properties["displayName"].Value) + "|" + Convert.ToString(rs.GetDirectoryEntry().Properties["sAMAccountName"].Value) + "|" + Convert.ToString(rs.GetDirectoryEntry().Properties["department"].Value) + "|" + Convert.ToString(rs.GetDirectoryEntry().Properties["memberOf"].Value) + "</font></p>";
str1 = Convert.ToString(rs.GetDirectoryEntry().Properties["mail"].Value);
result.Add(str1);
}
}
}
return result;
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
//Do some logging or what have you.
throw;
}
}
So I just went with the EWS route.
EWS Way:
public static static List<string> GetDistributionListMembers(string dlName = "abc#domainname.com")
{
try
{
var service = new ExchangeService();
var cred = new WebCredentials("sharedmailbox#domain.com", "some_password");
service.Credentials = cred;
service.Url = new Uri("https://outlook.office365.com/ews/exchange.asmx");
service.TraceEnabled = true;
service.TraceFlags = TraceFlags.All;
var expandedEmailAddresses = new List<string>();
ExpandGroupResults myGroupMembers = service.ExpandGroup(dlName);
foreach (EmailAddress address in myGroupMembers.Members)
{
expandedEmailAddresses.Add(address.Address);
}
return expandedEmailAddresses;
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
// The DL doesn't have any members. Handle it how you want.
// Handle/ Log other errors.
}
}
Is EWS approach a good way?
If Yes, then I'm good. If not, I'll have to figure out that LDAP path.
Or if there's even a better way, please let me know.

If the computer you run this from is joined to the same domain as the group you're looking for, then you don't need to figure out the LDAP path. You can just do:
var search = new DirectorySearcher();
If your computer is not joined to the same domain, then you just use the domain name:
var entry = new DirectoryEntry("LDAP://domainname.com");
This requires that there is no firewall blocking port 389 between your computer and the domain controller(s). If you need to pass credentials, then do that:
var entry = new DirectoryEntry("LDAP://domainname.com", username, password);
The credentials can be any user on the domain.
That said, there are a lot of inefficiencies in your code that will make it run much slower than needed. I wrote an article about this that can help you update your code: Active Directory: Better Performance
Is EWS approach a good way?
If it works, it works. I'm not an expert on EWS (although I have used it), but I'm fairly certain that's using Basic Authentication, which is going to be disabled in October.

If all the Mailboxes are on Office365 then i would suggest you use the Graph API instead eg https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/api/group-list-members?view=graph-rest-1.0&tabs=http . There are several advantage in terms of security eg you could use Application permissions and all you need is access to the directory while if you did the same thing in EWS it would require full access to at least one mailbox.
LDAP will be best performing of the 3 if ultimate speed in the only thing that is important.

