Sending Email With PHPMailer (Articles) | The Bakery, Everything CakePHP

Sending Email With PHPMailer

[This is a slightly updated copy of the tutorial on now defunct wiki.cakephp.org]

This example will show you how to send HTML mail from you Cake application with PHPMailer.

You will create:

1. cakePHP component
2. a vendor package
3. view for plain text email body
4. view for HTML email body
5. a function in your controller to send mail.

Steps

Get PHPMailer

Get PHPMailer http://phpmailer.sourceforge.net/
Unpack it into app/vendors/phpmailer/ , so you'll have /vendors/phpmailer/class.phpmailer.php etc.etc.

Create views and layouts

Create two views, default_html.thtml and default_text.thtml and place them in app/views/your_controller/email/
Create a layout for the HTML part of the email, call it app/views/layouts/email.thtml

Create component

Create new component email. Paste the following code into app/controllers/components/email.php

Component Class:

Download code


<?php 

/**

 * This is a component to send email from CakePHP using PHPMailer

 * @link http://bakery.cakephp.org/articles/view/94

 * @see http://bakery.cakephp.org/articles/view/94

 */



class EmailComponent

{

  /**

   * Send email using SMTP Auth by default.

   */

    var $from         = 'phpmailer@cakephp';

    var $fromName     = "Cake PHP-Mailer";

    var $smtpUserName = '';  // SMTP username

    var $smtpPassword = ''; // SMTP password

    var $smtpHostNames= "";  // specify main and backup server

    var $text_body = null;

    var $html_body = null;

    var $to = null;

    var $toName = null;

    var $subject = null;

    var $cc = null;

    var $bcc = null;

    var $template = 'email/default';

    var $attachments = null;



    var $controller;



    function startup( &$controller ) {

      $this->controller = &$controller;

    }



    function bodyText() {

    /** This is the body in plain text for non-HTML mail clients

     */

      ob_start();

      $temp_layout = $this->controller->layout;

      $this->controller->layout = '';  // Turn off the layout wrapping

      $this->controller->render($this->template . '_text'); 

      $mail = ob_get_clean();

      $this->controller->layout = $temp_layout; // Turn on layout wrapping again

      return $mail;

    }



    function bodyHTML() {

    /** This is HTML body text for HTML-enabled mail clients

     */

      ob_start();

      $temp_layout = $this->controller->layout;

      $this->controller->layout = 'email';  //  HTML wrapper for my html email in /app/views/layouts

      $this->controller->render($this->template . '_html'); 

      $mail = ob_get_clean();

      $this->controller->layout = $temp_layout; // Turn on layout wrapping again

      return $mail;

    }



    function attach($filename, $asfile = '') {

      if (empty($this->attachments)) {

        $this->attachments = array();

        $this->attachments[0]['filename'] = $filename;

        $this->attachments[0]['asfile'] = $asfile;

      } else {

        $count = count($this->attachments);

        $this->attachments[$count+1]['filename'] = $filename;

        $this->attachments[$count+1]['asfile'] = $asfile;

      }

    }





    function send()

    {

    vendor('phpmailer'.DS.'class.phpmailer');



    $mail = new PHPMailer();



    $mail->IsSMTP();            // set mailer to use SMTP

    $mail->SMTPAuth = true;     // turn on SMTP authentication

    $mail->Host   = $this->smtpHostNames;

    $mail->Username = $this->smtpUserName;

    $mail->Password = $this->smtpPassword;



    $mail->From     = $this->from;

    $mail->FromName = $this->fromName;

    $mail->AddAddress($this->to, $this->toName );

    $mail->AddReplyTo($this->from, $this->fromName );



    $mail->CharSet  = 'UTF-8';

    $mail->WordWrap = 50;  // set word wrap to 50 characters



    if (!empty($this->attachments)) {

      foreach ($this->attachments as $attachment) {

        if (empty($attachment['asfile'])) {

          $mail->AddAttachment($attachment['filename']);

        } else {

          $mail->AddAttachment($attachment['filename'], $attachment['asfile']);

        }

      }

    }



    $mail->IsHTML(true);  // set email format to HTML



    $mail->Subject = $this->subject;

    $mail->Body    = $this->bodyHTML();

    $mail->AltBody = $this->bodyText();



    $result = $mail->Send();



    if($result == false ) $result = $mail->ErrorInfo;



    return $result;

    }

}

?>

Useing it in your controller

Controller Class:

Download code


<?php 

class MyController extends AppController{

    var $components = array('Email'); //  use component email



    ...

 

    function send() {

            $this->Email->template = 'email/confirm';

            // You can use customised thmls or the default ones you setup at the start

           

            $this->set('data', $data);

            $this->Email->to = 'someone@somewhere.com';

            $this->Email->subject = 'your new account';

           

           

            $this->Email->attach($fully_qualified_filename, optionally $new_name_when_attached);

            // You can attach as many files as you like.

           

            $result = $this->Email->send();

 

        //the rest of the controller method...

      }

}

?>

Credits

This is lifted almost word for word from the original piece at http://wiki.cakephp.org/tutorials:sending_email_with_phpmailer but i figured as i was about to use it, i would rewrite it for the bakery.

Enjoy.

Drayen.

Comments

CakePHP Team Comments Author Comments

Comment

1 This is nice but...

Is there a way to use all the phpMailer functions directly. For example, what if you wanted to add more than one address? Also, I wonder why you chose to change all the mail variables. Why didn't you keep the same variables used in phpMailer to avoid confusion?

