I am going to try this one more time with a very basic example. When I send an e-mail using PHP to e-mail clients, I have no problem except with gmail. When I view the e-mail in gmail, all I see is the code of the message. Gmail does not display the HTML. It just displays the code. Here is my script:
<?php
$to = "someone@gmail.com";
$subject = "Test HTML E-mail";
$random_hash = md5(date("r", time()));
$mID = md5($to);
$headers = "From: admin@yellowcas.com" . "
" . "Reply-To: admin@yellowcas.com" . "
";
$headers .= "Errors-To: someone@yahoo.com" . "
";
$headers .= "MIME-Version: 1.0" . "
";
$headers .= "Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=". $random_hash ." ; Message-ID: <" . $mID . ">" . "
";
ob_start();
?>
--<?php echo $random_hash; ?>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Hello, Tom!!!
This is simple text email message.
--<?php echo $random_hash; ?>
Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
<!doctype html>
<head>
<title>Untitled Document</title>
</head>
<body>
<h2>Hello, Tom!</h2>
<p>This is something with <strong>HTML</strong> formatting.</p>
</body>
</html>
--<?php echo $random_hash; ?>--
<?php
$message = ob_get_clean();
$mail_sent = @mail( $to, $subject, $message, $headers );
echo $mail_sent ? "Mail sent" : "Mail failed";
?>
I have tried this script without the DOCTYPE and with the DOCTYPE. I do not believe there is anything wrong with the HTML. I believe gmail is not recognizing the boundary string for some reason. Here is what I see when I open the e-mail:
--111f3d21df6a6eb40a42e9337a600c21
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Hello, Tom!!!
This is simple text email message.
--111f3d21df6a6eb40a42e9337a600c21
Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
<!doctype html>
<head>
<title>Untitled Document</title>
</head>
<body>
<h2>Hello, Tom!</h2>
<p>This is something with <strong>HTML</strong> formatting.</p>
</body>
</html>
--111f3d21df6a6eb40a42e9337a600c21--
Can anyone PLEASE tell me why gmail is rendering the whole message and not encoding the HTML? It is as if gmail does not recognize the boundary string. How do I fix this?
As a side note, yes, this is a basic PHP e-mail script I found on the internet. I have made a few modifications, but it is still not working in gmail. All other e-mail clients render it fine. PLEASE HELP! I am at my wit's end. Thank you.
When I added the $headers line in the code example right below that was submitted by Fred -ii-, gmail rendered the HTML, but it still shows the boundary string and the plain text message also. This is what the e-mail looks like:
--f8451c07b6649388e8938cfa12ea21e6 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hello, Greg!!! This is simple text email message. --f8451c07b6649388e8938cfa12ea21e6 Content-Type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bitHello, Tom!
This is something with HTML formatting. --f8451c07b6649388e8938cfa12ea21e6--
I hope that comes out right.
Here is another good version and seems easier to work with:
<?php
//define the receiver of the email
$to = 'email@example.com';
//define the subject of the email
$subject = 'Test HTML email';
// Generate a random boundary string
$mime_boundary = '_x'.sha1(time()).'x';
// Using the heredoc syntax to declare the headers
$headers = <<<HEADERS
From: Test <email@example.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
boundary="PHP-alt$mime_boundary"
HEADERS;
// Use our boundary string to create plain text and HTML versions
$message = <<<MESSAGE
--PHP-alt$mime_boundary
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
This Is a Plain Text Email
This message has no HTML. http://www.google.com
--PHP-alt$mime_boundary
Content-type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
<html>
<body>
<h1>This Is an HTML Email</h1>
<p>
This message is composed in <a href="http://www.google.com">GOOGLE, click here</a>.
</p>
</body>
</html>
--PHP-alt$mime_boundary--
MESSAGE;
// Send the message
if(!mail($to, $subject, $message, $headers))
{
// If the mail function fails, return an error message
echo "Something went wrong!";
}
else
{
// Return a success message if nothing went wrong
echo "Message sent successfully. Check your email!";
}
?>
Another tested method: (which so far is the better method)
<?php
function send_email(
$to='email@example.com',
$from='email@example.com',
$subject='test',
$html_content='<b>HELLO in HTML bold</b>',
$text_content='Hi there in plain text',
$headers='')
{
# Setup mime boundary
$mime_boundary = 'Multipart_Boundary_x'.md5(time()).'x';
$headers = "MIME-Version: 1.0
";
$headers .= "Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=\"$mime_boundary\"
";
$headers .= "Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
";
$body = "This is a multi-part message in mime format.
