SMTP.host variable issue - delphi

Question

Here is my Issue. I'm using Delphi 5 and Indy 9. I have no option to upgrade either at the moment. I am trying to send an email via gmail, and i hard code the string as 'smtp.google.com' it works just fine. however, if smtp.host is getting the host name from a variable it fails with error 11001, and i havent been able to figure out why. I'm new using indy so i'm probably missing something silly, but i don't understand why it could accept a string as the host, but not a variable holding the string. (It's got to be a variable because i need to pass the procedure different SMTP hosts based on the user signed in. Here is the code:
procedure TFormEmail.SendSimpleMail(ToEmail, MyAttachment: string);
var
Msg: TIdMessage;
DestAddr: TIdEmailAddressItem;
SMTP: TIdSMTP;
SSLHandler : TidSSLIOHandlerSocket;
Attachment: TIdAttachment;
SMTPHost1 :string;
begin
Msg := idMessage1;
Msg.From.Text := EmailName(My_User);
Msg.From.Address := EmailAddress(My_User);
msg.Subject := 'Test';//email subject
DestAddr := Msg.Recipients.Add;
DestAddr.Text := '';//receiver's name (optional)
DestAddr.Address := ToEmail;//where its going
Msg.Body.Add(edtEmailBody.text); //email body
SMTP := IdSMTP1;
SMTP.IOHandler := idSSLIOHandlerSocket1;
SMTPhost1 := SMTPHost(My_User);
SMTPhost1 := 'smtp.google.com';
//SMTP.Host := SMTPhost1; //<--FAILS
SMTP.Host := 'smtp.google.com'; //<--SUCCEEDS
SMTP.Port := SMTPPort(My_User);
SMTP.AuthenticationType := atLogin; //error here (2 error)
SMTP.Username := EmailAddress(My_User);
SMTP.Password := SMTPPassword(My_User);
If not empty(MyAttachment) then
Attachment := TIdAttachment.Create(Msg.MessageParts, MyAttachment);//loads Att
Try
SMTP.Connect;
except
SMTP.Connect;//refire if exception (issue with INDY)
end;
if useSSL(My_User) then
SMTP.SendCmd('STARTTLS');//load TLS
SMTP.Authenticate;
SMTP.Send(Msg);
SMTP.Disconnect;//disconnect from server
end;
I marked the one that fails and the one that succeeds, but i don't understand what i'm doing wrong. Any help would be appreciated

Answer 1

Seems you have more issues in one question, I can only help you with one.
I had the same issue with Connect, I simply called the Load method from IdSSLOpenSSLHeaders.
Try the following:
SMTP := IdSMTP1;
IdSSLOpenSSLHeaders.Load;
SMTP.IOHandler := idSSLIOHandlerSocket1;