How to get a user's e-mail address from Active Directory?

Question

I am trying to get a user's email address in AD without success.

String account = userAccount.Replace(@"Domain\", "");
DirectoryEntry entry = new DirectoryEntry();

try {
    DirectorySearcher search = new DirectorySearcher(entry);

    search.PropertiesToLoad.Add("mail");  // e-mail addressead

    SearchResult result = search.FindOne();
    if (result != null) {
        return result.Properties["mail"][0].ToString();
    } else {
        return "Unknown User";
    }
} catch (Exception ex) {
    return ex.Message;
}

Can anyone see the issue or point in the right direction?

Answer 1

Disclaimer: This code doesn't search for a single exact match, so for domain\j_doe it may return domain\j_doe_from_external_department's email address if such similarly named account also exists. If such behaviour is undesirable, then either use a samAccountName filter intead of an anr one used below or filter the results additionally.

I have used this code successfully (where "account" is the user logon name without the domain (domain\account):

// get a DirectorySearcher object
DirectorySearcher search = new DirectorySearcher(entry);

// specify the search filter
search.Filter = "(&(objectClass=user)(anr=" + account + "))";

// specify which property values to return in the search
search.PropertiesToLoad.Add("givenName");   // first name
search.PropertiesToLoad.Add("sn");          // last name
search.PropertiesToLoad.Add("mail");        // smtp mail address

// perform the search
SearchResult result = search.FindOne();