email_send()

[burtnco]

I'm trying to automate a bulk mail-merge email procedure using email_send(). The code below works simply great. But the message part of the emails are wrapping weirdly on the receiving end. See, I've used chr(10) [LF] to force a new line. I'm thinking this places the cursor in the same column but on the next line, but since I can't see this cursor(!), I have to assume. I wanted to use chr(13) [CR] to force that new line and to put the cursor at column one, but this caused the parsing to hang the computer for infinity. Is there a special syntax I need to use to format the output the way I want it? Btw, this code is being used as part of our nightly update, so I'm trying to stay away from using forms and other screen-needed things.

Thanks for anyone's help!

--Burt
***************

dim tbl as p 
dim end as c
tbl = table.open("teachers")
query.filter = "Last_Date=date().and.isnotblank(\"email\")"
query.order = ""
query.options = ""
query.description = "Saved Query:Today's invoicings"
tbl.query_create()
tbl.fetch_last()
last=tbl.recno()
tbl.fetch_first()

A:

'Send email


param_to = tbl.Email
param_subject = "Music Transaction Report" 
param_cc = ""
param_bcc = ""
param_attachments = ""
'Template message may have mail merge commands. a5_mailmerge() evaluates the mail merge commands.   
salute=alltrim("Dear "+w_upper(lower(alltrim(tbl.sname_f)))+",")
dd=chr(10)+chr(10)
d=chr(10)
message = alltrim("We have posted a transaction to your account. This most probably was for music we shipped to you today. But perhaps a return was credited or an adjustment made. Please visit your on-line Menu at our web site for details."+chr(10)+"http://www.burtnco.com/foyer.a5w?acct="+lower(alltrim(tbl.Link_name))+chr(10)+chr(10)+"If you have comments or questions, please write or phone me."+chr(10)+chr(10)+"Thanks as always for allowing us help fulfill your print music needs."+chr(10)+chr(10)+"Best regards,"+chr(10)+chr(10)+"--Burt"+chr(10)+chr(10)+"----------------------------"+chr(10)+"Burt & Company Discount Music Supply"+chr(10)+"PO Box 1145, Marlton NJ  08053  USA"+chr(10)+"US & Canada: Phone 800-548-2878 o Fax 888-830-2525"+chr(10)+"World: Phone 856-983-6004 | Fax 856-983-6157"+chr(10)+"[email protected] | http://www.burtnco.com")
send_result = email_send(alltrim(tbl.Email),"Music Transaction Report",salute+dd+message,"","","",.f.,"","","",.f.,.t.)
'if send_result <> 1 then
'	ui_msg_box("Error","E-mail message was not sent.",UI_STOP_SYMBOL)
'end if

tbl.fetch_next()
if end="end"
	goto Z
end if
if tbl.recno()=last
	end="end"
end if
goto A		

Z:
tbl.close()
ui_msg_box("Operation finished","E-mail messages sent.",UI_STOP_SYMBOL)

[AaronBBrown]

You should be using crlf() (chr(13) + chr(10)) for new lines.

You could also use Netmailer, which will do this all for you without you having to write code.

You might also be interested in the multi-line string operator, which would prevent you from having to manually embed crlfs at all..
<<%DELIMITER%...%DELIMITER%

Also, please see this post:
http://msgboard.alphasoftware.com/al...ad.php?t=57348

[CALocklin]

I haven't checked out your code but you may beating your head against the wall for nothing. It has been my experience that e-mail text often gets wrapped at the receiving end at lengths that the sender has no control over. So, if you send a line that is 60 characters long, the 'receiver' may truncate it at 45 and you will end up with a 45 character line followed by a 15 character line (45+15=60) and repeating this sequence all the way to the end.

[AaronBBrown]

On another note, I would suggest reworking your code to avoid GOTOs. The *only* use for GOTOs in structured programming is for error handling in languages that don't have structured exception handling (i.e. Xbasic)