Not able to send mail in a custom timer job

Question

 
Hi,
 I have implemented a custom timer job to send a mail when a list data field is equal to the current date.
I have debugged the code in VS and it is executed correctly if I am using it in a button click event of a webpart .
But problem is its not sending the mails while I am appling the same code as a timer job.
Can somebody help me out?
BR,
Sudhir

Answer 1

Hi Sudhir,
I agree with Martin, you definetly need to log what happens inside the timer job.
I suggest to always use a try / catch block within the methods of your assembly, and trace out (using System.Diagnostics.Trace, http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.diagnostics.trace.aspx and its methods for example, TraceInformation http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.diagnostics.trace.traceinformation.aspx) the exceptions if happen. Also, it is good practice to trace out each entry and exit points. Use the WinDbg (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc266321.aspx, http://windbg.dumpanalysis.org/) to catch the output.
You can redirect the trace output to file (see <listeners> Element for <trace> http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/zh3a61fw.aspx, and Trace Listeners http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa983739(VS.71).aspx)
You can even write your log messages to SharePoint Unified Logging System as described here:
SharePoint: Writing messages to ULS (Unified Logging System)
http://weblogs.asp.net/gunnarpeipman/archive/2009/02/25/sharepoint-writing-messages-to-uls-unified-logging-system.aspx
Peter