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PHP Requires Chilkat v11.0.0+

Create Binary MIME

See more MIME Examples

Demonstrates how to create and save a multipart/mixed MIME document where the parts (a JPG and a PDF) are NOT base64 encoded, but are instead binary.

Chilkat PHP Downloads

Chilkat2 PHP
<?php

use Chilkat2\BinData;
use Chilkat2\Email;
use Chilkat2\Mime;
use Chilkat2\StringBuilder;

// This example requires the Chilkat API to have been previously unlocked.
// See Global Unlock Sample for sample code.

$mime = new Mime();

$mime->SetBodyFromPlainText('This is the plain text body.');
$mime->ConvertToMultipartMixed();
$mime->AppendPartFromFile('qa_data/jpg/penguins.jpg');
$mime->AppendPartFromFile('qa_data/pdf/fishing.pdf');

// At this point, when saved, the MIME bodies will be base64 encoded.
$mime->SaveMime('qa_output/sample.txt');

// We now have the following MIME where everything is base64 encoded:
// The code that follows shows how to eliminate the base64 to make this binary MIME.

//     Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="------------000207060703080505060404"
//
//     --------------000207060703080505060404
//     Content-Type: text/plain
//     Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
//
//     This is the plain text body.
//     --------------000207060703080505060404
//     Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="penguins.jpg"
//     Content-Type: image/jpeg; name="penguins.jpg"
//     Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64
//
//     /9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAgEAYABgAAD/7gAOQWRvYmUAZAAAAAAB/+ESCEV4aWYAAE1NACoAAAAIAAcB
//     MgACAAAAFAAAAGIBOwACAAAABwAAAHZHRgADAAAAAQAEAABHSQADAAAAAQA/AACcnQABAAAADgAA
//     ...
//     800a1MlLipJHlyU9en7sqVPkBK+gBj+o+1E91Ld7iJk0pJDO5PmDk4FOGOHy6S3JW120W1uCJ5M0
//     PBa54edOFAc8ePX/2Q==
//
//     --------------000207060703080505060404
//     Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="fishing.pdf"
//     Content-Type: application/pdf; name="fishing.pdf"
//     Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64
//
//     JVBERi0xLjMKJcfsj6IKNSAwIG9iago8PC9MZW5ndGggNiAwIFIvRmlsdGVyIC9GbGF0ZURlY29k
//     ZT4+CnN0cmVhbQp4nM1c288cNxVX09A0myq35tom7bSl8E1hp76P/YpASIiXlEg8tDwVKEJfilIe
//     ...
//     MDRGMT48OTlENkRFQzExQjkzNjA0Mjc1RUFCNzIyMjI4RjA0RjE+XQo+PgpzdGFydHhyZWYKMjk0
//     MzY5CiUlRU9GCg==
//
//     --------------000207060703080505060404--
//

// To make it binary MIME (getting rid of the base64), set the Encoding property to "binary"
// for the JPG and PDF parts.

$jpgPart = new Mime();
$mime->PartAt(1, $jpgPart);

$jpgPart->Encoding = 'binary';

$pdfPart = new Mime();
$mime->PartAt(2, $pdfPart);

$pdfPart->Encoding = 'binary';

// Now save it.  If you try to view this MIME in a text editor,
// the JPG and PDF parts will be garbled and unintelligible. That's because
// the bytes do not represent characters.
$mime->SaveMime('qa_output/sampleBinary.mim');

// The MIME now contains this:

//     Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="------------000207060703080505060404"
//
//     --------------000207060703080505060404
//     Content-Type: text/plain
//     Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
//
//     This is the plain text body.
//     --------------000207060703080505060404
//     Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="penguins.jpg"
//     Content-Type: image/jpeg; name="penguins.jpg"
//     Content-Transfer-Encoding: binary
//
//     <Binary Data Here>
//
//     --------------000207060703080505060404
//     Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="fishing.pdf"
//     Content-Type: application/pdf; name="fishing.pdf"
//     Content-Transfer-Encoding: binary
//
//     <Binary Data Here>
//
//     --------------000207060703080505060404--
//

// Can we load this binary MIME into an Email object?
$binData = new BinData();
// Write the binary MIME into binData;
$mime->GetMimeBd($binData);

$email = new Email();
// Load the email from the binData.
$email->SetFromMimeBd($binData);

// Note: Many email clients may not be able to correctly process emails
// using the binary encoding.  Thunderbird has trouble.  Windows Live Mail
// worked OK.
$email->Subject = 'Binary MIME Email';
$email->From = 'admin@chilkatsoft.com';
$email->AddTo('Chilkat', 'support@chilkatsoft.com');
$email->SaveEml('qa_output/binaryEmail.eml');

// Chilkat does not recommend trying to use binary MIME for email.
// Binary MIME is typically used in HTTP for uploads and downloads.
//

// Also, binary MIME is not representable in a string.
// If we try to get the MIME as a string, then it must be encoded
// using base64.

// Chilkat automatically changes binary encodings to base64
// when there's an attempt to get the MIME as a string.
$sb = new StringBuilder();
$email->GetMimeSb($sb);
$sb->WriteFile('qa_output/email_fromSb.eml', 'utf-8', false);

// Likewise, if we try to get the MIME as a string from the Mime object,
// it cannot contain non-character data in a binary encoding.  The binary
// bytes MUST be in base64.  The act of trying to retrieve the MIME in string
// format will force Chilkat to convert binary encodings (for non-text parts)
// to base64.
$mime->GetMimeSb($sb);
$sb->WriteFile('qa_output/mime_fromSb.eml', 'utf-8', false);

// However, the above use of base64 is just for the purpose of making the MIME
// string friendly.  If we save the MIME to a file, it's still binary:
$mime->SaveMime('qa_output/mime_binary.mime');