(Objective-C) Multipart/Alternative Email

It is very common for email to contain both plain-text and HTML alternative bodies. When a mail client such as Outlook, Eudora, or Thunderbird receives such an email, it will display one of the alternatives. The default is usually to display the HTML alternative. (In addition, the latest versions of email clients default to blocking HTML images from displaying for anti-SPAM reasons.) Emails with both plain-text and HTML alternative bodies are structured (in MIME) as multipart/alternative. The Chilkat Email component handles the MIME formatting of an email for you, so you don't have to worry about the details of the MIME composition. This example shows how to create an email with both plain-text and HTML alternative bodies.

Chilkat Objective-C Library Downloads

MAC OS X (Cocoa) Libs

iOS Libs

#import <CkoEmail.h>

CkoEmail *email = [[CkoEmail alloc] init];

// First, add the typical header fields...
email.Subject = @"This email has alternative bodies";
BOOL success = [email AddTo: @"Chilkat Support" emailAddress: @"support@chilkatsoft.com"];
email.From = @"Matt <matt@chilkatsoft.com>";

// Setting the Body property makes a text/plain email:
email.Body = @"This is the plain-text body";

// At this point, our email is a simple plain/text email
// with no alternatives:
success = [email SaveEml: @"plainText.eml"];

// Now add an HTML alternative:
success = [email AddHtmlAlternativeBody: @"<html><body>This is the <b>HTML body</b></body></html>"];
success = [email SaveEml: @"plainTextAndHtml.eml"];

// To create an HTML-only email, do this:
CkoEmail *email2 = [[CkoEmail alloc] init];

// First, add the typical header fields...
email2.Subject = @"This email has alternative bodies";
success = [email2 AddTo: @"Chilkat Support" emailAddress: @"support@chilkatsoft.com"];
email2.From = @"Matt <matt@chilkatsoft.com>";

[email2 SetHtmlBody: @"<html><body>This is the <b>HTML body</b></body></html>"];
success = [email2 SaveEml: @"htmlOnly.eml"];

// Add a plain-text alternative:
success = [email2 AddPlainTextAlternativeBody: @"This is the plain-text body"];
success = [email2 SaveEml: @"plainTextAndHtml2.eml"];

// To replace the plain-text alternative, just set the Body property:
email2.Body = @"This is the new plain-text body";

// To replace the HTML alternative, call SetHtmlBody:
[email2 SetHtmlBody: @"<html><body>This is the new HTML body...</body></html>"];

success = [email2 SaveEml: @"plainTextAndHtml2a.eml"];

// To determine if an email has a particular alternative body,
// call HasPlainTextBody or HasHtmlBody:
if ([email2 HasPlainTextBody] == YES) {
    NSLog(@"%@",@"Has plain-text body!");
}

if ([email2 HasHtmlBody] == YES) {
    NSLog(@"%@",@"Has HTML body!");
}