My complete solution for future reference. :)
EWS Way - For expanding Exchange Distribution Lists
public class SomeHelper
{
private static ExchangeService _exchangeService = null;
public static async Task<HashSet<string>> GetExchangeDistributionListMembersAsync(IEnumerable<string> dlNames)
{
var allEmailAddresses = new HashSet<string>();
foreach (var dlName in dlNames)
{
if (!SomeCache.TryGetCachedItem(dlName, out var dlMembers))
{
var groupEmailAddresses = new List<string>();
var exchangeService = await GetExchangeServiceAsync();
try
{
var myGroupMembers = exchangeService.ExpandGroup(dlName);
// Add the group members.
foreach (var address in myGroupMembers.Members)
{
groupEmailAddresses.Add(address.Address);
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
//If it can't expand the dlName, just return it.
groupEmailAddresses.Add(dlName);
//groupEmailAddresses.Add($"Attempting to expand '{dlName}' resulted in error message: '{ex.Message}'.");
}
// Cache the groupEmailAddresses for 7 days.
// Because Distribution Lists rarely change and expanding DL is an expensive operation.- AshishK Notes
SomeCache.AddItemToCache(dlName, groupEmailAddresses, 10080);
allEmailAddresses.UnionWith(groupEmailAddresses);
}
else
{
allEmailAddresses.UnionWith((List<string>)dlMembers);
}
}
return allEmailAddresses;
}
private static async Task<ExchangeService> GetExchangeServiceAsync()
{
if (_exchangeService == null)
{
_exchangeService = new ExchangeService();
var exchangeUrl = "https://outlook.office365.com/ews/exchange.asmx";
var cred = new WebCredentials("sharedmailbox#domain.com", "some_password");
_exchangeService.Credentials = cred;
//_exchangeService.AutodiscoverUrl("sharedmailbox#domain.com");
_exchangeService.Url = new Uri(exchangeUrl);
_exchangeService.TraceEnabled = true;
_exchangeService.TraceFlags = TraceFlags.All;
return _exchangeService;
}
else
{
return _exchangeService;
}
}
}
public class SomeCache
{
private static readonly ObjectCache _cache = MemoryCache.Default;
public static void AddItemToCache(string key, object itemToAdd, int cacheDurationMinutes)
{
var _policy = new CacheItemPolicy
{
Priority = CacheItemPriority.Default,
AbsoluteExpiration = DateTimeOffset.Now.AddMinutes(cacheDurationMinutes)
};
_cache.Set(key, itemToAdd, _policy);
}
public static bool TryGetCachedItem(string key, out object cachedObject)
{
try
{
cachedObject = _cache[key] as object;
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
cachedObject = null;
}
return !(cachedObject == null);
}
}
LDAP Way - For expanding Active Directory Groups
public static List<string> GetADGroupDistributionListMembers(string adGroupName)
{
var returnResult = new List<string>();
var entry = GetDirectoryEntry();
DirectorySearcher groupSearch = new DirectorySearcher(entry)
{
Filter = "(SAMAccountName=" + adGroupName + ")"
};
groupSearch.PropertiesToLoad.Add("member");
SearchResult groupResult = groupSearch.FindOne(); // getting members who belong to the adGroupName
if (groupResult != null)
{
for (int iSearchLoop = 0; iSearchLoop < groupResult.Properties["member"].Count; iSearchLoop++)
{
string userName = groupResult.Properties["member"][iSearchLoop].ToString();
int index = userName.IndexOf(',');
userName = userName.Substring(0, index).Replace("CN=", "").ToString(); // the name of the user will be fetched.
DirectorySearcher search = new DirectorySearcher(entry)
{
Filter = "(name=" + userName + ")"
};
search.PropertiesToLoad.Add("mail");
SearchResult result = search.FindOne(); //finding the mail id
if (result != null)
{
returnResult.Add(result.Properties["mail"][0].ToString());
}
}
}
return returnResult;
}
public static DirectoryEntry GetDirectoryEntry()
{
DirectoryEntry entryRoot = new DirectoryEntry("LDAP://RootDSE");
string Domain = (string)entryRoot.Properties["defaultNamingContext"][0];
DirectoryEntry de = new DirectoryEntry
{
Path = "LDAP://" + Domain,
AuthenticationType = AuthenticationTypes.Secure
};
return de;
}

