How to attach a string as a file in Mailgun?

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1

I’m trying to figure out if Mailgun allows attaching a string as a file when sending emails. I know PHPMailer has a feature called AddStringAttachment() that does this. But I can’t find anything similar in Mailgun’s docs.

I’ve looked through their API guide, but it only talks about attaching actual files. Does anyone know if there’s a way to do this with Mailgun? Maybe there’s a workaround or a hidden feature I’m missing?

If it’s possible, could you share a simple PHP code example? I’m not great with other languages, so PHP would be most helpful. Thanks!

2

I’ve actually encountered this issue before and found a neat solution using PHP’s built-in data URI scheme. Here’s how you can do it:

$string_content = 'Your string content here';
$encoded_content = base64_encode($string_content);
$data_uri = 'data:text/plain;base64,' . $encoded_content;

$params = [
    'to' => '[email protected]',
    'from' => '[email protected]',
    'subject' => 'Test Email',
    'text' => 'This is a test email with a string attachment.',
    'attachment' => [
        'data' => $data_uri,
        'filename' => 'attachment.txt'
    ]
];

// Send the message using Mailgun's API

This approach leverages the data URI scheme to directly embed the string content as an attachment without creating temporary files or using additional libraries. It’s clean, efficient, and works seamlessly with Mailgun’s API. Just make sure to adjust the MIME type in the data URI if you’re attaching something other than plain text.

3

i’ve used this workaround: write your string to a temp file and then attach that file. for example:

$t = tmpfile();
fwrite($t, 'your string');
$path = stream_get_meta_data($t)['uri'];
// attach $path in your mailgun call
fclose($t);

it ain’t elegant, but it does the trick!

4

While Mailgun doesn’t have a direct equivalent to PHPMailer’s AddStringAttachment(), there’s a way to achieve this using base64 encoding. Here’s how you can do it:

  1. Encode your string as base64
  2. Set the attachment in the Mailgun API call using the encoded string

Here’s a quick PHP example:

$attachment_content = base64_encode('Your string content here');
$params = array(
    'to' => '[email protected]',
    'from' => '[email protected]',
    'subject' => 'Subject',
    'text' => 'Message body',
    'attachment' => array(
        array(
            'filetype' => 'text/plain',
            'filename' => 'attachment.txt',
            'content' => $attachment_content
        )
    )
);

// Send the message using Mailgun's API

This method avoids creating temporary files and works seamlessly with Mailgun’s API.