Is it possible to have some kind of mini app running in an email ?

Question

Is it possible to have some kind of mini app running in an email.

When the email arrives the email message should contain static text, but also an interactive component where the user can select attachments, fill out a few fields and hit reply.

Answer 1

Thankfully no.

But you cold possibly do something like it with html.

Answer 2

Not really, no. It depends too much on the end user email client, and most of them won't handle something like this.

The solution is to send a link to a page that does that.

Formatting wise you can still do a lot of things using HTML and basic CSS.

Answer 3

I'm sorry, but it's not a good idea at all. It would be classed as a trojan, no?

What if:

• client views all emails in plain text
• web based email client
• platform limitations eg windows app on a linux client

Personally, I'd look at exactly one of your recieved emails and then assign it to my blacklist...

Answer 4

Yes, but in limited circumstances. If you are planning for an office intranet all running Open Office/MS Office/Lotus/etc then yes. Otherwise very few mail clients willingly support them across the board. If you don't have control over the client software you should stick to the basics.

To ensure delivery and legibility of the e-mail in all clients I'd send simple message in plain text and HTML format (no external images) with a web URL for user interaction.