";
# Add in plain text version
$body .= "--$mime_boundary
";
$body .= "Content-Type: text/plain; charset=\"charset=us-ascii\"
";
$body .= "Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
";
$body .= $text_content;
$body .= "
";
# Add in HTML version
$body .= "--$mime_boundary
";
$body .= "Content-Type: text/html; charset=\"UTF-8\"
";
$body .= "Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
";
$body .= $html_content;
$body .= "
";
# Attachments would go here
# But this whole email thing should be turned into a class to more logically handle attachments,
# this function is fine for just dealing with html and text content.
# End email
$body .= "--$mime_boundary--
"; # <-- Notice trailing --, required to close email body for mime's
# Finish off headers
$headers .= "From: $from
";
$headers .= "X-Sender-IP: $_SERVER[SERVER_ADDR]
";
$headers .= 'Date: '.date('n/d/Y g:i A')."
";
# Mail it out
return mail($to, $subject, $body, $headers);
}
send_email(); // call the function
?>
This worked, and only showed me in HTML in Gmail, so plain text should theoretically work.
<?php
$notice_text = "This is a multi-part message in MIME format.";
$plain_text = "This is a plain text email.
It is very cool.";
$html_text = "<html><body>This is an <b style='color:purple'>HTML</b>" .
"text email.
It is very cool.</body></html>";
$semi_rand = md5(time());
$mime_boundary = "==MULTIPART_BOUNDARY_$semi_rand";
$mime_boundary_header = chr(34) . $mime_boundary . chr(34);
$to = "Me <email@example.com>";
// $bcc = "You <you@you.com>, Them <them@them.com>";
$from = "Him <another@example.com>";
$subject = "My Email";
$body = "$notice_text
--$mime_boundary
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
$plain_text
--$mime_boundary
Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
$html_text
--$mime_boundary--";
if (@mail($to, $subject, $body,
"From: " . $from . "
" .
"bcc: " . $bcc . "
" .
"MIME-Version: 1.0
" .
"Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
" .
" boundary=" . $mime_boundary_header))
echo "Email sent successfully.";
else
echo "Email NOT sent successfully!";
?>
Try this version: (tested with no additional codes anywhere)
<?php
$to = "someone@gmail.com";
$subject = "Test HTML E-mail";
$headers = "From: admin@yellowcas.com" . "
" . "Reply-To: admin@yellowcas.com" . "
";
$headers .= "MIME-Version: 1.0
";
//unique boundary
$boundary = uniqid("HTMLDEMO");
//tell e-mail client this e-mail contains//alternate versions
$headers .= "Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary = $boundary
";
//plain text version of message
$body = "--$boundary
" .
"Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
" .
"Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64
";
$body .= chunk_split(base64_encode("
Hello, Tom!!!
This is simple text email message.
"));
//HTML version of message
$body .= "--$boundary
" .
"Content-Type: text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1
" .
"Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64
";
$body .= chunk_split(base64_encode("
<!doctype html>
<head>
<title>Untitled Document</title>
</head>
<body>
<h2>Hello, Tom!</h2>
<p>This is something with <strong>HTML</strong> formatting.</p>
</body>
</html>
"));
ob_start();
?>
<?php
$message = ob_get_clean();
$mail_sent = mail( $to, $subject, $body, $headers );
echo $mail_sent ? "Mail sent" : "Mail failed";
?>
You need to use the following in your initial headers:
$headers .= 'Content-type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1' . "
";
below:
$headers .= "MIME-Version: 1.0" . "
";
as per the manual on PHP.net
Tested (successfully sent to my Gmail in HTML and not as code)
<?php
$to = "someone@gmail.com";
$subject = "Test HTML E-mail";
$random_hash = md5(date("r", time()));
$mID = md5($to);
$headers = "From: admin@yellowcas.com" . "
" . "Reply-To: admin@yellowcas.com" . "
";
$headers .= "Errors-To: someone@yahoo.com" . "
";
$headers .= "MIME-Version: 1.0" . "
";
$headers .= 'Content-type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1' . "
";
$headers .= "Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=". $random_hash ." ; Message-ID: <" . $mID . ">" . "
";
ob_start();
?>
// rest of code below...