253057 - Inserting links in an email do not work if link text isn't used.

Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 180997

(MailNews Core :: Composition, defect)

Description

[greg]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:1.7) Gecko/20040614 Firefox/0.9
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:1.7) Gecko/20040614 Firefox/0.9

When a link is inserted in mozilla email, without using a link text, (ie Click
on top menu and choose the "Insert" menu then the Link... option, then choose
file location) the recipient using Mozilla is unable to open link. Link is
double clicked, but it will not open.

Link origionally looks like: 
file:///C:/test.doc

When it is received it looks like: 
file:///C:/test.doc <cid:[e-mail]> 

The same procedure in Netscape Communicator 4.79, without the link text, works fine.

Reproducible: Always
Steps to Reproduce:
1.Open message compose window (HTML mode)
2.Click in the body.
3.Choose: Insert -> Link.
4.In the link location field add a link to a file (file:///C:/test.doc).
5.Click on "OK"

Actual Results:  
Recipients, using Mozilla, receive email containing something similar to:
file:///C:/test.doc <cid:[e-mail]> 

and can not be opened.

Expected Results:  
If you send the same message using Netscape Communicator 4.79,  recipients using
Communicator would get a message containing file:///C|/test.doc
When they click on it, it opens test.doc 


I found the following workaround:

1. In Preferences, change the "Send Format" to "Send the message in HTML anyway"
 (Edit menu/Prefences/Mail&Newsgroup).
2. In "Mail & Newsgroup Account Settings", make sure you have Composition set to
"Compose messages in HTML format" ( Edit menu/Mail & Newsgroup Account
Settings/Composition & Addressing).
3. When  inserting a link in an email, make sure you include the Link Text. If
you don't, the link will not work (displaying a Content-ID).

If sending an email with a link to file:///c:/folder/file.doc you can use
c:/folder/file.doc as the Link Text or anything else.
If you include file:/// as part of the Link Text, it will cause it to not work.

Comment 1

[Mike Cowperthwaite]

This problem occurs whether or not the "link text" is specified.  The "cid:" 
link appears only when the mail is displayed as plain text.

It is true that Netscape 4 will open a file: link (assuming the recipient has 
access to the same file path).  This is now considered a security problem, and 
file: links are disabled.  (In my opinion, the "file:..." text should not even 
be displayed as a link -- bug 241573.)

If the mail is *sent* as plain text (which happens often -- bug 187064, 
bug 157346), then the file is simply dropped from the mail, breaking the "cid:" 
link.  This is a major problem, and is the primary basis for this bug -- hence, 
the duplication.

However, if the mail is sent as HTML, the file is copied into the mail (like an 
attachment).  When displayed as plain text, the file: link does not work, but 
the cid: link does.  When displayed as HTML, the link appears as "file:" but the 
link's href is "cid:" URI, and clicking it opens the attached copy of the file.

See the discussion at bug 241291.

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of 180997 ***