URLRequest and navigateToURL to open email client but HTML email, not plain text???

Question

I want users to click a button that uses URLRequest and navigateToURL to open the user's default email client with email body pre-populated with HTML email.
Even though I have tried to set the contentType property to one of the following, the HTML tags always display:
application/xml
application/html
var request:URLRequest = new URLRequest("mailto: ?subject=Test Email&body=<h1>Test Body</h1>");request.contentType = "multipart/form-data";
navigateToURL(request, "_self");
BTW, the above code is simplified, so I am using escape() on the subject and body text, etc.
So, is there any way to use mailto in this way to open the default email client and pre-populate with HTML email but not see the tags (BUT NOT REVERT TO PLAINTEXT)?

Answer 1

FTQuest wrote:
@Jason
>The problem there however is that very few people actually set this up... (default mail client)
Jason, can I ask you: is it your assumption, or there is/was reliable polling showing that majority of users prefer manually go the mail server instead of using the mail client application of their choice - Outlook, FireBird, Mail, etc?
Igor Borodin
There are numerous reasons behind avoiding mailto links in relation to design. And it's been debated back and forth for years. Form vs Mailto link both have their pros and cons and intended usages.
After panelling groups of individuals for three seperate projects regarding various design perspectives in the RIAs we developed, it became quickly apparent that on numerous occasions users clicking a mailto link were unaware of what the resulting screen was actually for. Several had never set up the default mail client on their pc. Many thought that "Yahoo" was the only email service in the world... Now, with that said, the target demographic for those applcations may or may not be what his, yours, or anyone's project may be. The key there is going to be identifying your dedmographic and determining the tech prowness. Also, what exactly is the email's intended result? Refer a friend style? Might be better handled through a web form due to the possiblity of being able to properly track how many referrals were actually made. How many resulted in a visitor. Simply notifying admin that there is a problem on the site? Might be better to fire off a mailto.
Reliably sending a preformatted HTML email can only be guaranteed on the server side. Otherwise, you run into problems just like he is having here. Now, if the email is plain text, different story.
Again, it all comes down to identifying your usage and properly utilizng the available tools.