generating a vcard file with a form submission (and e-mailing it)

[mktgbill]

I'm using dreamweaver with an extension (Kaos Mailer) to e-mail a submitted form's content to our e-mail address.

What I'd like to try to do is use the submitted data to generate a vCard (vcf) file for importing into Outlook and our contact manager package.  Though I don't consider myself an expert on this I'm pretty sure I can work up the PHP code generate the vCard file but would be stuck on how to attach it to the e-mail we receive.

Has anyone here done this (or something similar) before?

[michaellunsford]

don't know where I found this, but here you go:

NOTE: it works for me, but hollar if it doesn't work for you (as it may lose or gain something in this post).

[code=php:0]<?php
ini_set("memory_limit","128M");
$thisfile = 'backup.zip';
$file_content =file_get_contents($thisfile);
$encoded = chunk_split(base64_encode($file_content));
$headers = 'MIME-Version: 1.0' . "\n";
$headers .= "Content-Type: multipart/mixed;
   boundary=\"----MessageBoundary\"\n";

$message = '

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.

------MessageBoundary
Content-Type: text/plain;
       charset="us-ascii"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Hello

Backup file is attached.

Regards

------MessageBoundary
Content-Type: application/octet-stream;  name="';

$message .= "$thisfile";
$message .= '"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64
Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="';
$message .= "$thisfile";
$message .= '"

';
$message .= "$encoded";
$message .= '

------MessageBoundary--

';

// now send the email
mail("name@example.com","subject", $message, $headers);

?>
[/code]

[mktgbill]

Michael, thanks for the help. The form has been working great and it's nice to not have to input the data into Outlook.

Now I'm wondering how I'd go about adding a second attachment with delimited data to input into my contact management package. Generating a delimited text document is the easy part.

Any thoughts on how to accomplish a second attachment? 

[michaellunsford]

have you tried adding another message boundary and repeating the attachment procedure?

[mktgbill]

Michael: Again, thanks for your input. Here's what I have and it's working to a certain extent....

**************************************************************************
<?php
// Email Message content
$message_content = "MESSAGE CONTENT GOES HERE";
$message_to = "ME@MYEMAIL.com";
$message_subject = "MESSAGE SUBJECT";

// message assembly vcf attachment
$thisfile = $vcf_dir.$vcf_filename ;
$file_content =file_get_contents($thisfile);
$encoded = chunk_split(base64_encode($file_content));
// second attachment txt doc
$thisfile2 = $txt_dir.$txt_filename ;
$file_content2 =file_get_contents($thisfile2);
$encoded2 = chunk_split(base64_encode($file_content2));
// headers
$headers = 'MIME-Version: 1.0' . "\n";
$headers .= "Content-Type: multipart/mixed;
  boundary=\"----MessageBoundary\"\n";
// additional headers
$headers .= "From:".$_POST['email'];

$email_message = '

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.

------MessageBoundary
Content-Type: text/plain;
      charset="us-ascii"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

'.$message_content.'


------MessageBoundary
Content-Type: application/octet-stream;  name="';

$email_message .= "$vcf_filename";
$email_message .= '"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64
Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="';
$email_message .= "$vcf_filename";
$email_message .= '"

';
$email_message .="$encoded";
$email_message .= '

------MessageBoundary
Content-Type: application/octet-stream;  name="';

$email_message .= "$txt_filename";
$email_message .= '"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64
Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="';
$email_message .= "$txt_filename";
$email_message .= '"
';
$email_message .= "$encoded2";
$email_message .= '

------MessageBoundary--

';

// do the mailing
mail($message_to, $message_subject, $email_message, $headers);
header ("location: RECEIVED.php");
unlink ($thisfile);
// unlink ($thisfile2);
?>
*******************************************************************
I've commented out the second unlink statement (just above) for testing purposes.
The txt document gets generated properly (as I can read the content) but as attachment it comes through as an empty document.

I have a feeling I'm messing up in the encode/chunk_split portion of the code.  Any suggestions?

[mktgbill]

Actually...
neither attachment is being e-mailed properly. Both files, though attached to the e-mail, are empty.....

Let me play with this a while longer...

[mktgbill]

OK, I've changed the text document to a CSV document and the multiple attachments seem to work. CSV is fine for me for this planned use (importing into a database). I'm assuming there is something different about the way the chunk_split / encode needs to be stated though I've not found any resources for how to specify for proper chunk_split / encode for a text only document. -- hope this last part makes sense -- if anyone has a way to deal with TXT files please post here. 

Anyway here's my code that's working right now.
***************************************************
<?php
// this file gets named something like mailer.php and is referenced in your form with something like <form action="mailer.php" method="POST" ....> $_POST data below is from the form

$message_to = "me@mydomain.com";
$message_subject = "some subject for the message"; // here's it's also valuable to customize based on form submitted data like request type (billing, tech support, complaint) etc.

$removes = array("\n", "\r");
$posted_message = str_replace($removes, "  ", $_POST['message']); // replaces new lines and returns with space
$posted_message = str_replace(",", ";", $posted_message); // replace the commas for the csv file - feel free to rename this variable for csv only use

/// Generate and save a vcard
$vcf_dir = "saved_files/vcf/"; // make sure you've got write privileges here
$vcf_filename = $_POST['first_name']." ".$_POST['last_name'].".vcf";
$vcf_content = ("BEGIN:VCARD \nVERSION:2.1 \nN:".$_POST['last_name']."; ".$_POST['first_name']." \nFN:".$_POST['first_name']." ".$_POST['last_name']."\nORG:".$_POST['company']." \nTITLE:".$_POST['Title']." \nNOTE;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:".$posted_message." \nTEL;WORK;VOICE:".$_POST['phone']." \nTEL;CELL;VOICE:".$_POST['cellular']." \nTEL;WORK;FAX:".$_POST['fax']." \nADR;WORK:;".$_POST['city'].";".$_POST['address1'].",".$_POST['address2'].";".$_POST['city'].";".$_POST['state'].";".$_POST['zip'].";".$_POST['country']." \nURL;WORK:".$_POST['website']."\nEMAIL;PREF;INTERNET:".$_POST['email']." \nREV: \nEND:VCARD \n") ;
$vcf_go = fopen($vcf_dir."/".$vcf_filename,"w");
fwrite($vcf_go, $vcf_content);
fclose($vcf_go);

/// Generate and save a delimited text file - remove/replace commas used in message field
$csv_dir = "saved_files/csv";  // make sure you've got write privileges here
$csv_filename = $_POST['first_name']." ".$_POST['last_name'].".csv";
$csv_content = ($_POST['last_name'].",".$_POST['first_name'].",".$_POST['first_name']." ".$_POST['last_name'].",".$_POST['company'].",".$_POST['Title'].",".$posted_message.",".$_POST['phone'].",".$_POST['cellular'].",".$_POST['fax'].",".$_POST['address1'].",".$_POST['address2'].",".$_POST['city'].",".$_POST['state'].",".$_POST['zip'].",".$_POST['country'].",".$_POST['email'])." \n " ; // add here any other form fields you would like to keep track of that correspond to your database fields - and of course add them to your form
$csv_go = fopen($csv_dir."/".$csv_filename,"w");
fwrite($csv_go, $csv_content);
fclose($csv_go);


// Email Message content
$message_content = "Name=              ".$_POST['first_name']." ".$_POST['last_name']." \nTitle=              ".$_POST['Title']." \nCompany=            ".$_POST['company']."  \nWeb Site=          ".$_POST['website']." \nOwner=              ".$_POST['Owner']." \nAddress 1=          ".$_POST['address1']." \nAddress 2=          ".$_POST['address2']." \nCity=              ".$_POST['city']." \nState=              ".$_POST['state']." \nZip=                ".$_POST['zip']." \nCountry=            ".$_POST['country']." \nPhone=              ".$_POST['phone']." \nFax=                ".$_POST['fax']." \nCellular=          ".$_POST['cellular']." \n\nEmail=        ".$_POST['email']."message=".$-POST['message']." ";

// message assembly vcf attachment
$thisfile = $vcf_dir.$vcf_filename ;
$file_content =file_get_contents($thisfile);
$encoded = chunk_split(base64_encode($file_content));

// second attachment csv doc
$thisfile2 = $csv_dir.$csv_filename ;
$file_content2 =file_get_contents($thisfile2);
$encoded2 = chunk_split(base64_encode($file_content2));

// headers
$headers = 'MIME-Version: 1.0' . "\n";
$headers .= "Content-Type: multipart/mixed;
  boundary=\"----MessageBoundary\"\n";

// additional headers
$headers .= "From:".$_POST['email'];

$email_message = '

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.

------MessageBoundary
Content-Type: text/plain;
      charset="us-ascii"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

'.$message_content.'

------MessageBoundary
Content-Type: application/octet-stream;  name="';

$email_message .= "$csv_filename";
$email_message .= '"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64
Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="';
$email_message .= "$csv_filename";
$email_message .= '"

';
$email_message .= "$encoded2";
$email_message .= '

------MessageBoundary
Content-Type: application/octet-stream;  name="';

$email_message .= "$vcf_filename";
$email_message .= '"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64
Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="';
$email_message .= "$vcf_filename";
$email_message .= '"

';
$email_message .="$encoded";
$email_message .= '

------MessageBoundary--
';

// do the mailing
mail($message_to, $message_subject, $email_message, $headers);
header ("location: thanks.php");
unlink ($thisfile); // to keep the file on the server simply comment out this line
unlink ($thisfile2); // to keep the file on the server simply comment out this line
?>
*************************************************************

I customize the message subject depending on the input for the form including a "scoring system" to determine which emails are best for me to respond to right away. You could even redirect to a different e-mail address depending on a form submitted value (billing, tech support, etc.).