> here is our situation: we distribute our application, on cd, to over 1,000 clients every month. we have added the ability to convert VFP reports to .pdf using eReports. even tho the clients choose the file name and pick the location where it is stored, they still can't seem to find it when the try to email it. so, to make it fool proof, we want to add the ability to email the .pdf reports directly from the program.
>
> here is what i would like to do: i would like to be able to open the default email client and have the .pdf file attached programmatically. i know this can be done because the email button in adobe acrobat reader 6.0 does it.
>
> i have tried shellexecute, smpt and mapi classes. here is why, i think, i can't use any of these.
>
> shellexecute(mailto: you can't do attachments with this, at least according to the MSDN website. in addition, it only opens outlook, not the default email client.
>
> smtp: for these you need to know the outgoing smtp server name. the vast majority of our clients wouldn't know what we were talking about if we asked them to fill it in, let alone know what their server name actually is. the only way i can see this working is if we had a default smtp server that we could route all of the emails thru no matter who their actual carrier is. (i just found a current thread about this on the site and that doesn't look promising)
>
> mapi/cdo. many of our clients (realtors and brokers) use commercial email software in their offices to manage email. they delete OE to make sure leads are protected for the broker. we don't want to install and register a mapi compliant program on their machines.
>
> i called adobe tech support to see if they could tell me how to do it. so far, they haven't returned the call (even tho i was assured they would).
>
> does anyone know how to do this?

You could consider distributing your own SMTP engine with your app - West Wind has one, for example: http://www.west-wind.com/wwIpstuff.asp