Sending Messages
================

Quick Reference for Sending a Message
-------------------------------------

Sending a message is very straightforward. You create a Transport, use it to
create the Mailer, then you use the Mailer to send the message.

To send a Message:

* Create a Transport from one of the provided Transports --
  ``Swift_SmtpTransport``, ``Swift_SendmailTransport``,
  ``Swift_MailTransport`` or one of the aggregate Transports.

* Create an instance of the ``Swift_Mailer`` class, using the Transport as
  it's constructor parameter.

* Create a Message.

* Send the message via the ``send()`` method on the Mailer object.

When using ``send()`` the message will be sent just like it would
be sent if you used your mail client. An integer is returned which includes
the number of successful recipients. If none of the recipients could be sent
to then zero will be returned, which equates to a boolean
``false``. If you set two ``To:`` recipients and
three ``Bcc:`` recipients in the message and all of the
recipients are delivered to successfully then the value 5 will be returned.

.. code-block:: php

    require_once 'lib/swift_required.php';

    //Create the Transport
    $transport = Swift_SmtpTransport::newInstance('smtp.example.org', 25)
      ->setUsername('your username')
      ->setPassword('your password')
      ;

    /*
    You could alternatively use a different transport such as Sendmail or Mail:

    //Sendmail
    $transport = Swift_SendmailTransport::newInstance('/usr/sbin/sendmail -bs');

    //Mail
    $transport = Swift_MailTransport::newInstance();
    */

    //Create the Mailer using your created Transport
    $mailer = Swift_Mailer::newInstance($transport);

    //Create a message
    $message = Swift_Message::newInstance('Wonderful Subject')
      ->setFrom(array('john@doe.com' => 'John Doe'))
      ->setTo(array('receiver@domain.org', 'other@domain.org' => 'A name'))
      ->setBody('Here is the message itself')
      ;
  
    //Send the message
    $result = $mailer->send($message);

Transport Types
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A Transport is the component which actually does the sending. You need to
provide a Transport object to the Mailer class and there are several possible
options.

Typically you will not need to know how a Transport works under-the-surface,
you will only need to know how to create an instance of one, and which one to
use for your environment.

The SMTP Transport
..................

The SMTP Transport sends messages over the (standardized) Simple Message Transfer
Protocol.  It can deal with encryption and authentication.

The SMTP Transport, ``Swift_SmtpTransport`` is without doubt the most commonly
used Transport because it will work on 99% of web servers (I just made that
number up, but you get the idea). All the server needs is the ability to
connect to a remote (or even local) SMTP server on the correct port number
(usually 25).

SMTP servers often require users to authenticate with a username and password
before any mail can be sent to other domains. This is easily achieved using
Swift Mailer with the SMTP Transport.

SMTP is a protocol -- in other words it's a "way" of communicating a job
to be done (i.e. sending a message). The SMTP protocol is the fundamental
basis on which messages are delivered all over the internet 7 days a week, 365
days a year. For this reason it's the most "direct" method of sending messages
you can use and it's the one that will give you the most power and feedback
(such as delivery failures) when using Swift Mailer.

Because SMTP is generally run as a remote service (i.e. you connect to it over
the network/internet) it's extremely portable from server-to-server. You can
easily store the SMTP server address and port number in a configuration file
within your application and adjust the settings accordingly if the code is
moved or if the SMTP server is changed.

Some SMTP servers -- Google for example -- use encryption for
security reasons. Swift Mailer supports using both SSL and TLS encryption
settings.


Using the SMTP Transport
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The SMTP Transport is easy to use. Most configuration options can be set with
the constructor.

To use the SMTP Transport you need to know which SMTP server your code needs
to connect to. Ask your web host if you're not sure. Lots of people ask me who
to connect to -- I really can't answer that since it's a setting that's
extremely specific to your hosting environment.

To use the SMTP Transport:

* Call ``Swift_SmtpTransport::newInstance()`` with the SMTP server name and
  optionally with a port number (defaults to 25).

* Use the returned object to create the Mailer.

A connection to the SMTP server will be established upon the first call to
``send()``.

