Mail for Blackberry's - multiple content attachments

Question

Hi -

We'd like to send a single email which has "multiple contents" attached. Scenario is that we'd like one content to be displayed if the email is read using a Blackberry and another content displayed if the email is read in a desktop email client. (Blackberry content would be just text, other devices should read the HTML content instead)

I'm off to do some research, but I wondered if anyone could tell me if this just doesn't sound possible.

Muddled illustration

Mail
content 1 = text/plain device=blackberry
content 2 = text/html device=everything else

We're deevloping using Java/Spring, not that that is relevant for the general question here.

Many thanks.

Answer 1

You can do that using multipart/alternative subtype within multipart message.

You will NOT be able to dictate which part gets opened by what mail client, however - it's up to client to decide.

As far as implementation goes, take a look at MimeMultipart to get you started. Spring email integration does not support multipart/alternative messages directly as far as I know.

Answer 2

You need to include the multipart/alternative tag in the e-mail. In my version of the Blackberry software (this will vary) it attempts to open the e-mail in the html version with a menu option to get the plain text version.

It is a good practice in general with complex HTML e-mail and helpful for many e-mail clients, but you don't get the kind of fine grain control you are looking for.