Null Reference Exception From Azure Notification Hubs

I have been using Azure Notification Hubs along with GCM to send notifications to the users of my app. This was all working great until I published the app to the Play Store.
Now it gives a 500 Server error whenever I try to post a notification. I have no idea why this error is happening. Perhaps the app is not picking up the RavenDB where the notifications are stored?
But it looks more like the service is not getting back users that are registered on the Hub. I really don't know... Any help would be so appreciated!
This is my stacktrace when run locally, it is the same but less detailed when published:
"Message": "An error has occurred.",
"ExceptionMessage": "Value cannot be null.\r\nParameter name: source",
"ExceptionType": "System.ArgumentNullException",
"StackTrace": " at System.Linq.Enumerable.Where[TSource](IEnumerable`1 source, Func`2 predicate)\r\n
at AcademicAssistantService.Controllers.NotificationController.<GetRecipientNamesFromNotificationHub>d__8.MoveNext()
in C:\\Users\\Kenneth\\Documents\\College\\Semester 8\\AcademicAssistantService\\AcademicAssistantService\\Controllers\\NotificationController.cs:line 105
This is the Controller action:
// POST api/notification
public async Task<IHttpActionResult> Post([FromBody]Notification notification, String key)
{
var notificationToSave = new Notification
{
NotificationGuid = Guid.NewGuid().ToString(),
TimeStamp = DateTime.UtcNow,
Message = notification.Message,
SenderName = notification.SenderName
};
var recipientNames = await GetRecipientNamesFromNotificationHub(key);
var recipientNamesString = CreateCustomRecipientNamesString(recipientNames);
string notificationJsonPayload =
"{\"data\" : " +
" {" +
" \"message\": \"" + notificationToSave.Message + "\"," +
" \"senderName\": \"" + notificationToSave.SenderName + "\"," +
" \"recipientNames\": \"" + recipientNamesString + "\"" +
" }" +
"}";
if (key == null)
{
var result = await _hubClient.SendGcmNativeNotificationAsync(notificationJsonPayload);
notificationToSave.TrackingId = result.TrackingId;
notificationToSave.Recipients = recipientNames;
}
else
{
foreach (string r in recipientNames)
{
if ((r != notification.SenderName))
{
var result = await _hubClient.SendGcmNativeNotificationAsync(notificationJsonPayload, "user:" + r);
notificationToSave.TrackingId = result.TrackingId;
notificationToSave.Recipients = recipientNames;
}
}
}
await Session.StoreAsync(notificationToSave);
return Ok(notificationToSave);
}
To get names from hub:
public async Task<List<string>> GetRecipientNamesFromNotificationHub(String key)
{
var registrationDescriptions = await _hubClient.GetAllRegistrationsAsync(Int32.MaxValue);
var recipientNames = new List<String>();
foreach (var registration in registrationDescriptions)
{
if (registration is GcmRegistrationDescription)
{
var userName = registration.Tags
.Where(t => t.StartsWith("user"))
.Select(t => t.Split(':')[1].Replace("_", " "))
.FirstOrDefault();
userName = userName ?? "Unknown User";
Conversation convo = db.Conversations.Find(key);
foreach (User u in convo.Users)
{
if (u.Email == userName && !recipientNames.Contains(userName))
{
recipientNames.Add(userName);
}
}
}
}
return recipientNames;
}

Could you use Service Bus Explorer and verify indeed you have tags starts with "user". And I also see you are using GetAllRegistrationsAsync API, which is recommend to use only for debugging purpose. This is heavily throttled API.
Thanks,
Sateesh

C# Sharepoint Get current user under whitch code running

I have code from tutorial, code running on WCF service under DOMAIN\AppPoolAccount
But code except that Access Denied, how determinate user?
using (SPSite site = new SPSite("http://portal.local"))
{
SPServiceContext serviceContext = SPServiceContext.GetContext(site);
UserProfileManager userProfileMgr = new UserProfileManager(serviceContext);
ProfilePropertyManager profilePropMgr = new UserProfileConfigManager(serviceContext).ProfilePropertyManager;
// Retrieve all properties for the "UserProfile" profile subtype,
// and retrieve the property values for a specific user.
ProfileSubtypePropertyManager subtypePropMgr = profilePropMgr.GetProfileSubtypeProperties("UserProfile");
UserProfile userProfile = userProfileMgr.GetUserProfile(accountName);
IEnumerator<ProfileSubtypeProperty> userProfileSubtypeProperties = subtypePropMgr.GetEnumerator();
while (userProfileSubtypeProperties.MoveNext())
{
string propName = userProfileSubtypeProperties.Current.Name;
ProfileValueCollectionBase values = userProfile.GetProfileValueCollection(propName);
if (values.Count > 0)
{
// Handle multivalue properties.
foreach (var value in values)
{
Console.WriteLine(propName + ": " + value.ToString());
}
}
else
{
Console.WriteLine(propName + ": ");
}
}
Console.WriteLine("Press Enter to change the values.");
Console.Read();
// Change the value of a single-value user property.
userProfile[PropertyConstants.Department].Value = "SDDDD";
userProfile.Commit();
}
How determinate user?

Use SPWeb.CurrentUser property to determine the current user:
using (var site = new SPSite(siteUrl))
{
using (var web = site.OpenWeb())
{
var currentUser = web.CurrentUser;
//..
}
}

How to request products with ebay api?

