How to send Email from my application?

Long Vu Ngoc · 19 Jan 2024, 14:49

@JonB Hi
I want to use Qt to launch Outlook and attach html file in the body of email
As I commented, I use QProcess to run Outlook.exe and use command to attach html file in body of the email

Outlook.exe /c ipm.note /m user@contoso.com?subject=Test&body="HERE YOUR HTML"

As @jsulm suggeset, I paste my html code in body. Sorry I don't know about html, I have just learned it.
Outlook already launch but the body email don't show html file.

JonB · 19 Jan 2024, 15:02

@Long-Vu-Ngoc
I still don't understand whether you are saying that if you send non-HTML, like you show here ...&body="HERE YOUR HTML", that works? But if you send where you showed body = "<!DOCTYPE html>" ... that does not work? It arrives but is incorrect? It does not arrive? I don't know what you are saying.

If you are trying to send the HTML body you show in body = "<!DOCTYPE html>" ... then you need to start by correcting it. Where did you get that string from, it is not right? It has a <head> start tag but no </head> matching end tag, so it is invalid HTML, and I don't know what Outlook will do with it.

Long Vu Ngoc · 19 Jan 2024, 15:13

@JonB I just find a example html code in the internet. I try another but it still don't show html in the body of the email. It just show a text like that

JonB · 19 Jan 2024, 15:21

@Long-Vu-Ngoc
At least your new example is correct HTML now. I don't know where you copied the previous HTML you had from.
In Outlook you have a setting as to whether to display emails as plain text or HTML. Have you set that to allow it to show as HTML?

Long Vu Ngoc · 19 Jan 2024, 15:38

@JonB I already set that but it still not work.

JonB · 19 Jan 2024, 16:11

@Long-Vu-Ngoc
That is actually the setting for whether to send messages in HTML. I thought there was one for whether to display in HTML received messages, but maybe not.

I have never used a command line like

Outlook.exe /c ipm.note /m user@contoso.com?subject=Test&body="HERE YOUR HTML"

It is possible that this body=... argument automatically means send as text not HTML, I don't know.

On the message received in the inbox, can you display the source and see what it looks like. I think you right-click in an empty area of the body when showing a message and select View Source. Let's see whether it looks like it has sent any HTML.

Long Vu Ngoc · 19 Jan 2024, 16:16

@JonB said in How to send Email from my application?:

It is possible that this body=... argument automatically means send as text not HTML, I don't know.

You said right. I check source and it is Plain text,
Here is source: </head>
<body lang="EN-US" link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72">
<div class="WordSection1">
<p class="MsoPlainText"><html><head></head><body>Hello World<h1>Hello World</h1><p>Hello World</p></body></html><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<br>
<span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; color: rgb(115, 115, 115);"><i>***********************************************************************
<br>

JonB · 19 Jan 2024, 16:29

@Long-Vu-Ngoc
Yeah. I did have a Google around a looked quite a bit, not one example of this command line being used to send HTML (as opposed to plain) text, and not one person asking.

IIRC, when you type into Outlook UI for rich text it does something like sends a message which has both HTML and plain text versions embedded in it, as "alternatives". For whatever reason I'm thinking you can't make it send as HTML from command-line body=... argument.

Long Vu Ngoc · 19 Jan 2024, 16:33

@JonB Do you have any suggestions for that? I want to open a mail app (outlook) and attach the html file in the body

JonB · wrote on 19 Jan 2024, 16:33

@Long-Vu-Ngoc
If you really wanted to do this, given we can't find how to do it you would need to use VBA. Google if you don't know this. Qt has QAxObject as entry point to this. It's going to be a lot more code. Or you may be able to run Powershell as external command passing it parameters, that allows you to access this level.

I would be looking at sending via SMTP instead, as @ChrisW67 mentioned above. But that too is some work, and you need to connect to an SMTP server available to you.

ChrisW67 · wrote on 19 Jan 2024, 22:00

@Long-Vu-Ngoc. @JonB

The mailto: syntax used in the Outlook command line allows only for plain text messages. That syntax predates HTML/rich text email by a long margin.

