Carriage Return Email Body

[TJO]

I am trying to pre populate an email body using javascript. I cannot figure
out how to control the carraige returns for the text. The standard \r\n is
not working. Is there another technique I can try?

[Randy Webb]

TJO wrote:

I am trying to pre populate an email body using javascript.
Give up now and save yourself a lot of grief.
I cannot figure out how to control the carraige returns for
the text. The standard \r\n is not working.
Nope, that doesn't work.
Is there another technique I can try?

Submit a form, let the server send the email

--
Randy
comp.lang.javas cript FAQ - http://jibbering.com/faq

[RobG]

TJO wrote:

I am trying to pre populate an email body using javascript. I cannot figure
out how to control the carraige returns for the text. The standard \r\n is
not working. Is there another technique I can try?

Randy is trying to say that this is very unreliable, as the user may
not have an email client configured, or it may not support all the
features of mailto.

For example, Lotus Notes will not accept a body of more than 200
characters, so whilst you may get away with this on a controlled
intranet, you should not use it on the web.

The following works with Lotus Notes based on the principle of escaping
the text (%0A is a return):

<a href='mailto:ro *@myemail.com?S UBJECT=E-mail with broken
lines&body=Here %20is%20a%20lin e%20with%0Aa%20 break'>Click
here to send...</a>

An alternative using \n and the escape function (you can use \r too if
that suits better):

<a href='' onclick="
this.href='mail to:ro*@myemail. com?SUBJECT=E-mailform&body='
+ escape('This is\na broken\nline');
">Click here to send...</a>

As noted, only lightly tested and certainly not considered suitable for
the web for the stated reasons.

Cheers, Rob.

[Fred Oz]

RobG wrote:
[...]

<a href='' onclick="
this.href='mail to:ro*@myemail. com?SUBJECT=E-mailform&body='
+ escape('This is\na broken\nline');
">Click here to send...</a>

You can make that marginally more reliable in case JavaScript isn't
working by putting a useful href that *may* work regardless of
whether JavaScript is enabled:

<a href='mailto:ro *@myemail.com?S UBJECT=E-mailform&body=H i'
onclick="
this.href='mail to:ro*@myemail. com?SUBJECT=E-mailform&body='
+ escape('This is\na broken\nline');
">Click here to send...</a>

Using an onclick means you can get the content from a textarea or
similar too.

But it may still fail for the reasons Rob stated, and making it rely on
both JavaScript and mailto is kinda double jeopardy

Fred.

[Evertjan.]

TJO wrote on 23 nov 2004 in comp.lang.javas cript:

I am trying to pre populate an email body using javascript.

Sure you can do that with serverside javascript.

But my guess is that you mean clientside in a browser.

Since the browsers in this world don't have a standard email client
connected, the only and very unreliable way is to use "mailto:' linking.

Advice: don't!

--
Evertjan.
The Netherlands.
(Please change the x'es to dots in my emailaddress,
but let us keep the discussions in the newsgroup)

[TJO]

Well boys and girls. I used the following script and tag
combo and I have not seen it not work yet.

Here is the tag:
<script type="text/javascript" language="JavaS cript"
src="mailtosupp ort.js"></script>

This is the content of the mailtosupport.j s file:
<!-- Begin
sendto = "my*****@atbigc ompany.com";
subject = "Support Request";
lf = escape('\r');
tab = escape('\t')

body = "Thank you for taking the time to notify us with an issue." + lf +
lf;
body += "If you have found an error in our system, please, to the best of
your ability answer the following questions." + lf + lf;
body += "Otherwise simply erase the following content and write you own.";
body += lf + lf + lf;
body += "1)" + tab + "Please describe the error, issue, or request:" + lf +
lf + lf;
body += "2)" + tab + "Please describe the time of day the issue occurred:" +
lf + tab + " The current Time is: " + Date() + lf + lf + lf;
body += "3)" + tab + "Please describe what you expected to occur:" + lf + lf
+ lf + lf;
document.write(
'<a href=\"mailto:'
+ sendto
+ '?subject='
+ subject
+ '&body='
+ body
+ '\">');
document.write( 'Email Support'+'</a>');
End -->


"TJO" <[e-mail]> wrote in message
news:Sauod.1264 19$cJ3.54345@fe d1read06...

I am trying to pre populate an email body using javascript. I cannot
figure out how to control the carraige returns for the text. The standard
\r\n is not working. Is there another technique I can try?

[Hywel Jenkins]

In article <wsKod.168785$h j.138021@fed1re ad07>, [e-mail] says...

"TJO" <[e-mail]> wrote in message
news:Sauod.1264 19$cJ3.54345@fe d1read06...

I am trying to pre populate an email body using javascript. I cannot
figure out how to control the carraige returns for the text. The standard
\r\n is not working. Is there another technique I can try?

Well boys and girls. I used the following script and tag
combo and I have not seen it not work yet.

Of course you haven't seen it fail, dummy. How many of your visitors
have, though, and have pushed off to another site that uses a reliable,
grown-up, way of handling form to email data?

Brilliant attitude - it works for me so it must work for everyone else.

--
Hywel

[Grant Wagner]

TJO wrote:

Well boys and girls. I used the following script and tag
combo and I have not seen it not work yet.
And you never will see it not work because you will never receive E-mail from
people on whose computers it does not work. This is a classic case of seeing the
result you expect. "It works for everyone who has sent me an E-mail!". Well,
yes, for those people who have sent you an E-mail, it did work.
document.write(
'<a href=\"mailto:'
+ sendto
+ '?subject='
+ subject
+ '&body='
+ body
+ '\">');
document.write( 'Email Support'+'</a>');
End -->

That last line is just wrong. If you insist on using HTML comments, you should
comment them out in JavaScript so as not to cause a syntax error:

// End -->

However, HTML comments inside <script></script> tags can be removed entirely.

--
Grant Wagner <gw*****@agrico reunited.com>
comp.lang.javas cript FAQ - http://jibbering.com/faq

[Michael Winter]

On Tue, 23 Nov 2004 18:53:49 -0000, Hywel Jenkins
<hy**********@h otmail.com> wrote:

[snip]

Of course you haven't seen [the mailto: script] fail, dummy. How many
of your visitors have, though, and have pushed off to another site that
uses a reliable, grown-up, way of handling form to email data?

Brilliant attitude - it works for me so it must work for everyone else.

I am always perplexed by that line of thinking.

"No-one's e-mailed me to tell me that my mail system doesn't work
for them."

Really? I wonder why.

Good grief...

Mike

--
Michael Winter
Replace ".invalid" with ".uk" to reply by e-mail.

[TJO]

Well Hywink,
I have tested in on other browsers and have not seen it not work on any. If
you can or others can tell me where it won't work then that is what I was
looking for.
Otherwise it appears to be valid solution.
"Hywel Jenkins" <hy**********@h otmail.com> wrote in message
news:MP******** *************** @news.individua l.net...

In article <wsKod.168785$h j.138021@fed1re ad07>, [e-mail] says...

"TJO" <[e-mail]> wrote in message
news:Sauod.1264 19$cJ3.54345@fe d1read06...

>I am trying to pre populate an email body using javascript. I cannot
>figure out how to control the carraige returns for the text. The
>standard
>\r\n is not working. Is there another technique I can try?
>

Well boys and girls. I used the following script and tag
combo and I have not seen it not work yet.

Of course you haven't seen it fail, dummy. How many of your visitors
have, though, and have pushed off to another site that uses a reliable,
grown-up, way of handling form to email data?

Brilliant attitude - it works for me so it must work for everyone else.

--
Hywel