Shell send

This is setup options for Shell send method (also known as "mailto: protocol"; esmShellClient). They are located at Sending tab.

Shell send method options

1. "Address(es)" (.SendShellTarget) option specifies target e-mail address to send bug report to. Specify here your e-mail address for bug reports harvesting. Multiple e-mail addresses are allowed (separate them with "," or ";"), but this is usually not a good idea, since not every e-mail client software support this.

2. "E-mail subject" (.SendShellSubject) option specifies header (subject) for all sent bug reports. You can specify generic static text here (like 'Bug report for Project X') or use a %tag% to generate dynamic subject to distinguish one bug report from another. See using variables for more info.

3. "E-mail message" (.SendShellMessage) option is optional text of e-mail message (body). You can enter here any text, use variables or just leave this field empty. Bug report text will appear here automatically.

4. "Append bug report text in the message text" option appends bug report text to the e-mail message (body). If e-mail body is empty - e-mail will consist of bug report text only. If you've entered non-null text - the first will be your text, the next will be bug report text.

This option is always checked for Shell send method, you can't turn it off - because this send method doesn't support attaching files, so there is no other way to send bug report, except inserting it into message.

5. "Use ShellExecuteEx" (.SendShellUseShellExecute) option defines which method should application use to run mailto links.

Checked: use ShellExecuteEx function to open mailto link.

Unchecked: use CreateProcess function to open mailto link.

ShellExecuteEx is restricted to INTERNET_MAX_URL_LENGTH (about 2048) characters.

CreateProcess is restricted to 32'767 characters.

However, when using CreateProcess function - application must manually resolve mailto protocol registration to obtain executable of mail application. This may or may not be the same application as used by ShellExecuteEx function.

Check this option to get maximum compatibility.

Uncheck this option to get maximum information length.

6. "UTF-8 encode" (.SendShellUTF8) option encodes subject and message in UTF-8 encoding (unicode). If this option is unchecked - these strings will be send as ANSI (in current ANSI encoding). Check this option to send extended characters outside of current ANSI page. Uncheck this option to use old and compatible ANSI encoding. The issue with that option is that not every e-mail client supports UTF-8 in mailto protocol. If e-mail client doesn't support UTF-8 and you've checked this option - resulting mail will contain non-English text in invalid encoding. For example:

Incorrect: "UTF-8" option is checked, but e-mail client doesn't support UTF-8

Correct: "UTF-8" option is checked and e-mail client supports UTF-8

Note: some e-mail clients may support or don't support UTF-8 in mailto protocol depending on their settings. For example, Outlook have "Allow UTF-8 support for mailto: protocol" option, which is located in "Advanced" section of Outlook's options:

UTF-8 support option for the mailto: protocol in Outlook 2010

Note: enabling "UTF-8" option may decrease limit on maximum e-mail length due to multi-byte character encoding.

7. "Message encode" (.SendShellEncode) option enables %-encoding for some characters, as required by mailto protocol specification. You can uncheck this option, if you have some problems with e-mail clients.

Suppose you're opening URL "mailto:example@example.com&subject=Hello%20World". Internet Explorer decodes the URL, but the Windows "Run..." command does not. For example, if the link above is followed through Internet Explorer, the command line would be:

"C:\Program Files\EMailClient\client.exe" "mailto:example@example.com&subject=Hello World"

If this link is followed through Windows Explorer, the Windows Run command, or some other application, the command line would be:

"C:\Program Files\EMailClient\client.exe" "mailto:example@example.com&subject=Hello%20World"

The "Message encode" option is used to switch between these two cases:

See also: