4 replies to this topic

[qqq]

Hi guys,
How to develop a package in installshield that would gather the information entered by the user and the cd serial no and send it by mail to a mail id without launching a email program.

Pls. Help...

[d. lark]

You can use blat (Blat Homepage) to do this, but because you can, should you? Unless the user is specically told that this going to be happening, this to me, is very unethical. I've used blat in several applications for quick and dirty email functionality however, it does work.

A few things to keep in mind.
1. I you are sending an Internet SMTP host, you might want to enable SMTP authentication (blat supports this).
2. The user might be behind a firewall and unable to send email.
3. The ethical problems this can create, by using this technique.

In general you should (must??) provide an alternate means of registration (see point #2). As an alternative you might wan to use a CDO object routine from within IS, but this brings problems in and of itself.

-dan

[jverne]

Using email for this purpose is kind of kludgy.  As pointed out in another reply, the ethics of sending this kind of information is suspect, and might eventually be the basis for someone calling your app "spyware".  If you must communicate this kind of information, at least make some effort.  Ask the user if they want to do this.  Tell them exactly what you are sending.

And use a proper protocol for this information!  Sending customer information in an email is like sending it on a postcard through the mail.  Encode the information you need into some parsable format, like XML, and send it via HTTPS to a server, where you can insert the values into a protected database.

Make sure you get this right, as a small mistake can lead to private information being made public.  Your app will look lame, and your company/organization will look like a bunch of chumps.

Sorry for the strong words, but sending this kind of stuff over clear-text SMTP is not an idea that will garner a lot of respect from a lot of tech-savvy people.

[prasankn]

Hi,

Can you please tell me how to send mail using command line without using BLAT

Can we use BLAT to send mail and please tell me about BLAT

and their usage

Regards,
Prasanna

[Taco Bell]

Windows doesn't include a command utility for send e-mails, so you have to rely on some 3rd party piece of software.