.. code-block:: php

    require_once 'lib/swift_required.php';

    //Create the Transport
    $transport = Swift_SmtpTransport::newInstance('smtp.example.org', 25);

    //Create the Mailer using your created Transport
    $mailer = Swift_Mailer::newInstance($transport);

    /*
    It's also possible to use multiple method calls

    $transport = Swift_SmtpTransport::newInstance()
      ->setHost('smtp.example.org')
      ->setPort(25)
      ;
    */

Encrypted SMTP
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

You can use SSL or TLS encryption with the SMTP Transport by specifying it as
a parameter or with a method call.

To use encryption with the SMTP Transport:

* Pass the encryption setting as a third parameter to
  ``Swift_SmtpTransport::newInstance()``; or

* Call the ``setEncryption()`` method on the Transport.

A connection to the SMTP server will be established upon the first call to
``send()``. The connection will be initiated with the correct encryption
settings.

.. note::

    For SSL or TLS encryption to work your PHP installation must have
    appropriate OpenSSL transports wrappers. You can check if "tls" and/or
    "ssl" are present in your PHP installation by using the PHP function
    ``stream_get_transports()``

    .. code-block:: php

        require_once 'lib/swift_required.php';

        //Create the Transport
        $transport = Swift_SmtpTransport::newInstance('smtp.example.org', 587, 'ssl');

        //Create the Mailer using your created Transport
        $mailer = Swift_Mailer::newInstance($transport);

        /*
        It's also possible to use multiple method calls

        $transport = Swift_SmtpTransport::newInstance()
          ->setHost('smtp.example.org')
          ->setPort(587)
          ->setEncryption('ssl')
          ;
        */

SMTP with a Username and Password
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Some servers require authentication. You can provide a username and password
with ``setUsername()`` and ``setPassword()``.

To use a username and password with the SMTP Transport:

* Create the Transport with ``Swift_SmtpTransport::newInstance()``.

* Call the ``setUsername()`` and ``setPassword()`` methods on the Transport.

Your username and password will be used to authenticate upon first connect
when ``send()`` are first used on the Mailer.

If authentication fails, an Exception of type
``Swift_Transport_TransportException`` will be thrown.

.. note::

    If you need to know early whether or not authentication has failed and an
    Exception is going to be thrown, call the ``start()`` method on the
    created Transport.

    .. code-block:: php

        require_once 'lib/swift_required.php';

        //Create the Transport the call setUsername() and setPassword()
        $transport = Swift_SmtpTransport::newInstance('smtp.example.org', 25)
          ->setUsername('username')
          ->setPassword('password')
          ;

        //Create the Mailer using your created Transport
        $mailer = Swift_Mailer::newInstance($transport);

The Sendmail Transport
......................

The Sendmail Transport sends messages by communicating with a locally
installed MTA -- such as ``sendmail``.

The Sendmail Transport, ``Swift_SendmailTransport`` does not
directly connect to any remote services. It is designed for Linux servers that
have ``sendmail`` installed. The Transport starts a local
``sendmail`` process and sends messages to it. Usually the
``sendmail`` process will respond quickly as it spools your
messages to disk before sending them.

The Transport is named the Sendmail Transport for historical reasons
(``sendmail`` was the "standard" UNIX tool for sending e-mail
for years). It will send messages using other transfer agents such as Exim or
Postfix despite its name, provided they have the relevant sendmail wrappers so
that they can be started with the correct command-line flags.

It's a common misconception that because the Sendmail Transport returns a
result very quickly it must therefore deliver messages to recipients quickly
-- this is not true. It's not slow by any means, but it's certainly not
faster than SMTP when it comes to getting messages to the intended recipients.
This is because sendmail itself sends the messages over SMTP once they have
been quickly spooled to disk.

The Sendmail Transport has the potential to be just as smart of the SMTP
Transport when it comes to notifying Swift Mailer about which recipients were
rejected, but in reality the majority of locally installed
``sendmail`` instances are not configured well enough to
provide any useful feedback. As such Swift Mailer may report successful
deliveries where they did in fact fail before they even left your server.

