Problem creating an email with an attachment in Javascript

Question

I'm initiating an email create, by calling the code below, and adding an attachment to it.

I want the user to be able to type in the receipient, and modify the contents of the message, so I'm not sending it immediately.

Why do I get a RangeError the 2nd time the method is called?
(The first time it works correctly.)

function NewMailItem(p_recipient, p_subject, p_body, p_file, p_attachmentname)
{
   try 
   {
     var objO = new ActiveXObject('Outlook.Application');
     var objNS = objO.GetNameSpace('MAPI');
     var mItm = objO.CreateItem(0);
     mItm.Display();
     if (p_recipient.length > 0) 
     {
       mItm.To = p_recipient;
     }
     mItm.Subject = p_subject;
     if (p_file.length > 0) 
     {
      var mAts = mItm.Attachments;
      mAts.add(p_file, 1, p_body.length + 1, p_attachmentname);
     }
     mItm.Body = p_body;
     mItm.GetInspector.WindowState = 2;
   } catch(e) 
   { 
     alert('unable to create new mail item'); 
   } 
}

The error is occuring on the mAts.add line. So when it tries to attach the document, it fails.

Also the file name (p_file) is a http address to a image.

The fact that this is even remotely possible in JavaScript scares me. — scunliffe, Feb 16 '09 at 18:17
It's a trusted site, on an intranet, but I know what you mean. — Bravax, Feb 16 '09 at 19:21
@scunliffe: Everything is possible in JavaScript. I's a programming language after all. In this case, it is JScript and this won't even run in a non-trusted environment. — Tomalak, Mar 11 '09 at 12:59

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Feb 22 '09 at 15:42

3

Won't work outside of IE, the user needs to have Outlook on the machine and an account configured on it. Are you sure you want to send an email this way?

answered Feb 22 '09 at 15:42

That's fine, this is used in a controlled environment where each machine has IE and Outlook installed, and sadly yes, this is what they want. – Bravax Feb 23 '09 at 13:48
And this is why 25% of the web is till on crappy IE6, because of reasoning like this. – Breton Mar 10 '09 at 23:36
1

By coding specifically to IE and outlook, you're participating in an unethical corporate lock-in strategy. Maybe you can live with the future pain and suffering you are causing to all web developers, and users of the system. If I were in your position, I would have to resign. – Breton Mar 10 '09 at 23:56
1

Oh please. Get off your high horse. You're going to resign over a tiny piece of Javascript? It's not even unethical. It's the corporate policy. – Bravax Mar 11 '09 at 10:47
Sure I would. "It's not even unethical. It's the corporate policy." hahahaha you're joking right? Listen, seriously, it's developers like you that have caused the misery that the web is currently in. It's because of you that corporations can't/won't upgrade to newer versions of browsers. shame. – Breton Mar 18 '09 at 05:14
1

See this thread: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/657893/is-it-ethical-to-follow-company-policy-when-you-think-its-wrong/657929#657929 for some other views. – Bravax Mar 18 '09 at 11:56
Each language that I know of: ASP, Java, JSP, PHP, Rails, etc. all have *much* better ways to handle sending email that hooking into an IE/Outlook only solution based hack. Keep in mind that this also limits portability to Linux, Mac, iPhone, Blackberry, etc. – scunliffe Mar 18 '09 at 13:46
Also, can anyone confirm that this still works in IE7, and IE8? especially on Vista... or with minimal security settings set? – scunliffe Mar 18 '09 at 13:49
See the comments on the main question. TBH all I care about is if it can be done in IE6+. All browsers are set to treat this site as a trusted zone. One day soon I aim to try Tomalak's solution. – Bravax Mar 18 '09 at 13:55
I don't see any reason why it should be sent from client instead of server side script. If your web-application has login system you can even assign each user their own e-mail and if you send the e-mail out using their e-mail as Sender/Reply-To you will almost mimic exact same conditions as if it was sent from their pc. Of course using js you can cut yourself some slack and code limited solution in 30 lines. – Maiku Mori Aug 04 '09 at 07:07

Tomalak · Answer 2 · 2009-03-11T12:58:05.410

1

I'm trying it with this little snippet, and it works flawlessly:

var objO = new ActiveXObject('Outlook.Application');
var mItm = objO.CreateItem(0);

var mAts   = mItm.Attachments;
var p_file = [
  "http://stackoverflow.com/content/img/vote-arrow-up.png",
  "http://stackoverflow.com/content/img/vote-arrow-down.png"
];
for (var i = 0; i < p_file.length; i++) {
  mAts.add(p_file[i]);
}

Note that I left off all optional arguments to Attachments.Add(). The method defaults to adding the attachments at the end, which is what you seem to want anyway.

Can you try this standalone snippet? If it works for you, please do a step-by-step reduction of your code towards this absolute minimum, and you will find what causes the error.

edited Mar 11 '09 at 12:58

answered Feb 16 '09 at 14:53

Tomalak

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Sorry, I definately can. It works the first time. Just not after that. – Bravax Feb 16 '09 at 15:53
Wild guess: Can you attach the same document twice? Maybe there is something wrong with the second document? – Tomalak Feb 16 '09 at 16:09
I am attaching the same document, the error title is RangeError, i'm not sure if I'm going to get more detail then that. – Bravax Feb 16 '09 at 17:56
Hm.... "RangeError" is a JavaScript error, so it doesn't even come to the point where Add() is called. That means: Add() doesn't throw the error. Can you try without "p_body.length + 1" (just set that part to 0)? – Tomalak Feb 16 '09 at 19:42
Also, how do you call your code to add a second attachment? Your code as you have it in the question does not support that, or does it? – Tomalak Feb 16 '09 at 19:44
I tried your first solution, and that didn't make a difference. The code is definately raising the error on the add line, as i've added linenumber reporting, so that is the line it's dying on. – Bravax Mar 11 '09 at 10:56
I call it a second time, by running the javascript method again. I.e. the user is clicking on a link which triggers it a second time. – Bravax Mar 11 '09 at 10:57
I can call the sample code I posted here multiple times without getting an error. Can you double-check you have valid arguments for Add() in the second function call? – Tomalak Mar 11 '09 at 17:21

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 10 '09 at 23:33

0

first do mItm.display() then write mItm.GetInspector.WindowState = 2; this will work

answered Mar 10 '09 at 23:33

I tried this, and unfortunately it doesn't help. The first time is fine, the second time it gets the error above. – Bravax Mar 11 '09 at 10:53

Problem creating an email with an attachment in Javascript

3 Answers3

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