Bad parameters to mail() function

[syrup890]

Hello all, 

 

I'm pretty new to PHP and need some help. I am getting a "Bad parameters to mail() function" when trying to send an email with a pdf attachment. I know there are other threads (most quite old) about this, but I can't seem to get it to work for my situation. I have narrowed it down to the PHP_EOL that I'm using (from my understanding, it pretty much does a CRLF). But when I remove this from my code, I can't get the pdf to attach to the email...I just get the encoded jumble in the body of the message. I also tried doing just a "\n" and tried to shorten the header by separating out the message from the header. 

 

Also, I'm having this problem only when hosting this on godaddy's servers. I was testing this same code on bluehost with no issues. I'm using PHP 5.2 in both cases. 

 

Here's the relevant code snippet:

 

        $attachment = chunk_split(base64_encode($pdfDocument));

	/*
	some variables needed for creating the email with attachment
	*/
	$email_subject = "".$first_name. " ".$last_name."";
	$message = "Please See Attachment.";
	// a random hash will be necessary to send mixed content
	$separator = md5(time());
	// carriage return type (we use a PHP end of line constant)
	$eol = PHP_EOL;
	// attachment name
	$filename = "".$property." - ".$first_name." ".$last_name.".pdf";

	// main header (multipart mandatory)
	$headers  = "From: ".$property." - V.I.P.".$eol;
	$headers .= "MIME-Version: 1.0".$eol; 
	$headers .= "Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary=\"".$separator."\"".$eol.$eol; 
	$headers .= "Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit".$eol;
	$headers .= "This is a MIME encoded message.".$eol.$eol;
	// message
	$headers.= "--".$separator.$eol;
	$headers.= "Content-Type: text/html; charset=\"iso-8859-1\"".$eol;
	$headers.= "Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit".$eol.$eol;
	$headers.= $message.$eol.$eol;
	// attachment
	$headers .= "--".$separator.$eol;
	$headers .= "Content-Type: application/octet-stream; name=\"".$filename."\"".$eol; 
	$headers .= "Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64".$eol;
	$headers .= "Content-Disposition: attachment".$eol.$eol;
	$headers .= $attachment.$eol.$eol;
	$headers .= "--".$separator."--";		

	// sending the email
	mail($webmaster_email, $email_subject, "", $headers);

 

Any help would be appreciated! Thanks in advance.

 

[jazzman1]

Why did you attach the pdf file to the headers?

 

If you are new in php I would recommend you using the swiftMailer php mail library to send your emails. 

[syrup890]

jazzman1, that's just how I saw it being done. I moved the attachment to the the body of the email and now I can get the email to send without errors, but I can't open/get to the attachment at all. I just get a blank email (nothing in the actual body of the message) and it shows there's an attachment, but its like nothing's there. I'm using FPDF to generate the pdf form.

 

I guess my frustration is that my original code worked on bluehost (I believe it's a microsoft product), but I was just using it for testing. I'm actually hosting the site on godaddy and it's not working. I'll take a look at swiftMailer if needed, but I'm really trying to get my code to work... since I know in theory it should.

 

 Here's the modified code. 

$attachment = chunk_split(base64_encode($pdfDocument));

/*
some variables needed for creating the email with attachment
*/
$email_subject = "".$first_name. " ".$last_name."";
$message = "Please See Attachment.";
// a random hash will be necessary to send mixed content
$separator = md5(time());
// carriage return type (we use a PHP end of line constant)
$eol = PHP_EOL;
// attachment name
$filename = "".$property." - ".$first_name." ".$last_name.".pdf";
// main header (multipart mandatory)
$headers  = "From: ".$property." - V.I.P.".$eol;
$headers .= "MIME-Version: 1.0".$eol; 
$headers .= "Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary=\"".$separator."\"".$eol; 
$headers .= "Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit".$eol;
// body
$body = "--".$separator."--".$eol;
$body .= "Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=\"".$separator."\"".$eol;
$body .= "This is a MIME encoded message.".$eol.$eol;
// message
$body .= "--".$separator.$eol;
$body .= "Content-Type: text/html; charset=\"iso-8859-1\"".$eol;
$body .= "Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit".$eol.$eol;
$body .= $message.$eol.$eol;
// attachment
$body .= "--".$separator.$eol;
$body .= "Content-Type: application/octet-stream; name=\"".$filename."\"".$eol; 
$body .= "Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64".$eol;
$body .= "Content-Disposition: attachment".$eol.$eol;
$body .= $attachment.$eol.$eol;
$body .= "--".$separator."--"; 

// sending the email
mail($webmaster_email, $email_subject, $body, $headers);
header( "Location: $thankyou_page" );

[jazzman1]

Hm..... there is something wrong here.

 

Give me few minutes.

[jazzman1]

Take this one.... tested:

 

<?php

$file = 'jazmzan_cv.pdf';

$file_size = filesize($file);

$handle = fopen($file, "r");

$content = fread($handle, $file_size);

fclose($handle);

$content = base64_encode($content);

$filename = "jazzmanCV.pdf";

$email_subject = 'Test attachment';

$from = 'jazzman';

$from_mail = '[email protected]';

$replyto = '[email protected]';

$subject = "Please See Attachment.";

$mailto = '[email protected]';

$message = 'Test message from jazzman';

// a random hash will be necessary to send mixed content
$uid = md5(uniqid(time()));

$header = "From: " . $from . " <" . $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"; // redirect the user
} else {
    
    echo "mail send ... ERROR!";
}

Result:

 

 

Test message from jazzman

jazzmanCV.pdf
43K   View   Download  

 

[jazzman1]

The problem was that you wasn't get the size of the file.

 

With chunk_split() works too,

 

$file = 'jazzman_cv.pdf';

$file_size = filesize($file);

$handle = fopen($file, "r");

$content = fread($handle, $file_size);

fclose($handle);

$content = chunk_split(base64_encode($content));


continue.................

[syrup890]

Thanks jazzman1! I did a little bit of testing with your code and here's what I found...

 

- with godaddy, only lines 34-37 should be in the header. the rest of the items in the header should be passed in the mail function through the body. 

- I don't think the issue was with the file size. I am generating a pdf using fpdf right before creating and sending the email. I don't need to save the pdf before sending it, so I tried just using the string version of the file (a fpdf option) and did not need to get the size of it for it to work. I can see why you need to read the pdf using the file size if it was an already existing pdf though.

- I did have to use chunk_split() for the pdf. otherwise, I was not able to open the file due to decoding issues once received.

 

I think the real issue was with the PHP_EOL function I was using instead of the CRLFs. Either way, THANK YOU!

[jazzman1]

I think the real issue was with the PHP_EOL function I was using instead of the CRLFs. Either way, THANK YOU!

 

No, the first time when I ran the script into my local server I've got a pdf file with 0 size.

 

Anyway I've made one more test this time from my server to godaddy (linux server).

 

Works fine, here is it:

 

<?php   
    $file = 'jazzman_cv.pdf';
     
    $file_size = filesize($file);
     
    $handle = fopen($file, "r");
     
    $content = fread($handle, $file_size);
     
    fclose($handle);
     
    $content = base64_encode($content);
     
    $filename = "jazzmanCV.pdf";
     
    $email_subject = 'Test attachment';
     
    $from = 'jazzman';
     
    $from_mail = '[email protected]';
     
    $replyto = '[email protected]';
     
    $subject = "Please See Attachment.";
     
    $mailto = '[email protected]';
     
    $message = 'Test message from jazzman';
     
    // a random hash will be necessary to send mixed content
    $uid = md5(uniqid(time()));
     
    $header = "From: " . $from . " <" . $from_mail . "> \n";
    $header .= "Reply-To: " . $replyto . "\n";
    $header .= "MIME-Version: 1.0 \n";
    $header .= "Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary=\"" . $uid . "\n";
    $header .= "This is a multi-part message in MIME format.\n";
    $header .= "--" . $uid . "\n";
    $header .= "Content-type:text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 \n";
    $header .= "Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit \n";
    $header .= $message . " \n";
    $header .= "--" . $uid . "\n";
    $header .= "Content-Type: application/octet-stream; name=\"" . $filename . "\n"; // use different content types here
    $header .= "Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64\n";
    $header .= "Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=\"" . $filename . "\" \n";
    $header .= $content . " \n";
    $header .= "--" . $uid . "--";
    
    if (mail($mailto, $subject, "", $header)) {
    echo "mail send ... OK"; // redirect the user
    } else {
    echo "mail send ... ERROR!";
    }

 

 

Don't use \r on an linux server or use PHP_EOL instead of it.

[syrup890]

"\r\n" worked on godaddy for me, but I understand the dangers of using it. I was able to switch to PHP_EOL with the correct formatting. Here's the code. Thank you, jazzman, again for all your help!

 

// this line calls another php method that uses fpdf to generate the pdf and saves sends it back 
// as a string to be saved in $content
$content = &createPDF($first_name, $last_name, $address, $apt_num, $zip, $phone, $phone_type, $email, $contact_date, $contact_time, $ampm, $movein_date, $staff_name, $property, $instructions); 
        $content = chunk_split(base64_encode($content));

        $filename = $property." - ".$first_name." ".$last_name.".pdf";
        $email_subject = $first_name." ".$last_name;
        $from = $property." - V.I.P.";
        $from_mail = $property." - V.I.P.";
        $subject = $first_name. " ".$last_name;
        $mailto = "[email protected]";
        $message = 'Please see attachment.';
        $eol = PHP_EOL;

        // a random hash will be necessary to send mixed content
        $uid = md5(uniqid(time()));
 
        // headers
        $headers = "From: " . $from . " <" . $from_mail . ">" .$eol;
        $headers .= "Reply-To: " . $replyto . $eol;
        $headers .= "MIME-Version: 1.0" .$eol;
        $headers .= "Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary=\"" . $uid . "\"" .$eol.$eol;

        //body  
        $body = "This is a multi-part message in MIME format.".$eol;
        $body .= "--" . $uid . $eol;
        $body .= "Content-type:text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1".$eol;
        $body .= "Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit".$eol.$eol;
        $body .= $message .$eol.$eol;
        $body .= "--" . $uid .$eol;
        $body .= "Content-Type: application/octet-stream; name=\"" . $filename . "\"".$eol; 
        $body .= "Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64".$eol;
        $body .= "Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=\"" . $filename . "\"".$eol.$eol;
        $body .= $content .$eol.$eol;
        $body .= "--" . $uid . "--";

        if (mail($mailto, $subject, $body, $headers)) {
            header( "Location: $thankyou_page" );
        } else {
            echo "The form did not send correctly. Please try again.";
        }