You can run the Sendmail Transport in two different modes specified by command
line flags:

* "``-bs``" runs in SMTP mode so theoretically it will act like the SMTP
  Transport

* "``-t``" runs in piped mode with no feedback, but theoretically faster,
  though not advised

You can think of the Sendmail Transport as a sort of asynchronous SMTP
Transport -- though if you have problems with delivery failures you
should try using the SMTP Transport instead. Swift Mailer isn't doing the work
here, it's simply passing the work to somebody else (i.e.
``sendmail``).

Using the Sendmail Transport
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

To use the Sendmail Transport you simply need to call
``Swift_SendmailTransport::newInstance()`` with the command as a
parameter.

To use the Sendmail Transport you need to know where
``sendmail`` or another MTA exists on the server. Swift Mailer
uses a default value of ``/usr/sbin/sendmail``, which should
work on most systems.

You specify the entire command as a parameter (i.e. including the command line
flags). Swift Mailer supports operational modes of "``-bs``"
(default) and "``-t``".

.. note::

    If you run sendmail in "``-t``" mode you will get no feedback as to
    whether or not sending has succeeded. Use "``-bs``" unless you have a
    reason not to.

To use the Sendmail Transport:

* Call ``Swift_SendmailTransport::newInstance()`` with the command, including
  the correct command line flags. The default is to use ``/usr/sbin/sendmail
  -bs`` if this is not specified.

* Use the returned object to create the Mailer.

A sendmail process will be started upon the first call to ``send()``. If the
process cannot be started successfully an Exception of type
``Swift_Transport_TransportException`` will be thrown.

.. code-block:: php

    require_once 'lib/swift_required.php';

    //Create the Transport
    $transport = Swift_SendmailTransport::newInstance('/usr/sbin/exim -bs');

    //Create the Mailer using your created Transport
    $mailer = Swift_Mailer::newInstance($transport);

The Mail Transport
..................

The Mail Transport sends messages by delegating to PHP's internal
``mail()`` function.

In my experience -- and others' -- the ``mail()``
function is not particularly predictable, or helpful.

Quite notably, the ``mail()`` function behaves entirely
differently between Linux and Windows servers. On linux it uses
``sendmail``, but on Windows it uses SMTP.

In order for the ``mail()`` function to even work at all
``php.ini`` needs to be configured correctly, specifying the
location of sendmail or of an SMTP server.

The problem with ``mail()`` is that it "tries" to simplify things
to the point that it actually makes things more complex due to poor interface
design. The developers of Swift Mailer have gone to a lot of effort to make
the Mail Transport work with a reasonable degree of consistency.

Serious drawbacks when using this Transport are:

* Unpredictable message headers

* Lack of feedback regarding delivery failures

* Lack of support for several plugins that require real-time delivery feedback

It's a last resort, and we say that with a passion!

Using the Mail Transport
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

To use the Mail Transport you simply need to call
``Swift_MailTransport::newInstance()``. It's unlikely you'll need
to configure the Transport.

To use the Mail Transport:

* Call ``Swift_MailTransport::newInstance()``.

* Use the returned object to create the Mailer.

Messages will be sent using the ``mail()`` function.

.. note::

    The ``mail()`` function can take a ``$additional_parameters`` parameter.
    Swift Mailer sets this to "``-f%s``" by default, where the "%s" is
    substituted with the address of the sender (via a ``sprintf()``) at send
    time. You may override this default by passing an argument to
    ``newInstance()``.

    .. code-block:: php

        require_once 'lib/swift_required.php';

        //Create the Transport
        $transport = Swift_MailTransport::newInstance();

        //Create the Mailer using your created Transport
        $mailer = Swift_Mailer::newInstance($transport);

Available Methods for Sending Messages
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Mailer class offers two methods for sending Messages -- ``send()``.
Each behaves in a slightly different way.

When a message is sent in Swift Mailer, the Mailer class communicates with
whichever Transport class you have chosen to use.

Each recipient in the message should either be accepted or rejected by the
Transport. For example, if the domain name on the email address is not
reachable the SMTP Transport may reject the address because it cannot process
it. Whichever method you use -- ``send()`` -- Swift Mailer will return
an integer indicating the number of accepted recipients.

.. note::

    It's possible to find out which recipients were rejected -- we'll
    cover that later in this chapter.

Using the ``send()`` