How to send an HTML eMail from FMP

[iDriveX]

So I've got this great HTML Marketing Letter all ready to go at:

http://www.theempiregroup.net/emarketing/1stletter.htm

But no matter what I do, I can't get FileMaker to send it. I've tried saving it as an HTM file and then having it compose an eMail and use the HTM as an attachment, but some eMail clients will only show it as an attachment and not embed the HTML into the window.

The best way that I have been able to do it is in Safari, you can go to the File menu and select: "Mail Contents of this page" and you get a PERFECTLY formatted HTML eMail that isn't sent as an attachment and is ready perfectly by every mail client I've come across. Any idea how I can do this in FMP? I use FMP 7, FMP Developer, and just recently upgraded to FMP 8.

The solution I am looking for is a button, that I press, that will compose an eMail and put the HTML formatted perfectly into the body of the eMail. I can already do this with Plain Text...just can't seem to get a hang of it with HTML. Any help would be appreciated.

[iDriveX]

Ok, well I have got an awesome automator action that will open the URL of the page you are looking for, then it will package it up nicely and send it via eMail. Only problem is that I have no fricken clue how to get FileMaker to open this automator action when I click on a button.

When I set the button to "Open File", it doesn't show up as an eligible file, because technically it's extension is .app. And I can't figure out for the life of me to get filemaker to open an application from a button!

[iDriveX]

Well, I figured out how to do it. And since I'm such a nice guy. Here's how.

First off, I have a Field called "eMail with Name" and it's a calculation of {First Name & Last Name & " <" & eMail & ">"}

Next, I created a script called: Send 1st Marketing eMail.

The first thing you want to do in this script is have it copy the field eMail with Name. That then stores your recipient's eMail address in the clipboard.

Then I added "Perform Applescript" under the copy command. And here's the AppleScript I used. Anything in Brackets is my comments:

tell application "Safari"

	activate

set the URL of the front document to {insert your web site's address between the quotes and delete this}"http://www.theempiregroup.net/emarketing/2ndletter.htm"

end tell

delay 2

--on run {input, parameters}

tell application "Safari"

	activate

	set theWin to (name of window 1 as string)

end tell



if theWin is not "Untitled" then

	tell application "System Events"

		tell process "Safari"

			click (menu item "Mail Contents of This Page" of menu 1 of menu bar item "File" of menu bar 1)

			click (menu item "Hide Safari" of menu 1 of menu bar item "Safari" of menu bar 1)

		end tell

	end tell

end if

delay 1

tell application "System Events"

	tell process "Mail"

		click (menu item "Paste" of menu 1 of menu bar item "Edit" of menu bar 1)

		keystroke "D" using command down

	end tell

end tell



tell application "System Events"

	tell process "Mail"

		click (menu item "Hide Mail" of menu 1 of menu bar item "Mail" of menu bar 1)

	end tell

end tell

This will copy your recipient to the clipboard, then open safari, open the specified webpage, then it will bundle up all that HTML goodness, hide safari, open mail, put the HTML in the body, put the title of the page in the subject, put your copied recipient into the to: box, and then it will send the mail, hide the mail application and you're back at your FileMaker window. Enjoy!

[David Bryan]

i think you just helped me but it's still a bit confusing..

I want to send html and regular text emails to my email list. I am trying how to send them at a trickle rate of about 10 emails a minute (i guess, open to suggestions) the list is 30k in length, does fm8 have a regulator feature?

[iDriveX]

You could set it up so that it sends out one eMail every 6 seconds, that would be roughly 10 eMails a minute. Try using a custom script and then using the "Pause/Resume Script" under the Scripts heading. Modify that script by changing from Indefinitely to Duration and put 6 seconds in there. Then chose to have it rerun your script. Technically, it will run your script for ever, pausing ever 6 seconds and then sending out an eMail. Here's how I would set up the custom script:

- Whatever function you are using for batching the names

- Either an Applescript for HTML eMail or "Send Mail" script for text eMail

- Pause / Resume Script - 6 Second pause

- Perform Script - Select this current script (this will cause it to loop)