Attempting to attach a file to the mail() function but no luck with header vars

[cunoodle2]

I'm using a script that I found on-line and have modified it a little but am running in to an issue here.

 

Objective:  To create a DB backup, attached to an email and then send the email to a gmail account.  This will be called via a cron job nightly.

 

For now here is the code that I have..

<?php

$string = `mysqldump –user=user_name –password=pass db_name | gzip -9`;

// Email the mysqldump output as an attachment.
// Create an attachment filename that is datestamped.
$filename = "db_backup_" . date('Y-m-d') . ".sql.gz";

// Designate email addresses, names, etc.
$mailto = "[email protected]";
$from_name = "DB Backup";
$from_mail = "[email protected]";
$replyto= "[email protected]";
$subject = "Daily Database Backup";
$message = "DO NOT DELETE!!!";
// This next line takes our mysqldump output and encodes it
// for our use an as email attachment.
$content = chunk_split(base64_encode($string));
// We need a unique identifier for the attachment boundary
// within the email.
$uid = md5(uniqid(time()));
// Build the email header.
$header = "From: " . $from_name . " <" . $from_mail . ">\r\n";
$header .= "Reply-To: " . $replyto . "\r\n";
$header .= "MIME-Version: 1.0\r\n";
$header .= "Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary=\"" . $uid . "\"\r\n\r\n";
$header .= "This is a multi-part message in MIME format.\r\n";
$header .= "–" . $uid . "\r\n";
$header .= "Content-type:text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1\r\n";
$header .= "Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit\r\n\r\n";
$header .= $message . "\r\n\r\n";
$header .= "–" . $uid . "\r\n";
// We need to use a valid Content-Type entry here for the attachment.
// You can see a list at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_media_type
$header .= "Content-Type: application/x-gzip; name=\"" . $filename . "\"\r\n";
$header .= "Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64\r\n";
$header .= "Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=\"" . $filename . "\"\r\n\r\n";
$header .= $content . "\r\n\r\n";
$header .= "–" . $uid. "–";

// OK, let’s email the attachment and exit.
mail($mailto, $subject, "", $header);
exit(0);
?>

 

The Issue:  When I receive the email at the gmail account it contains no attachment and the body of the email looks like this..

 

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.

Ğ837ab75f0210edc1611ce3d30afb6173

Content-type:text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1

Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

 

DO NOT DELETE!!!

 

Ğ837ab75f0210edc1611ce3d30afb6173

Content-Type: application/x-gzip; name="db_backup_2011-07-11.sql.gz"

Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64

Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="db_backup_2011-07-11.sql.gz"

 

H4sIAHpBG04CAwMAAAAAAAAAAAA=

 

 

Ğ837ab75f0210edc1611ce3d30afb6173Ğ

 

Do you see anything that would cause this to happen?  I figured this line had the issue $header .= "Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary=\"" . $uid . "\"\r\n\r\n"; but that did not seem to do the trick.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[IrOnMaSk]

Cunnoodle,

You can use cron sendmail to accomplish this without the php part... look here: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-newbie-8/send-email-txt-attachment-using-cron-job-43492/

or use the php mail function, just little more complicated... look here : http://www.dreamincode.net/forums/topic/24215-php-mail-attachment/

then use the cron to execute the task...

 

ps. i didn't test this... I use windows sendmail, to do the email with attachment... here: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/send-automated-emails-save-time-sendemail-windows-task-scheduler/

but i'm guessing you're using linux  :'(

goodluck!!!

[cunoodle2]

Yeah, Its a linux server on a shared hosting environment so I really don't have much options in terms of configuration of the server itself.  Anyone else have any suggestions on how to make this work better?  All I'm looking for is a daily db backup to be emailed out.  Everything I search for on google suggests installing Pear and using mail.php... unfortunately I don't have that option.

[IrOnMaSk]

cunoodle,

I found this code online. It will send out email with attachment and I tested it, and worked fine!!! You might run into a path issue if you don't give the correct path which will result in an empty file attachment... so just watch out for that. Here's the code...

<?php
function mail_attachment($filename, $path, $mailto, $from_mail, $from_name, $replyto, $subject, $message) 
{
    $file = $path.$filename;
    $file_size = filesize($file);
    $handle = fopen($file, "r");
    $content = fread($handle, $file_size);
    fclose($handle);
    $content = chunk_split(base64_encode($content));
    $uid = md5(uniqid(time()));
    $name = basename($file);
    $header = "From: ".$from_name." <".$from_mail.">\r\n";
    $header .= "Reply-To: ".$replyto."\r\n";
    $header .= "MIME-Version: 1.0\r\n";
    $header .= "Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary=\"".$uid."\"\r\n\r\n";
    $header .= "This is a multi-part message in MIME format.\r\n";
    $header .= "--".$uid."\r\n";
    $header .= "Content-type:text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1\r\n";
    $header .= "Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit\r\n\r\n";
    $header .= $message."\r\n\r\n";
    $header .= "--".$uid."\r\n";
    $header .= "Content-Type: application/octet-stream; name=\"".$filename."\"\r\n"; // use different content types here
    $header .= "Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64\r\n";
    $header .= "Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=\"".$filename."\"\r\n\r\n";
    $header .= $content."\r\n\r\n";
    $header .= "--".$uid."--";
    if (mail($mailto, $subject, "", $header)) {
        echo "mail send ... OK"; // or use booleans here
    } else {
        echo "mail send ... ERROR!";
    }
}

$my_file = "something.zip";
$my_path = $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT']."/your paht here/";
$my_name = "your name";
$my_mail = "[email protected]";
$my_replyto = "[email protected]";
$my_subject = "This is a mail with attachment.";
$my_message = "Hallo,\r\ndo you like this script? I hope it will help.\r\n\r\ngr. Olaf";
mail_attachment($my_file, $my_path, "[email protected]", $my_mail, $my_name, $my_replyto, $my_subject, $my_message);
?>

So just give the right path to your backup file...

that should do... Here's the source code: http://www.finalwebsites.com/forums/topic/php-e-mail-attachment-script

 

goodluck!