Q&A VB.NET and Truncated Email

Posts: 26 · Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2007 1:00 am

Q&A VB.NET and Truncated Email - 2 Strange
Examples...

http://65.36.227.70/actmailer/

We have a scheduled task which runs every 5mins and sends pending email campaign.
The script has been written in VB.NET and following is the code which actually sends the mail:

set mailer = createobject("cdo.message")
mailer.subject = this_subject
mailer.from = "name<email address>"
mailer.to = this_to
mailer.htmlbody = this_body
mailer.send
set mailer = nothing

1) PROBLEM: The process is working fine for most of the email clients,but email body is cutting off
for clients email domains ending in rr. (road runner) @neo.rr.com @indy.rr.com and columbus.rr.com

2) Q & A
a. It is not a memory problem with the clients RR email server because:
I also tried sending one 'TEXT only' email to a member having the rr. domain using our
mailing application and the body text got cut-off, so the problem is not with the header or footer or
max. amount of memory exceeded.
b. It is not a server or client side spam blocker because:
There are no strange symbols or characters in the body. The missing text occurs either mid-sentence
or sometimes (between letters) Example: Hello There would break as Hello Th... SEE GRAPHIC BELOW
c. It is not a true 'line truncation' because:
In every case the member receives the footer, but the body text is missing.

2) WHY would an email/server and client allow display of the HEADER and FOOTER --
but break the 'BODY' mid-sentence? ... SEE GRAPHIC BELOW

Any suggestions or work around's out there? Anyone else seen this problem - receiving cut-off or incomplete HTML emails?

Posts: 3 · Posted: Tue May 29, 2007 2:52 pm

Yes, I am having the same problem myself with the message body being cut off. Were you ever able to find a solution to this problem?

Posts: 26 · Posted: Tue May 29, 2007 3:26 pm

Kimmy,
I spoke to the brain-trust at HostMySite... even they were stumped. I have posted this problem in many forums; Google developer groups, Microsoft Developers and others.

Tell me a little about your problem and the system you are using to send email.
IF you go into detail it will help for me to know in solving this mystery.

Rick

Posts: 3 · Posted: Tue May 29, 2007 3:39 pm

Im using visual basic in visual studio 2003. I'm using System.Web.Mail library. Here is my actual function for sending the email:

Code:

Friend Function EMail(ByVal from As String, ByVal too As String, ByVal subject As String, ByVal body As String, Optional ByVal filename As String = "") As Boolean
Dim mail As New MailMessage
Try
Cursor.Current = Cursors.WaitCursor

mail.BodyFormat = MailFormat.Html
mail.From = from
mail.To = too
mail.Subject = subject
mail.Body = body

If (filename <> "") Then
Dim attachment As New MailAttachment(GetApplicationPath(filename)) 'create the attachment
mail.Attachments.Add(attachment) 'add the attachment
End If

SmtpMail.SmtpServer = "127.0.0.1"

SmtpMail.Send(mail)
Catch ex As Exception
MsgBox(ex.Message)
While (Not IsNothing(ex.InnerException))
MsgBox(ex.InnerException)
End While
Return False
Finally
Cursor.Current = Cursors.Default
End Try
Return True
End Function

I've tested this function by sending to different domains. GMail, Yahoo, Hotmail, and a few others are working fine. I have gotten incomplete emails returned to me from a few clients. Every single one of the clients that have sent me back their incomplete email have rr domain accounts. Also, the message seems to be truncated on the same line. I personally have a rr accout and after trying to send an email to myself, with the program I've written, I never receieve it in my rr account.

Posts: 26 · Posted: Tue May 29, 2007 3:54 pm

I will definitely let you know when I discover why this is happening.
Please let me know as well if you find out why.

Thanks,
Rick

Posts: 1 · Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 6:10 pm

I'm encountering the same issue: E-Mail messages I'm generating from a site using CDO are having the bodies truncated. I am also sending the message to a roadrunner (tx.rr.com) mailbox, though I can't say that all the errors we've encountered with the production site were going to roadrunner mailboxes.

But I found some other interesting details that might be helpful, or just more confusing: the page sends two messages. The first one consistently has the body truncated. The second one, going to a different roadrunner mailbox, arrives successfully with the body intact.

I then set up a separate domain to test the code aside from the production domain. Both sites are on the same web server, using the exact same source code (and presumably calling the exact same CDOSYS.DLL). On my test site both messages appear consistently with the bodies intact. The code works fine.

I've tested the production page and determined the variable I'm building with the body content is properly populated before making the call to the subroutine that sends the message, but I haven't diagnosed it further than that.

If you've discovered anything as to the cause of this I would be greatful for some insight. This one is stumping me.

Posts: 3 · Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 6:42 pm

It's been a while since I last looked at this issue but I will explain what I did that seems to have worked for me. When I was getting the truncated messages, the text that I was putting in the message body was all on one line. I added a carriage return/linefeed character combination at the end of each line in the message body text. After I did that I haven't had any complaints of truncated messages. So give that a try and if it fits.