To send an HTML body via Outlook you could use a variation of the Powershell script found here. Something like:

# File blah.ps1
param (
    [string]$to = "default@default.com",
    [string]$cc = "default@default.com",
    [string]$subject = "default subject",
    [string]$body = "body content",
    [switch]$html = $false
)

$ol = New-Object -comObject Outlook.Application

$mail = $ol.CreateItem(0)
$mail.To = $to
$mail.Cc = $cc
$mail.Subject = $subject
if($html) {
    $mail.HTMLBody = $body
} else {
    $mail.Body = $body
}

$mail.Send

Launch Powershell using QProcess in much the same sort of way. IMHO all emails should contain a usable text-only part along with any rich text format. Outlook's interface seems to actively fight this (setting HTMLBody mangles Body).

Edit: If you are going to use Powershell then you should look at Send-MailMessage. This avoids Outlook client altogether, but requires an SMTP server (which may be a Microsoft mail server).

You may have to deal with restrictions on running Powershell scripts.

Have a look at Qutlook example to see how you might automate the application more directly.

Ronel_qtmaster · 20 Jan 2024, 13:52

@Long-Vu-Ngoc it is simple.sendind emails is through the SMTP protocol

1.Go a read about the smtp protocol and commands
2.Create a Tcp socket and connect to the smtp server
3.Write hello to the server and see if the connection is successful.
4. In your mail account you should grant access of your application
5. Use Switch structure to Switch between the differences responses of the server, in order to now which info you should send( title, body, attachements etc...)

this is an exemple of code i used for tests.However it is not complete.Hope that it helps.

main.cpp
#include <QCoreApplication>
#include <QDebug>
#include <QString>
#include <iostream>
#include <QHostAddress>
#include <QTextStream>
#include "smtp.h"

QString command;
QString password;
QString email;
QString host;
qint16 port;
using namespace std;
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{

QCoreApplication a(argc, argv);
smtp client;
command ="";
qDebug()<<"----------------------";
qDebug()<<"MailSender 2.0\r\n";
qDebug()<<"----------------------";
qDebug()<<"serverName: stmp.mail.yahoo.com";
qDebug()<<"port: 25";
qDebug()<<"CommandList -->";
qDebug()<<"HELO";
 qDebug () <<"EHLO";
qDebug()<<"AUTH LOGIN";
qDebug()<<"MAIL FROM";
qDebug () <<"RCPT TO";
 qDebug () <<"TURN";
  qDebug () <<"ATRN";
   qDebug () <<"SIZE";
    qDebug () <<"ETRN";
   qDebug () <<"PIPELINING";
    qDebug () <<"CHUNKING";
     qDebug () <<"DATA";
    qDebug () <<"DSN";
     qDebug () <<"RSET";
      qDebug () <<"VRFY";
       qDebug () <<"HELP";
qDebug () <<"QUIT";
qDebug()<<"----------------------";
client.socket->connectToHost("smtp.mail.yahoo.com", 25);
qDebug()<<"connecting";

return a.exec();

}
smtp.h

#ifndef SMTP_H
#define SMTP_H

#include <QObject>
#include <QTcpSocket>

class smtp : public QObject
{
Q_OBJECT

public:
explicit smtp(QObject *parent = 0);
~smtp();
QTcpSocket *socket;
QString last;
int state;
int c;
enum states{
HELLO,
AUTH_LOGIN,
USER,
PASSWORD

};
protected:

private slots:
void stateChanged(QAbstractSocket::SocketState socketState);
void errorReceived(QAbstractSocket::SocketError socketError);

void disconnected();
void connected();
void readyread();
void enteraCommand(QString instruction);

};

