I'm trying to figure out how to build multipart/mime envelopes for emails in Go. The following code generates correctly-nested bodies - but the boundaries are not inserted correctly.
You can see a demo on https://play.golang.org/p/XLc4DQFObRn
package main
import (
"bytes"
"fmt"
"io"
"log"
"math/rand"
"mime/multipart"
"mime/quotedprintable"
"net/textproto"
)
// multipart/mixed
// |- multipart/related
// | |- multipart/alternative
// | | |- text/plain
// | | `- text/html
// | `- inlines..
// `- attachments..
func main() {
body := &bytes.Buffer{}
writer := multipart.NewWriter(body)
var part io.Writer
var err error
// Text Content
part, err = writer.CreatePart(textproto.MIMEHeader{"Content-Type": {"multipart/alternative"}})
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
childWriter := multipart.NewWriter(part)
var subpart io.Writer
for _, contentType := range []string{"text/plain", "text/html"} {
subpart, err = CreateQuoteTypePart(childWriter, contentType)
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
_, err := subpart.Write([]byte("This is a line of text that needs to be wrapped by quoted-printable before it goes to far.
"))
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
}
// Attachments
filename := fmt.Sprintf("File_%d.jpg", rand.Int31())
part, err = writer.CreatePart(textproto.MIMEHeader{"Content-Type": {"application/octet-stream"}, "Content-Disposition": {"attachment; filename=" + filename}})
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
part.Write([]byte("AABBCCDDEEFF"))
writer.Close()
fmt.Print(`From: Bob <bob@example.com>
To: Alice <alias@example.com>
Subject: Formatted text mail
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary=`)
fmt.Println(writer.Boundary())
fmt.Println(body.String())
}
// https://github.com/domodwyer/mailyak/blob/master/attachments.go#L142
func CreateQuoteTypePart(writer *multipart.Writer, contentType string) (part io.Writer, err error) {
header := textproto.MIMEHeader{
"Content-Type": []string{contentType},
"Content-Transfer-Encoding": []string{"quoted-printable"},
}
part, err = writer.CreatePart(header)
if err != nil {
return
}
part = quotedprintable.NewWriter(part)
return
}
I want to stick to answers from the standard library (stdlib) and avoid third party attempts to wing it.
Unfortunately, the standard library support for writing multi-part MIME messages has a bad API for nesting. The problem is that you have to set the boundary
string in the header before creating the writer, but the generated boundary string is obviously not available before creating the writer. So you have to set the boundary strings explicitly.
Here is my solution (runnable in the Go Playground), simplified for brevity. I have chosen to use the outer writer's boundary to set the inner one, and added labels to make it easier to keep track when reading the output.
package main
import ("bytes"; "fmt"; "io"; "log"; "math/rand"; "mime/multipart"; "net/textproto")
// multipart/mixed
// |- multipart/related
// | |- multipart/alternative
// | | |- text/plain
// | | `- text/html
// | `- inlines..
// `- attachments..
func main() {
mixedContent := &bytes.Buffer{}
mixedWriter := multipart.NewWriter(mixedContent)
// related content, inside mixed
var newBoundary = "RELATED-" + mixedWriter.Boundary()
mixedWriter.SetBoundary(first70("MIXED-" + mixedWriter.Boundary()))
relatedWriter, newBoundary := nestedMultipart(mixedWriter, "multipart/related", newBoundary)
altWriter, newBoundary := nestedMultipart(relatedWriter, "mulitpart/alternative", "ALTERNATIVE-" + newBoundary)
// Actual content alternatives (finally!)
var childContent io.Writer
childContent, _ = altWriter.CreatePart(textproto.MIMEHeader{"Content-Type": {"text/plain"}})
childContent.Write([]byte("This is a line of text
"))
childContent, _ = altWriter.CreatePart(textproto.MIMEHeader{"Content-Type": {"text/html"}})
childContent.Write([]byte("<html>HTML goes here
</html>
"))
altWriter.Close()
relatedWriter.Close()
// Attachments
filename := fmt.Sprintf("File_%d.jpg", rand.Int31())
var fileContent io.Writer
fileContent, _ = mixedWriter.CreatePart(textproto.MIMEHeader{"Content-Type": {"application/octet-stream"}, "Content-Disposition": {"attachment; filename=" + filename}})
fileContent.Write([]byte("AABBCCDDEEFF"))
mixedWriter.Close()
fmt.Print(`From: Bob <bob@example.com>
To: Alice <alias@example.com>
Subject: Formatted text mail
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary=`)
fmt.Print(mixedWriter.Boundary(), "
")
fmt.Println(mixedContent.String())
}
func nestedMultipart(enclosingWriter *multipart.Writer, contentType, boundary string) (nestedWriter *multipart.Writer, newBoundary string) {
var contentBuffer io.Writer
var err error
boundary = first70(boundary)
contentWithBoundary := contentType + "; boundary=\"" + boundary + "\""
contentBuffer, err = enclosingWriter.CreatePart(textproto.MIMEHeader{"Content-Type": {contentWithBoundary}})
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
nestedWriter = multipart.NewWriter(contentBuffer)
newBoundary = nestedWriter.Boundary()
nestedWriter.SetBoundary(boundary)
return
}
func first70(str string) string {
if len(str) > 70 {
return string(str[0:69])
}
return str
}