How can I call eBay and request it to return search results array?
This is what I came up with so far:
string endpoint = "https://api.ebay.com/wsapi";
string siteId = "0";
string appId = "*"; // use your app ID
string devId = "*"; // use your dev ID
string certId = "*"; // use your cert ID
string version = "405";
string requestURL = endpoint
+ "?callname=FindProducts"
+ "&siteid=" + siteId
+ "&appid=" + appId
+ "&version=" + version
+ "&routing=default"
+ "&AvailableItemsOnly=true"
+ "&QueryKeywords=nvidia"
+ "&itemFilter(0).name=ListingType"
+ "&itemFilter(0).value(0)=FixedPrice"
+ "&itemFilter(0).value(1)=Auction"
+ "&CategoryID=27386";
How can I wrap it into request and get a response in some-sort of data-structure? I have gotten the SDK.

I needed to use the eBay finding API;
public GetItemCall getItemDataFromEbay(String itemId)
{
ApiContext oContext = new ApiContext();
oContext.ApiCredential.ApiAccount.Developer = ""; // use your dev ID
oContext.ApiCredential.ApiAccount.Application = ""; // use your app ID
oContext.ApiCredential.ApiAccount.Certificate = ""; // use your cert ID
oContext.ApiCredential.eBayToken = ""; //set the AuthToken
//set the endpoint (sandbox) use https://api.ebay.com/wsapi for production
oContext.SoapApiServerUrl = "https://api.ebay.com/wsapi";
//set the Site of the Context
oContext.Site = eBay.Service.Core.Soap.SiteCodeType.US;
//the WSDL Version used for this SDK build
oContext.Version = "735";
//very important, let's setup the logging
ApiLogManager oLogManager = new ApiLogManager();
oLogManager.ApiLoggerList.Add(new eBay.Service.Util.FileLogger("GetItem.log", true, true, true));
oLogManager.EnableLogging = true;
oContext.ApiLogManager = oLogManager;
GetItemCall oGetItemCall = new GetItemCall(oContext);
//' set the Version used in the call
oGetItemCall.Version = oContext.Version;
//' set the Site of the call
oGetItemCall.Site = oContext.Site;
//' enable the compression feature
oGetItemCall.EnableCompression = true;
oGetItemCall.DetailLevelList.Add(eBay.Service.Core.Soap.DetailLevelCodeType.ReturnAll);
oGetItemCall.ItemID = itemId;
try
{
oGetItemCall.GetItem(oGetItemCall.ItemID);
}
catch (Exception E)
{
Console.Write(E.ToString());
oGetItemCall.GetItem(itemId);
}
GC.Collect();
return oGetItemCall;
}

Programmatically create a web site in IIS using C# and set port number

We have been able to create a web site. We did this using the information in this link:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms525598.aspx
However, we would like to use a port number other that port 80. How do we do this?
We are using IIS 6

If you're using IIS 7, there is a new managed API called Microsoft.Web.Administration
An example from the above blog post:
ServerManager iisManager = new ServerManager();
iisManager.Sites.Add("NewSite", "http", "*:8080:", "d:\\MySite");
iisManager.CommitChanges();
If you're using IIS 6 and want to do this, it's more complex unfortunately.
You will have to create a web service on every server, a web service that handles the creation of a website because direct user impersonation over the network won't work properly (If I recall this correctly).
You will have to use Interop Services and do something similar to this (This example uses two objects, server and site, which are instances of custom classes that store a server's and site's configuration):
string metabasePath = "IIS://" + server.ComputerName + "/W3SVC";
DirectoryEntry w3svc = new DirectoryEntry(metabasePath, server.Username, server.Password);
string serverBindings = ":80:" + site.HostName;
string homeDirectory = server.WWWRootPath + "\\" + site.FolderName;
object[] newSite = new object[] { site.Name, new object[] { serverBindings }, homeDirectory };
object websiteId = (object)w3svc.Invoke("CreateNewSite", newSite);
// Returns the Website ID from the Metabase
int id = (int)websiteId;
See more here

