xp_sendmail with inline attachment

[dhkom]

I'm having trouble getting the following xp_sendsmtp documentation example working: 'This example uses SMTP to send inline HTML formatted message with a signature and two attachments, one of which is a ZIP file.'

The slightly modified example, with obvious placeholders, is shown below.

Suggestions or insights welcome. Thank you!

begin
  declare l_rc                  integer;
    declare s_content                           long varchar;
  --
    SET s_content = 
        'Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="xxxxx";\\n' ||
        'This part of the email should not be shown.  If this ' ||
        'is shown then the email client is not MIME compatible\\n\\n' ||
        '--xxxxx\\n' ||
        'Content-Type: text/html;\\n' ||
        'Content-Disposition: inline;\\n\\n' ||
        'Plain text.' ||
        /* xp_read_file( '\\\\temp\\\\johndoe.sig.html' ) || */
        '--xxxxx\\n' ||
        'Content-Type: application/zip; name="test.zip"\\n' ||
        'Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64\\n' ||
        'Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="test.zip"\\n\\n' ||
        base64_encode( xp_read_file( 'c:\\\\temp\\\\test.zip' ) ) ||
        '\\n\\n' ||
        '--xxxxx--\\n'
    ; 
    --
    -- Port 2525 is for non-ssl email
    l_rc = call xp_startsmtp (
        smtp_sender = '(sender email)',
        smtp_server = '(mail server)',
        smtp_port = 2525,
        smtp_sender_name = 'John Doe',
        smtp_auth_username = '(sender email)',
        smtp_auth_password = '(password)'
    );
    --
  l_rc = call xp_sendmail (
        recipient = 'joe@contoso.com', 
        subject = 'Test sending email with attachment from SQL Anywhere', 
        "message" = s_content,
        content_type = 'ASIS',
        include_file = '\\\\temp\\\\bla.sql'
    );
    --
  l_rc = call xp_stopsmtp ();
end
go

[chris_keating]

Getting xp_get_mail_error_code() and xp_get_mail_error_text() might provide more insight into the problem. I would collect it after each xp_* call to troubleshoot.

[former_SQLA_member1694879]

Who is the ISP that you are connecting to? A lot have moved away from non-secure and only permit secure connections - MS and Google now only use modern authentication, leaving passwords and usernames in the past.

[dhkom]

Thanks for your replies. I should have been more clear on what didn't work. First, each of the xp_* calls succeeded and an email message is sent. The body as received by Outlook looks as follows (please see further commentary after snippet):

--==EMAIL_MIME_2024_0819_113522== Content-Type: application/octet-stream; name="bla.sql" Content-transfer-encoding: base64 Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="bla.sql"

Y2FsbCBwcmNfbXVsdGlfc2l0ZV9lbmJsICgnbicpOw0KY29tbWl0Ow0KDQpyZWFkICJDOlxcTWFp bnRTY2FwZSAtIE5vdCBWb2xhdGlsZVxcYmxkXzE0NFxcRGVwbG95XFxkYXRhYmFzZVxcYmxkXzE0 NC5zcWwiOw0KcmVhZCAiQzpcXE1haW50U2NhcGUgLSBOb3QgVm9sYXRpbGVcXGJsZF8xNDVcXENh bmRpZGF0ZXNcXDIwMjQtMDctMTJcXHdvcmsuc3FsIjsNCg0KICAgICAgICAgICBjYWxsIHByY19t dWx0aV9zaXRlX2VuYmwgKCd5Jyk7DQpjb21taXQ7DQo=

--==EMAIL_MIME_2024_0819_113522==--

Note that the verbiage "Plain Text." is not seen in the email.

As for my ISP, I can use the xp_* functions to send "regular" email messages just fine, including attachments via parameter "include_file".

I am using SA version 16 to test, because the customer we are developing for uses this version. The documentation code example I am modelling is taken from the SA16 documentation. SA16 does not support the "secure" parameter to xp_startsmtp.

I could try this code from SA17, including "secure=1", but I suspect it won't make a difference. I suspect the problem is with the construction of the multi-part email.

[PCollins]

We have had all sorts of issues with include_file in recent years, particularly when the emails are received / handled by Exchange/Outlook, the problem being content isn't shown.

These days we now don't use include_file and attached everything "manually" using repeated part sections in the email content build up

[dhkom]

Thanks. Per my comment above, "content isn't shown" is consistent with what we are running into. "include_file" works fine for us if the "content" value string is just text, including HTML.

It would be great if you could post some examples of "manually using repeated part sections in the email content build up". We're not expert on this. We want the email message to be HTML content to display in a body, plus an attachment file, ideally without having to create the file and then use "include_file" to attach it.

[PCollins]

This is a subset of a procedure that emails various documents which are held in variables (Doc1, Doc2, Doc3) with inline image in the signature.

I'm not saying it is perfect but it works 😉

Hope this helps (my forum foo formatting isn't very good)

set "vBody" = 'Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="xxxxx";\
'
  || 'This part of the email should not be shown.  If this '
  || 'is shown then the email client is not MIME compatible\
\
'
  || '--xxxxx\
'
  || 'Content-Type: text/html;\
'
  || 'Content-Disposition: inline;\
\
'
  || '`<html>\
<head></head>\
<body>
Docs received
These docs have been received.
\
'
  || '
Doc1: ' || "Doc1" || '.
'`
  || "xp_read_file"('D:\\\\system-email-sig.htm')
  || '--xxxxx\
'
  || 'Content-Type: application/png; name="image001.png"\
'
  || 'Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64\
'
  || 'Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="image001.png"\
\
'
  || "base64_encode"("xp_read_file"('D:\\\\image001.png'))
  || '\
\
';
  if "Doc1" is not null then
  set "vBody" = "vBody"
    || '--xxxxx\
'
    || 'Content-Type: application/pdf; name="Doc1.pdf"\
'
    || 'Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64\
'
    || 'Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="Doc1.pdf"\
\
'
    || "base64_encode"("Doc1")
    || '\
\
'
  end if;
  if "Doc2" is not null then
  set "vBody" = "vBody"
    || '--xxxxx\
'
    || 'Content-Type: application/pdf; name="Doc2.pdf"\
'
    || 'Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64\
'
    || 'Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="Doc2.pdf"\
\
'
    || "base64_encode"("Doc2")
    || '\
\
'
  end if;
  if "Doc3" is not null then
  set "vBody" = "vBody"
    || '--xxxxx\
'
    || 'Content-Type: application/pdf; name="Doc3.pdf"\
'
    || 'Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64\
'
    || 'Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="Doc3.pdf"\
\
'
    || "base64_encode"("Doc3")
    || '\
\
'
  end if;
  set "vBody" = "vBody"
    || '--xxxxx--\
';
  call "xp_startsmtp"('noreply@domain.comm','mail.domain.com');
  call "xp_sendmail"("recipient" = 'ops@domain.com',"subject" = 'Duplicate PreAlert processed',"message" = "vBody","content_type" = 'ASIS');
  call "xp_stopsmtp"();

[VolkerBarth]

Oops, I had thought a pre-tag would be of help but it apparently does not work well with code with included HTML tags...