Create Complex Email

This is an example showing how to create an email that has file attachments, contains both plain-text and HTML alternative bodies, and has embedded images within the HTML. The email is saved to a .eml file, which is a text file and can be viewed in any text editor. EML is nothing more than the MIME source of an email. In this example, you'll see that the MIME is structured in three layers of multipart content types. The outermost layer is multipart/mixed. This is typically where you'll find file attachments and attached messages. Underneath the multipart/mixed is a multipart/related envelope. Within this you'll find the "related" items -- which are the items belonging to the HTML body (images and style sheets). Underneath the multipart/related you'll find the multipart/alternative, and this contains the text/plain and text/html alternative bodies.

Download Chilkat .NET for 2.0 Framework

Download Chilkat .NET for 1.0 / 1.1 Framework

'  Create a MailMan for the purpose
'  of unlocking the component.
Dim mailman As New Chilkat.MailMan()
mailman.UnlockComponent("anything for 30-day trial")

Dim email As New Chilkat.Email()

'  Adding attachments, HTML/plain-text bodies, etc can be done
'  in any order:

'  Add an attachment
Dim contentType As String
contentType = email.AddFileAttachment("hamlet.zip")
If (contentType Is Nothing ) Then
    MsgBox(email.LastErrorText)
    Exit Sub
End If


'  Add some headers:
email.Subject = "This is a complex email"
email.AddTo("Chilkat Support","support@chilkatsoft.com")
email.From = "Matt <matt@chilkatsoft.com>"

'  Add a plain-text body:
email.AddPlainTextAlternativeBody("This is the plain-text body")

'  Add an image that will be embedded in the HTML body.
'  The contentType as derived from the file extension is returned.
Dim contentId As String
contentId = email.AddRelatedFile("dude.gif")

'  Add an HTML body:
Dim html As String
html = "<html><body><b>This is the HTML body</b><br><img src=""cid:" & contentId & """></body></html>"

email.AddHtmlAlternativeBody(html)

'  Save the email as a .eml
Dim success As Boolean
success = email.SaveEml("complex.eml")
If (success <> true) Then
    MsgBox(email.LastErrorText)
Else
    MsgBox("Created email!")
End If

Need a specific example? Send a request to support@chilkatsoft.com

Mail Component · XML Parser