#endif // SMTP_H

smtp.cpp

#include "smtp.h"
#include <QTextStream>
#include <QString>
#include <QTimer>
#include <QTime>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <iostream>
#include <QTime>
#include <QHostAddress>

using namespace std;
QString c;
smtp::smtp(QObject *parent) :
QObject(parent)
{
socket = new QTcpSocket(this);
connect(socket,SIGNAL(connected()), this, SLOT(connected()));
connect(socket,SIGNAL(disconnected()), this, SLOT(disconnected()));
connect(socket,SIGNAL(readyRead()), this, SLOT(readyread()));
connect(socket, SIGNAL(stateChanged(QAbstractSocket::SocketState)),this, SLOT(stateChanged(QAbstractSocket::SocketState)));
connect(socket,SIGNAL(error(QAbstractSocket::SocketError)), this, SLOT(errorReceived(QAbstractSocket::SocketError)));
last = "";
state = HELLO;
c =0;

}

smtp::~smtp()
{

}

void smtp::connected()
{
qDebug()<<"connected";
socket->write("HELO yahoo.com\r\n");

}
void smtp::disconnected()
{
qDebug()<<"disconnected";
qDebug()<<socket->errorString();

qDebug()<<"1= Try again";


QString response;
QTextStream stream(stdin);
stream >> response;
if(response == "1")
{
    socket->connectToHost("smtp.mail.yahoo.com", 25);
    qDebug() <<"connecting to smtp.mail.yahoo.com";

}
else
{
    qDebug()<<"invalid command";

}

}
void smtp::readyread()
{
while (!socket->atEnd()) {
QString line = socket->readLine();
qDebug()<< line;
if(line.startsWith("220"))
{
QString instruction = "enter the command AUTH LOGIN";
enteraCommand(instruction);
}
else if(line.startsWith("250"))
{
qDebug()<<line;
enteraCommand("entrez une commande");
}
else
if(line.startsWith("334"))
{
if(c == 1)
{
enteraCommand("password");
}
else
{
enteraCommand("email");
}
}
else
{
qDebug()<<line;
enteraCommand("entrez une commande");
}

}
}

void smtp::stateChanged(QAbstractSocket::SocketState socketState)
{
qDebug()<<socketState;
}
void smtp::errorReceived(QAbstractSocket::SocketError socketError)
{
qDebug()<< socketError;

}
void smtp::enteraCommand(QString instruction)
{
QString command;
qDebug()<<instruction;
QTextStream stream(stdin);
stream >> command;
if(instruction == "password" || instruction == "email")
{
socket->write(command.toLatin1().toBase64());
}else
{
socket->write(command.toLatin1());
}

}

smtp.ui

<?xml version='1.0'?>
<ui version="4.0">
<author/>
<comment/>
<exportmacro/>
<class>smtp</class>
<widget name="smtp" class="QWidget">
<property name="geometry">
<rect>
<x>0</x>
<y>0</y>
<width>640</width>
<height>480</height>
</rect>
</property>
<property name="windowTitle">
<string>Form</string>
</property>
</widget>
<pixmapfunction/>
<connections/>
</ui>

smtp.pro

QT += core network
QT -= gui

CONFIG += c++11

TARGET = mailSender_conso
CONFIG += console
CONFIG -= app_bundle

TEMPLATE = app

SOURCES += main.cpp
smtp.cpp

HEADERS +=
smtp.h

JonB · 21 Jan 2024, 10:08

@Ronel_qtmaster
Hi there. Your code may be fine, but would benefit from enclosing inside forum's Code tags (icon </> when posting, or ``` (3 backticks) above & below code block.

The problem for the OP is that (a) he needs to have some external email account to do this and (b) your code may work with smtp.mail.yahoo.com but, say, gmail's one long since stopped users from doing this and require user to be logged in or use some other form of authentication before they allow it these days. It's only fair to bring this to OP's attention.

Long Vu Ngoc · wrote on 21 Jan 2024, 09:58

@ChrisW67 @JonB Thank you for your support. I have already solved it.

Volker75 · 21 Jan 2024, 15:05

@JonB I am using https://github.com/cutelyst/simple-mail
It also works with google. But not by default. You must enable in google SMTP, 2FA and set a password. Then it is working fine with gmail.

JonB · wrote on 21 Jan 2024, 15:05

@Volker75 said in How to send Email from my application?:

2FA and set a password

That's the bit I meant. You didn't used to have to do that, now one has all this complication, that's all.

Glad you found a library for Qt to do SMTP.