TechNote (Archived)

Can Director send email from a projector or Shockwave movie?

Director can not actually send e-mails, but it can send information to an e-mail program using the gotoNetPage command. This TechNote discusses methods for initiating e-mail from Shockwave movies or projectors.

The gotoNetPage command can open a new e-mail with the headings "news:" or "mailto:". When the gotoNetPage command is executed with the"mailto:" heading, the default browser and the default mail program are launched. A new blank e-mail will open with the specified information filled in. The e-mail address, subject, cc and bcc fields can be specified. Below is an example of how to use the gotoNetPage command to initiate an e-mail using all of these options:

gotoNetPage "mailto:myname@myplace.com?subject=put the subject of the email here&cc=myotherfriend@hisplace.com&bcc=mysecondfriend@herplace.com"

Once the new e-mail message is open, the body can be filled out and the e-mail can be sent. Director does not actually send the e-mail, the default e-mail program does. So, for example, if Microsoft Internet Explorer is the default browser on the end user's machine, and Microsoft Outlook is set as the default e-mail program within the Internet Explorer settings, when the gotoNetPage is initiated with the "mailto:" heading an Internet Explorer window will open and Outlook will open with a blank e-mail including the specified information.

Note that a browser window will open when initiating e-mail. Two alternate options for sending e-mail from Director are the server side remailer called FormMail or a third party Xtra called DirectEmail Xtra.

Please note the following issues:

	While most users' browsers have an e-mail application, some users may have installed a standalone browser that does not include an e-mail program. GotoNetPage will not initiate email on those machines since it requires an email program.
	When creating a projector that uses gotoNetPage to initiate e-mail, the developer must remember to include the network Xtras, either by checking the "include network Xtras" box in the projector options, or by including the network Xtras manually. If this is not done, a script error will occur when running the projector.