(PHP ActiveX) Get Email HTML Body with Images as Base64 Inline Data

Demonstrates how to get the email's HTML body with referenced MIME parts (i.e. related images) embedded in the HTML as base64 data.

Note: This example requires Chilkat v10.1.2 or later.

Chilkat ActiveX Downloads ActiveX for 32-bit and 64-bit Windows Note: The php_com_dotnet.dll may need to be enabled inside of php.ini.

<?php

// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
// Prerequisite Knowledge:

// In HTML emails, CID (Content-ID) image references allow embedding images directly into the email as part of the message body, 
// instead of linking to external images. 

// * Each embedded image is assigned a unique Content-ID (CID) in the email�s MIME structure.
// * The CID is a unique identifier, such as image001@domain.com.

// For example: <img src="cid:image001@domain.com" alt="Embedded Image">
// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

// However, in HTML, you can embed image data directly into an <img> tag by using Base64 encoding. 
// This method eliminates the need for external image files by encoding the image as a string and including it within the HTML.

// For example:
// <img src="data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAUA .... RU5ErkJggg==" alt="Embedded Image">

// Chilkat added the GetHtmlBodySb method in version 10.1.2 which provides an option for gathering the 
// image data from the mulitpart/related MIME parts of the email, and replaces the "cid" img references with
// the base64 data.

// For versions of Chilkat < 10.0.0, use new COM('Chilkat_9_5_0.Chilkat.Email')
$email = new COM("Chilkat.Email");
$success = $email->LoadEml('qa_data/eml/sample.eml');
if ($success == 0) {
    print $email->LastErrorText . "\n";
    exit;
}

// For versions of Chilkat < 10.0.0, use new COM('Chilkat_9_5_0.Chilkat.StringBuilder')
$sbHtml = new COM("Chilkat.StringBuilder");
$inlineImageData = 1;
$success = $email->GetHtmlBodySb($inlineImageData,$sbHtml);
if ($success == 0) {
    print $email->LastErrorText . "\n";
    exit;
}

// The HTML with inlined base64 image data is now contained in the StringBuilder.
$htmlStr = $sbHtml->getAsString();

$sbHtml->WriteFile('c:/temp/qa_output/sample.html','utf-8',0);

print 'Success.' . "\n";

?>