Heres the solution.
Blog article : How to add new website in IIS 7
On Button click :
try
{
ServerManager serverMgr = new ServerManager();
string strWebsitename = txtwebsitename.Text; // abc
string strApplicationPool = "DefaultAppPool"; // set your deafultpool :4.0 in IIS
string strhostname = txthostname.Text; //abc.com
string stripaddress = txtipaddress.Text;// ip address
string bindinginfo = stripaddress + ":80:" + strhostname;
//check if website name already exists in IIS
Boolean bWebsite = IsWebsiteExists(strWebsitename);
if (!bWebsite)
{
Site mySite = serverMgr.Sites.Add(strWebsitename.ToString(), "http", bindinginfo, "C:\\inetpub\\wwwroot\\yourWebsite");
mySite.ApplicationDefaults.ApplicationPoolName = strApplicationPool;
mySite.TraceFailedRequestsLogging.Enabled = true;
mySite.TraceFailedRequestsLogging.Directory = "C:\\inetpub\\customfolder\\site";
serverMgr.CommitChanges();
lblmsg.Text = "New website " + strWebsitename + " added sucessfully";
}
else
{
lblmsg.Text = "Name should be unique, " + strWebsitename + " is already exists. ";
}
}
catch (Exception ae)
{
Response.Redirect(ae.Message);
}
Looping over sites whether name already exists
public bool IsWebsiteExists(string strWebsitename)
{
Boolean flagset = false;
SiteCollection sitecollection = serverMgr.Sites;
foreach (Site site in sitecollection)
{
if (site.Name == strWebsitename.ToString())
{
flagset = true;
break;
}
else
{
flagset = false;
}
}
return flagset;
}

Try the following Code to Know the unUsed PortNo
DirectoryEntry root = new DirectoryEntry("IIS://localhost/W3SVC");
// Find unused ID PortNo for new web site
bool found_valid_port_no = false;
int random_port_no = 1;
do
{
bool regenerate_port_no = false;
System.Random random_generator = new Random();
random_port_no = random_generator.Next(9000,15000);
foreach (DirectoryEntry e in root.Children)
{
if (e.SchemaClassName == "IIsWebServer")
{
int site_id = Convert.ToInt32(e.Name);
//For each detected ID find the port Number
DirectoryEntry vRoot = new DirectoryEntry("IIS://localhost/W3SVC/" + site_id);
PropertyValueCollection pvcServerBindings = vRoot.Properties["serverbindings"];
String bindings = pvcServerBindings.Value.ToString().Replace(":", "");
int port_no = Convert.ToInt32(bindings);
if (port_no == random_port_no)
{
regenerate_port_no = true;
break;
}
}
}
found_valid_port_no = !regenerate_port_no;
} while (!found_valid_port_no);
int newportId = random_port_no;

I have gone though all answer here and also tested. Here is the most clean smarter version of answer for this question. However this still cant work on IIS 6.0. so IIS 8.0 or above is required.
string domainName = "";
string appPoolName = "";
string webFiles = "C:\\Users\\John\\Desktop\\New Folder";
if (IsWebsiteExists(domainName) == false)
{
ServerManager iisManager = new ServerManager();
iisManager.Sites.Add(domainName, "http", "*:8080:", webFiles);
iisManager.ApplicationDefaults.ApplicationPoolName = appPoolName;
iisManager.CommitChanges();
}
else
{
Console.WriteLine("Name Exists already");
}
public static bool IsWebsiteExists(string strWebsitename)
{
ServerManager serverMgr = new ServerManager();
Boolean flagset = false;
SiteCollection sitecollection = serverMgr.Sites;
flagset = sitecollection.Any(x => x.Name == strWebsitename);
return flagset;
}

This simplified method will create a site with default binding settings, and also create the application pool if needed:
public void addIISApplication(string siteName, string physicalPath, int port, string appPoolName)
{
using (var serverMgr = new ServerManager())
{
var sitecollection = serverMgr.Sites;
if (!sitecollection.Any(x => x.Name.ToLower() == siteName.ToLower()))
{
var appPools = serverMgr.ApplicationPools;
if (!appPools.Any(x => x.Name.ToLower() == appPoolName.ToLower()))
{
serverMgr.ApplicationPools.Add(appPoolName);
}
var mySite = serverMgr.Sites.Add(siteName, physicalPath, port);
mySite.ApplicationDefaults.ApplicationPoolName = appPoolName;
serverMgr.CommitChanges();
}
}
}

In properties of site select "Web Site" tab and specify TCP Port.
In studio to debug purpose specify http://localhost:<port>/<site> at tab Web for "Use Local IIS Web Server"