HOWTO: Create Scheduled Email Messages Using WSH and CDONTS

ID: Q221495

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Internet Information Server versions 4.0, 5.0

SUMMARY

Windows NT Option Pack (NTOP) and Windows 2000 install by default a Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) service that can be used for a variety of purposes, usually using Active Server Pages (ASP) for e-mail-based HTML form handling.

The purpose of this article is to describe the process in creating scheduled mail-outs using Windows Script Host (WSH) and the e-mail features of the SMTP service's CDONTS.NewMail object.

MORE INFORMATION

The following example steps you through creating a WSH script to send mail, as well as a text file that you can update for the mail contents and a scheduled task to send the mail.

The first step in setting up any scheduled activity is to ensure that the scheduler service is running."
1. Click Start on the task bar, click Settings, and then Control Panel.
2. Double-click the Services applet in Control Panel.
3. Scroll down to the Task Scheduler service.
4. Ensure that Status states Running.
5. Ensure that Startup states Automatic.
6. Click Close to exit the services applet and close Control Panel.

Create a text file with the following contents and save it as C:\Mailout.txt on your computer:
```
<p>This is line 1.</p>
<p>This is line 2.</p> 
```

Create the WSH script to read the text file you just created. Copy the following code and save it as "C:\mailout.vbs" on your computer. To customize the sender/receiver, change the value of the strFrom and strTo variables:


'--------------------------------------------------------------------
'
' Mailout using CDONTS.NewMail
'
'--------------------------------------------------------------------

' declare all variables
Option Explicit
Dim objSendMail
Dim strTo, strFrom
Dim strSubject, strBody

' mail constants (some are for reference)
Const CdoBodyFormatHTML = 0 ' Body property is HTML
Const CdoBodyFormatText = 1 ' Body property is plain text (default)
Const CdoMailFormatMime = 0 ' NewMail object is in MIME format
Const CdoMailFormatText = 1 ' NewMail object is plain text (default)
Const CdoLow    = 0         ' Low importance
Const CdoNormal = 1         ' Normal importance (default)
Const CdoHigh   = 2         ' High importance

strFrom    = "someone@microsoft.com"  ' change to your email address
strTo      = "someone@microsoft.com"  ' change to the recipient's address
strSubject = "Test Message"          ' change to your subject

' this line calls the ReadFile() function to read the page contents
strBody = ReadFile("C:\MAILOUT.TXT")

' this line calls the MakePage() function to format the page as HTML
strBody = MakePage(strSubject,strBody)

' the following section creates the mail object and sends the mail
Set objSendMail = CreateObject("CDONTS.NewMail")
	objSendMail.From    = strFrom
	objSendMail.To      = strTo
	objSendMail.Subject = strSubject & " (" & Date() & ")"
	objSendMail.Body    = strBody

	objSendMail.BodyFormat = CdoBodyFormatHTML
	objSendMail.MailFormat = CdoMailFormatMime
	objSendMail.Importance = CdoNormal

	objSendMail.Send
Set objSendMail = Nothing

' this function returns a properly formatted HTML page
Function MakePage(txtSubject, txtBody)
	Dim txtTemp
	txtTemp = "<HTML>" & vbCrLf
	txtTemp = txtTemp & "<HEAD><TITLE>"
	txtTemp = txtTemp & txtSubject
	txtTemp = txtTemp & "</TITLE></HEAD>" & vbCrLf
	txtTemp = txtTemp & "<BODY>" & vbCrLf
	txtTemp = txtTemp & "<H2>" & txtSubject & "</H2>" & vbCrLf
	txtTemp = txtTemp & txtBody & vbCrLf
	txtTemp = txtTemp & "</BODY>" & vbCrLf
	txtTemp = txtTemp & "</HTML>"
	MakePage = txtTemp
End Function

' this function opens a file and returns the file's contents
Function ReadFile(txtFile)
	Dim txtTemp, objFS, objFL
	Set objFS = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
	Set objFL = objFS.OpenTextFile(txtFile)
	Do While Not objFL.AtEndOfStream
		txtTemp = txtTemp & objFL.ReadLine
		txtTemp = txtTemp & vbCrLf
	Loop	
	objFL.Close
	Set objFS = Nothing
	ReadFile = txtTemp
End Function

Create a task to schedule the mail-out to be sent. Open a command session and enter something similar to the following examples:
1. The following task will run once at 9:00pm.
```
AT 9:00pm Cscript.exe C:\Mailout.vbs 
```
2. This task will run every Monday at 6:00am.
```
AT 6:00am /every:M Cscript.exe C:\Mailout.vbs 
```
3. This task will run on the first of every month at 1:00am.
```
AT 1:00am /every:1 Cscript.exe C:\Mailout.vbs 
```

Depending on the scheduled time that you chose for the task above, your e-mail will be sent when the time occurs.

For more information on Microsoft's scripting technologies, please see the following Web site:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/scripting/

Additional query words:


Keywords          : 
Version           : winnt:4.0,5.0
Platform          : winnt 
Issue type        : kbhowto

Last Reviewed: July 16, 1999