Comment

2 Native PHPMailer API

Have a look here: http://bakery.cakephp.org/articles/view/108

Comment

3 SwiftMailer

anyone interested in a more flexible, smaller, quicker & more intuitive full OOP library look @ http://www.swiftmailer.org/
;)
tut coming soon

Comment

4 Add Multiple Addresses.

This code will allow users to email multiple addresses.

1. Put the folowing line inside your controller action:
$this->Email->attach_to($to_address, $to_name);
/*Add this line as many times as you want.*/

2. Add the following to the email component.
//Initialize variable
var $to_arr = null;

//Add function
function attach_to($to_address, $to_name = '') {
if (empty($this->to_arr)) {
$this->to_arr = array();
$this->to_arr[0]['to_address'] = $to_address;
$this->to_arr[0]['to_name'] = $to_name;
} else {
$count = count($this->to_arr);
$this->to_arr[$count+1]['to_address'] = $to_address;
$this->to_arr[$count+1]['to_name'] = $to_name;
}
}

//Add this loop within the send function
if (!empty($this->to_arr)) {
foreach ($this->to_arr as $to) {
$mail->AddAddress($to['to_address'], $to['to_name']);
}
}

Thats it hope it helps someone out.

~Gene Kelly

Question

5 What is the data variable in controller

In the Controller Class code... is $data initialized somewhere outside the scope of this article? Or should it be $this->data? I'm not clear on if that's a typo or if how the contents of $data should be constructed (e.g. named array?).

Thanks.

Comment

6 Re What is the data variable in controller

@Diona - Your first guess is correct. $data is some data that you want to set to be available in the email views (text and html). If your email views are static, you don't need to set it.

You can call it whatever you want.

For example, for a purchase confirmation email, you might list the products purchased in the emails, so you might use:




$products = $this->Session->read('shopping_basket');

$this->set('products',$products);

or something like that.

Comment

7 Other port usage

I was running into error
"Language string failed to load: recipients_failed"

It happens when you have smtp on other port then 25 (in my case it was port 26). So I put one more variable to email component class:

<code>
var $smtpHostPort= "26";
</code>

And a line to function send()
<code>
$mail->Password = $this->smtpPassword;
</code>

Comment

8 Language string failed to load

The: "Language string failed to load: recipients_failed" error

is the result of that the PHPmailer class cannot locate its language files when placing the complete class in the vendors directory. Moving the complete languages folder of the PHPmailer directory into the webroot of CakePHP fixes the problem.

Although I'm still strugling with a SMTP error, at least I do now receive the correct error :*(

Comment

9 Call to undefined method stdClass send

I was getting the following error..

Fatal error: Call to undefined method stdClass::send() in F:\xampplite
\htdocs\cake\app\controllers\users_controller.php

turned out that I had declared
var $components = array('email');
NOT!!
var $components = array('Email');

Just thought I'd post in case anyone else was as daft as me :-).

Question

10 Error

getting this warning when i try to run the code:

fsockopen(): unable to connect to :25 in /home/content/i/m/r/imranbaran/html/app/vendors/phpmailer/class.smtp.php on line 105

please help

Comment

11 HTML layout not rendering

Thanks for a great component. It is very easy to set up and use.

I do have one problem though, the HTML layout - app/views/layouts/email.thtml simply isn't rendering and I can't work out why.

The emails are sent perfectly just without the layout wrapped around them. I was hoping somebody else had experienced the same problem and found a solution.

Thanks

Question

12 SMTP data in config file

hi everyone :)

how can i declare smtp data (host,user,pass,port) in a config file, so the component reads it from config/email.php for example?!

cheers,
stefan

Comment

13 RE SMTP data in config file

Hi Stefan

The easiest thing to do is just add these values in your app/config/core.php file e.g.




define('CAKE_EMAIL_USER', 'website@mywebsite.com');

Then in the mailer component you just reference these values:




class EmailComponent

{

  /**

   * Send email using SMTP Auth by default.

   */

    var $from         = 'phpmailer@cakephp';

    var $fromName     = "Cake PHP-Mailer";

    var $smtpUserName = CAKE_EMAIL_USER;  // SMTP username

This way you've set the default values, but you can still over ride them when you use the component.

Question

14 Spam Vulnerability

Does anyone know what sanitization needs to occur in order to thwart injection? I assumed that using cake's cleanArray() would be sufficient, but someone seems to be abusing my forms. Any advice would be appreciated!

Comment

15 re Spam Vulnerability

There was a good article on Digital-Web recently that goes through securing contact forms in quite a lot of detail - might be of help to you.

http://www.digital-web.com/articles/bulletproof_contact_form_with_php/

Bug

16 headers already sent

Hi, I'm trying to use the component, but I get the following error:

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/visioniz/public_html/books/app/controllers/components/email.php:114) in /home/visioniz/public_html/books/cake/libs/controller/controller.php on line 447

The funny thing is, I receive the sent emails, no problem, but cake can't render the page.

Please help.

Question

17 Attachment file location

Hi, would you please tell about the location of attachment file. I mean where the files should be kept?

$this->Email->attach($fully_qualified_filename, optionally $new_name_when_attached);

What will I use instead of $fully_qualified_filename. Example please.

Thanks in advance.

Comment

18 HTML layout not rendering

I do have one problem though, the HTML layout - app/views/layouts/email.thtml simply isn't rendering and I can't work out why.

app/views/layouts/email.thtml:

View Template:




<?php

                    echo $content_for_layout;

?>

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