Is JavaScript supported in an email message?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_e-mail_clients
Old clients, such as Lotus Notes, Mozilla Thunderbird, Outlook Express, and Windows Live Mail all seem to have supported some sort of JavaScript execution. Nothing else does.
It seems like a bad idea security-wise, so I would expect this to be a feature that won't always be around, even in these clients.
Short answer
No
Descriptive answer
It depends. But the email is not guaranteed to behave in the way you want it to. Different email clients handle JS differently. Most of the newer email clients do not support any of it since it is potentially very dangerous to support script execution in a desktop application which contains so much of your personal info.
I had a use case where I needed to use JS in an email. I tried out on the web client of outlook and desktop client as well, and it turns out outlook just wipes out the script part of your HTML email. There might be some other email client which does support JS execution, but given that you cannot control the client where your email would be viewed in the client machine, it's not a good idea to embed any scripts in the HTML email.
Its advised to keep your HTML email as simple as possible, no JS, and the least CSS you can do with (because, again, different email clients have varying support for CSS as well) eg: outlook's web client was not even recognizing an HTML button tag in the email. I had to use an anchor tag and some CSS on top of it to mimic the display of a button.
Bottom Line - Don't rely on Javascript when working with HTML email content.
No, generally speaking email readers do not allow javascript.
Other answerers have suggested that the answer is "No."
On the other hand, an html attachment will probably get opened in an environment that runs Javascript.
EDIT: It was suggested that I haven't properly answered the question so here goes a more complete effort.
Summary: I would expect that many or most users receiving an html-formatted email containing embedded Javascript will see it run and have run tests to confirm that this is true in some environments. But Javascript WILL be blocked for some users.
The protocols (specifically RFC2854) explicitly address scripting (within the text/html message body type) with the statement that:
In addition, the introduction of scripting languages and
interactive capabilities in HTML 4.0 introduced a number of
security risks associated with the automatic execution of programs
written by the sender but interpreted by the recipient. User
agents executing such scripts or programs must be extremely careful
to insure that untrusted software is executed in a protected
environment.
So the protocols do support Javascript, but which user agents do?
My (ancient) email reader uses a table to specify which viewer software to use for each mimetype, diverting html content to my favorite web browser. Almost all current web browsers support Javascript (and some issue dire warnings when you try to turn it off!) Do modern email agents include internal html interpreters and, if so, is the javascript turned on or off? I've checked documentation on Thunderbird and find that javascript seems to be turned on by default but can be turned off: http://codeverge.com/mozilla.support.thunderbird/simple-html-tags-reference-docume/2030160
I have noticed that some (?many?) users now access their email from a browser directly (webmail is one such platform) rather than running separate email software. All such platforms which I have tested so far do run any Javascript embedded in the html of the email message. However some such environments, depending on user security settings, do not automatically fetch external links (Javascript or pictures or other) and so can only run external Javascript from a file which is included as an attachment to the message. The same would be true of any offline email reader on a device without a current internet connection.
The above applies to javascript embedded in the main message part of the email body. One can also have html explicitly given as an "attachment", which if saved and then opened would be displayed in a web browser, wherein Javascript is available with very high likelyhood. Therefore, one might included a second copy of the javascript enabled email as an html attachement with an alternative text/plain main body and/or tag in the main text/html directing the user to the attachment.
I've been thinking about this because some of my acquaintances insist on sending me "email greeting cards" which consist of a text message directing me to a link which I've found so unsatisfactory that I refuse to even consider loading it just on principle. I have written and sent email greeting cards with interactive graphics and music and even games using embedded javascript and been satisfied with the result.
Therefore, I maintain that the correct answer is "Yes" both on the grounds that the protocols specifically address scripting and on the grounds that all the email agents I personally use ran the Javascript in my test emails.
You aren't going to get executable JavaScript onto a server and into a mail client. But emails DO support links, you can always link to your content within an email.
For most mail clients, no.
