Creating an Email Attachment
If you want to add an attachment to your email, you will need to add only a few lines of code to your custom controller. Email attachments are Blob file types. To create an attachment, you need to use the Apex Messaging.EmailFileAttachment class. You must define both the file name and the content of an EmailFileAttachment object.
Adding a PDF Attachment
<apex:page standardController="Account" renderAs="PDF">
<h1>Account Details</h1>
<apex:panelGrid columns="2">
<apex:outputLabel for="Name" value="Name"/>
<apex:outputText id="Name" value="{!account.Name}"/>
<apex:outputLabel for="Owner" value="Account Owner"/>
<apex:outputText id="Owner" value="{!account.Owner.Name}"/>
<apex:outputLabel for="AnnualRevenue" value="Annual Revenue"/>
<apex:outputText id="AnnualRevenue" value="{0,number,currency}">
<apex:param value="{!account.AnnualRevenue}"/>
</apex:outputText>
<apex:outputLabel for="NumberOfEmployees" value="Employees"/>
<apex:outputText id="NumberOfEmployees" value="{!account.NumberOfEmployees}"/>
</apex:panelGrid>
</apex:page>
// Reference the attachment page, pass in the account ID
PageReference pdf = Page.attachmentPDF;
pdf.getParameters().put('id',(String)account.id);
pdf.setRedirect(true);
// Take the PDF content
Blob b = pdf.getContent();
// Create the email attachment
Messaging.EmailFileAttachment efa = new Messaging.EmailFileAttachment();
efa.setFileName('attachment.pdf');
efa.setBody(b);
email.setFileAttachments(new Messaging.EmailFileAttachment[] {efa});
Defining a Custom Component as an Attachment
By creating a custom component and using it on the Visualforce email form and to render the PDF for the email, users can see a preview of the content they are trying to send.
<apex:component access="global">
<h1>Account Details</h1>
<apex:panelGrid columns="2">
<apex:outputLabel for="Name" value="Name"/>
<apex:outputText id="Name" value="{!account.Name}"/>
<apex:outputLabel for="Owner" value="Account Owner"/>
<apex:outputText id="Owner" value="{!account.Owner.Name}"/>
<apex:outputLabel for="AnnualRevenue" value="Annual Revenue"/>
<apex:outputText id="AnnualRevenue" value="{0,number,currency}">
<apex:param value="{!account.AnnualRevenue}"/>
</apex:outputText>
<apex:outputLabel for="NumberOfEmployees" value="Employees"/>
<apex:outputText id="NumberOfEmployees" value="{!account.NumberOfEmployees}"/>
</apex:panelGrid>
</apex:component>
<apex:page standardController="account" renderAs="PDF">
<c:attachment/>
</apex:page>
<apex:pageBlock title="Preview the Attachment for {!account.name}">
<c:attachment/>
</apex:pageBlock>
If you want to make changes to both the attachment and the preview, the attachment custom component needs to be modified in only one location.
Example: Sending an Email with an Attachment
public class sendEmail {
public String subject { get; set; }
public String body { get; set; }
private final Account account;
// Create a constructor that populates the Account object
public sendEmail() {
account = [SELECT Name,
(SELECT Contact.Name, Contact.Email FROM Account.Contacts)
FROM Account
WHERE Id = :ApexPages.currentPage().getParameters().get('id')];
}
public Account getAccount() {
return account;
}
public PageReference send() {
// Define the email
Messaging.SingleEmailMessage email = new Messaging.SingleEmailMessage();
// Reference the attachment page and pass in the account ID
PageReference pdf = Page.attachmentPDF;
pdf.getParameters().put('id',(String)account.id);
pdf.setRedirect(true);
// Take the PDF content
Blob b = pdf.getContent();
// Create the email attachment
Messaging.EmailFileAttachment efa = new Messaging.EmailFileAttachment();
efa.setFileName('attachment.pdf');
efa.setBody(b);
String addresses;
if (account.Contacts[0].Email != null) {
addresses = account.Contacts[0].Email;
// Loop through the whole list of contacts and their emails
for (Integer i = 1; i < account.Contacts.size(); i++) {
if (account.Contacts[i].Email != null) {
addresses += ':' + account.Contacts[i].Email;
}
}
}
String[] toAddresses = addresses.split(':', 0);
// Sets the paramaters of the email
email.setSubject( subject );
email.setToAddresses( toAddresses );
email.setPlainTextBody( body );
email.setFileAttachments(new Messaging.EmailFileAttachment[] {efa});
// Sends the email
Messaging.SendEmailResult [] r =
Messaging.sendEmail(new Messaging.SingleEmailMessage[] {email});
return null;
}
}
<apex:page controller="sendEmail">
<apex:messages/>
<apex:pageBlock title="Send an Email to Your {!account.name} Representatives">
<p>Fill out the fields below to test how you might send an email to a user.</p>
<apex:dataTable value="{!account.Contacts}" var="contact" border="1">
<apex:column>
<apex:facet name="header">Name</apex:facet>
{!contact.Name}
</apex:column>
<apex:column>
<apex:facet name="header">Email</apex:facet>
{!contact.Email}
</apex:column>
</apex:dataTable>
<apex:form><br/><br/>
<apex:outputLabel value="Subject" for="Subject"/>: <br/>
<apex:inputText value="{!subject}" id="Subject" maxlength="80"/>
<br/><br/>
<apex:outputLabel value="Body" for="Body"/>: <br/>
<apex:inputTextarea value="{!body}" id="Body" rows="10" cols="80"/>
<br/><br/>
<apex:commandButton value="Send Email" action="{!send}"/>
</apex:form>
</apex:pageBlock>
<apex:pageBlock title="Preview the Attachment for {!account.name}">
<c:attachment/>
</apex:pageBlock>
</apex:page>