CODEWITHSUNDEEP
htmlvb.netemail
Dean Martin
Dean Martin

Reputation: 1283

Sending html mail displays correctly on some applications but not on others?

I am sending emails via a VB application. The following characters displays correctly on some email applications but on others, I get a weird replacement (See attached image). How can I go about making these characters always display correctly?

The character set : ( ) & * % $ # @ ! ~ ; _ = + / - ?

The Message : 18cm – 22cm Wide; Fat O

The result : enter image description here

No matter which one of the characters gets used, The result is always the same as the attached image. The applications that does not display correctly is outlook < 2013.

Here is the VB code:

Sub subHtmlEmail(ByVal strAddresseeEmail As String, ByVal strGroup As String)
    Try
        Dim strTo, strFrom, strBody, strSubject, strBcc As String
        Dim boolHtml As Boolean = True ' set the body content to plain text(false) or HTML(true)
        strFrom = "[email protected]"
        strTo = strAddresseeEmail ' ; Separates emails
        strBcc = "" ' ; Separates emails

        strSubject = txtEmailSubject.Text

        strBody = "<html><head></head><body>"
        strBody = strBody & "<img src=cid:Logo>"
        strBody &= "<br><br>"


        strBody &= "Dear " & clsGroupCustomers.RetrieveAddressee(strAddresseeEmail, strGroup) & ",<br><br>"

        Dim strLines As String() = txtBody.Text.Split(New [Char]() {CChar(vbCrLf)})
        For Each strLine As String In strLines
            strBody &= strLine & "<br>"
        Next

        strBody &= "<br><br>"

        Dim strFooterLines As String() = txtFooter.Text.Split(New [Char]() {CChar(vbCrLf)})
        For Each strFooterLine As String In strFooterLines
            strBody &= strFooterLine & "<br>"
        Next

        HTMLView = AlternateView.CreateAlternateViewFromString(strBody, Nothing, "text/html")

        strBody &= "</body></html>"

        subEmail(strFrom, strTo, strBcc, strSubject, strBody, boolHtml, strAddresseeEmail)
        'subEmail(strFrom, strTo, strBcc, strSubject, System.Web.HttpUtility.HtmlEncode(strBody), boolHtml, strAddresseeEmail)

    Catch ex As Exception
        Cursor = Cursors.Default
        MsgBox("An error has occurred in your application while attempting to create the email." & Chr(13) & Chr(13) & "Description: " & ex.Message & Chr(13) & Chr(13) & "Please contact your System Administrator.", MsgBoxStyle.Critical, "Application Error")
        Exit Sub
    End Try
End Sub

'Send the email
Sub subEmail(ByVal strFrom, ByVal strTo, ByVal strBcc, ByVal strSubject, ByVal strBody, ByVal bolHtml, ByVal strAddresseeEmail)
    Try
        'Dim strMailServer As String = "smtp.dsl.telkomsa.net"
        Dim strMailServer As String = "smtp.insightsa.net"
        'Dim strMailServer As String = "smtp.humeat.com"
        'Dim strMailServer As String = "mail.humeat.com"

        Dim intCount As Integer
        Dim objAttachment As Attachment

        Dim objMail As New MailMessage()
        objMail.From = New MailAddress(strFrom)
        Dim i As Integer
        Dim arrArray As Array

        arrArray = Split(strTo, ";")
        For i = 0 To arrArray.Length - 1
            objMail.To.Add(arrArray(i))
        Next

        arrArray = Split(strBcc, ";")
        For i = 0 To arrArray.Length - 1
            If Not arrArray(i) = "" Then objMail.Bcc.Add(arrArray(i))
        Next

        For intCount = 0 To lstAttachments.Items.Count - 1
            objAttachment = New Attachment(lstAttachments.Items(intCount).ToString)
            objMail.Attachments.Add(objAttachment)
        Next


        ' [TW 20110309]
        ' Create the LinkedResource (embedded image)
        Dim logo As New LinkedResource("C:\humeat.bmp")
        logo.ContentId = "Logo"

        ' [TW 20110309]
        ' Add the LinkedResource to the appropriate view
        HTMLView.LinkedResources.Add(logo)

        ' [TW 20110309]
        ' Add the views
        objMail.AlternateViews.Add(PlainView)
        objMail.AlternateViews.Add(HTMLView)

        objMail.Subject = strSubject
        objMail.Body = strBody
        objMail.IsBodyHtml = bolHtml
        Dim smtp As New SmtpClient(strMailServer)
        smtp.Port = "587" ' This is not the default port of 25 but a special smtp port because they use Mweb.  HC. 2-8-2011


        smtp.Credentials = New System.Net.NetworkCredential("[email protected]", "123Four56")
        smtp.Send(objMail)

    Catch ex As Exception
        Cursor = Cursors.Default
        'MsgBox("An error has occurred in your application while attempting to send the email to " & strTo & "." & Chr(13) & Chr(13) & "Description: " & ex.Message & Chr(13) & Chr(13) & "Please contact your System Administrator.", MsgBoxStyle.Critical, "Application Error")
        lstEmailsNotSent.Items.Add(clsGroupCustomers.RetrieveAddressee(strAddresseeEmail, cboEmailGroup.Text) & " (" & strTo & ") - " & ex.Message)
        Exit Sub
    End Try
End Sub

Upvotes: 1

Views: 900

Answers (1)

pndc
pndc

Reputation: 3805

Firstly, The – in 18cm – 22cm Wide; Fat O is a Unicode em-dash, not a hypen/minus sign. So your character set contains more than you think.

It's obviously a UTF-8 encoding problem. That's what you get if you display UTF-8-encoded text in Latin-1. Some MUAs have different defaults, or apply heuristics, when a specific character set is not declared.

There is an easy enough fix for this specific problem. Instead of giving a content-type of text/html, give text/html; charset=UTF-8.

Note that this hints at confusion about encodings in your database database and/or codebase if you've never seen this problem before, and it's a right pain to sort out. Consider fixing it to be a learning experience :)

Upvotes: 2

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