No email client support javascript due to security concern
Try to send a mail with this HTML content
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>
<button onclick="this.innerHTML=Date()">The time is?</button>
</body>
</html>
It may be, but mail clients won't read it & mail servers may reject it. So leave it out.
Javascript is not supported in emails.
You can view an email with JavaScript working with Windows Live Mail, but can't add JavaScript to a new email you wish to send.
JavaScript also works with saved .eml files.
Mozilla Thunderbird version 60.7.0 can't view or add JavaScript.
(If you save an eml file with Thunderbird, the code will work if file is then loaded with Live Mail)
You can send an email with JavaScript using PHP code.
Some email websites may support it, but the few I used don't. (AOL, uk2.net, GMail)
Short answer: No it is not supported in an email message
Long answer:
I have tested it with two email readers. Outlook (online) and OE Classic. As OE Classic is very outdated (I use it on windows 7), it does support JavaScript and I tested it with an alert button. However, the newer Outlook does not even support buttons, which showed up as plain text. So to conclude JavaScript is only enabled on some, usually older, email readers but not on new ones such as Outlook.
I am building an app in Xamarin Forms where you can buy products etc. Now I am at the stage where I want to send the user a confirmation when their order has been placed.
I have a string cointaining their email but I am not quite sure how to proceed. When I have previously worked with mail it looks something like this:
Device.OpenUri(new Uri("mailto:ryan.hatfield#test.com?subject=free candy&body=you can trust me"));
And what this does is that you open your own mail and you have to send it yourself to yourself which obviously is wrong.
So my question is, how can I send a confirmation email from my email to their inputted email which I have stored in a string?
You have a few options. If your email is a Microsoft Exchange mailbox, you can use Exchange Web Services (EWS), which is fairly simple if you follow code samples online. Otherwise, you should use an SMTP client. .NET has its own that you can include: System.Net.Mail, or you can find a number of libraries online.
If you're inclined toward the .NET SMTP option, I would take a look at this question. It has a fairly complete example that should help you get started.
EDIT: You mentioned that your backend is PHP-Based. There are plenty of SMTP libraries for PHP as well and plenty of code samples. Here's another SO question I'd suggest you look at to help you get started in PHP instead of C#.
I want to be able to capture a email that gets sent via outlook and initiated from a browser mailto link so that I can save a copy back to my web application.
I can get buy with c#, I am currently building a web application using c# but would ideally like it to be possible to do from a php application without needing to rely on a specific web browser.
So far it seems that my best option will be to build an add-in for outlook that can detect the relevant flag and save a copy of the email once sent back to the application via a webservice connection.
I don't have a great deal of experience dealing with Office add-ins and am interested to know if I can pass custom information through the mailto link and then read it using the add-in when new message is started.
I also seem to have an issue where I don't have access to certain information while the email is being composed and don't have a reliable way to match that particular in-composition email to the email that gets saved in outbox then moved to inbox.
I am working with Visual Studio 2010 and Office 2010 at the moment.
You can't do this normally because when you supply a mailto link you're actually requesting the default mail program on the user's computer to send the mail. Because you don't know (and shouldn't be willing to know) which program this is you have no control over the mail sent.
One solution would be to have a special page in you web application in which your user can compose it's email. After composing you could supply this format to the SMTP server for delivery and you could store it wherever in your webapp you like. The point here is that you want to stay in control and having a mailto link will send the control over sending an email to a different program.
Is there any way to send HTML formatted message body using Windows Messenger Connect Invitation API?
I've many tests but I can send only plain texted messages.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg430657.aspx
It's plain text only. :(
http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en/messengerconnect/thread/b9d83e56-940c-47aa-a523-01605c1e169d
I've built a small client applicatoin in c#.
I am sending the emails via gmail.
When I format my html and add underlines, using the following format:
<span style="text-decoration:underline"> hello </span>
Gmails ignore my underlining. Is there any workaround?
Thank you
email clients are notoriously bad at standards compliance,
Try the <u></u> tag around your text and see how that works for you.
There is actually a group trying to establish some standards in html for email clients.
They also have a list of recommendations on what issues exist in certain email clients, for instance gmail.