Posts tagged as:

mailer

Rails send email tutorial

February 25, 2008

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Want to send an email using Rails? I struggled with this for a while and I’m sure many of you do too. This post will cover the basic implementation of a mailer, it is tested to work in Rails 2.0.2.

Rails Mailer Overview

1) script/generate mailer postoffice
2) Create a method for your mailer (models/postoffice.rb)
3) Create your email template using welcome.text.html.erb and welcome.text.plain.erb (views/postoffice)
4) Deliver your message
5) If you’re testing locally, make sure postfix is running

Begin by opening your terminal:

add3-imac: jon$ rails mailer_example
	-- output truncated --
 
add3-imac: jon$ cd mailer_example/
 
add3-imac:mailer_example jon$ script/generate mailer postoffice
      exists  app/models/
      create  app/views/postoffice
      exists  test/unit/
      create  test/fixtures/postoffice
      create  app/models/postoffice.rb
      create  test/unit/postoffice_test.rb

Next, we are going to create a method for our mailer

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class Postoffice < ActionMailer::Base  
# located in models/postoffice.rb
# make note of the headers, content type, and time sent
# these help prevent your email from being flagged as spam
 
  def welcome(name, email)
    @recipients   = "user@host.com"
    @from         = params[:contact][:email]
    headers         "Reply-to" => "#{email}"
    @subject      = "Welcome to Add Three"
    @sent_on      = Time.now
    @content_type = "text/html"
 
    body[:name]  = name
    body[:email] = email       
  end
 
end

Now that our method is created, let’s modify the email templates:

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# located in views/postoffice
# we can access the variables we declared in models/postoffice.rb
# body[:name]  = name is accessed by @name
# body[:email] = email is accessedby @email
 
# welcome.text.html.erb
# note the HTML
<p>Welcome to AddThree <i><%= @name %></i>. </p>
 
<p>The address we have on file for you is <b><%= @email %></b>, please let us know if this is incorrect.</p>
 
# welcome.text.plain.erb 
Welcome to AddThree <%= @name %>. The address we have on file for you is <%= @email %>, please let us know if this is incorrect.

Now that our mailer and templates arein place, let’s deliver the email!

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class Registration < ApplicationController
# controllers/registration_controller.rb
# assume the Registration controller already existed
# assume @user.name and @user.email have been declared
 
  def send_welcome_email
    # triggered via:
    # http://localhost:3000/registration/send_welcome_email
 
    # note the deliver_ prefix, this is IMPORTANT
    Postoffice.deliver_welcome(@user.name, @user.email)
 
    # optional, but I like to keep people informed
    flash[:notice] = "You've successfuly registered. Please check your email for a confirmation!"
 
    # render the default action
    render :action => 'index'  
  end
 
 
end

If you’re testing locally, make sure postfix is running

add3-imac:mailer_example jon$ sudo postfix start
Password:
postfix/postfix-script: starting the Postfix mail system

Everything should be working! Was this helpful? Link to me and leave a comment!

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