getContent() returns Blob PDF-body in console, but HTML page (rendered like PDF) in Email service code

Question

First at all: Happy New Year to you and your family. I wish you all the best in new 2014 year.

And about my case:

I use 'MyPdfRenderingPage.getContent();' method to get Blob PDF-body, create PDF attachment and sent it by mail.

And a code (please see below) works great in Console's Execute Anonimous Window. It creates a mail with PDF file attached which I can open later.

But if I insert the same piece of code in my Email service (it receives a mail, creates a record and returns new mail with PDF attachment), it doesn't work correctly. I receive the mail, but can't open PDF attachment.

So I checked what does that Blob return content? If to execute 'MyPdfRenderingPage.getContent();' method in Email service, it returns HTML file with JS script inside leads to MyPdfRenderingPage.

In both cases the code runs by the same user, i did check it as well.

I have no idea what is wrong here...

Thanks a lot for your help.

---

And that code below

---

Messaging.reserveSingleEmailCapacity(5);

Messaging.SingleEmailMessage mail = new Messaging.SingleEmailMessage();

String[] toAddresses = new String[] {'[email protected]'};

mail.setToAddresses(toAddresses);

mail.setReplyTo('[email protected]');

mail.setSenderDisplayName('Support');

mail.setSubject('New Record Created : ' + newRecords[0].id);

mail.setBccSender(true);

mail.setUseSignature(false);

mail.setPlainTextBody('Your new record has been created.');

mail.setHtmlBody('Your new record has been created.');


    PageReference pdf = Page.MyPDFpage;
    pdf.getParameters().put('id', (String)newRecords[0].id);
    pdf.getParameters().put('position', '1');
    pdf.setRedirect(true);

    Blob pageContent = pdf.getContent();

    Messaging.EmailFileAttachment efa = new Messaging.EmailFileAttachment();
    efa.setFileName('PrintThisPDF.pdf');
    efa.setBody(pageContent);                                                          

mail.setFileAttachments(new Messaging.EmailFileAttachment[] {efa});                                                         

Messaging.sendEmail(new Messaging.SingleEmailMessage[] { mail });

Answer 1

You can't get the PDF content unfortunately.

While Email Services do run under a 'Context User', you will notice that UserInfo.getSessionId() returns null from any InboundEmailHandler implementation you may have.

The HTML with JavaScript is serving up a client-side redirect to a Salesforce login page. This is because pdf.getContent() runs in a different execution context that also lacks a Session ID at the time of making the request to render the page.

Salesforce have documented this:

This method can't be used in _[...] Apex email services

Answer 2

If you consider that the lowest common denominator in this scenario, is the creation of the new record - it might be worth considering a Workflow Rule to send out the email with the attachment using a Visualforce Email Template. That way, you don't have to write Apex code to send the email (thus preserving your daily limit).

Firstly, you'd need to create a Visualforce Email Template, for example:

<messaging:emailTemplate subject="New Record Created {!relatedTo.Id}" recipientType="User" relatedToType="Account">

    <messaging:attachment renderAs="PDF" filename="{!relatedTo.Name}.pdf">
        Place the Visualforce in MyPDFPage here     
    </messaging:attachment>

    <messaging:plainTextEmailBody >
        Your new record has been created.   
    </messaging:plainTextEmailBody>

</messaging:emailTemplate>

And then refer to that in a simple workflow rule that 'fires' everytime a new record is created (i.e. the thought being, your email service creates your new record but you delegate the sending of the email/attachment to workflow upon record creation), for example:

There may be other reasons that exclude the use of workflow, but I thought it worth a mention as its often overlooked.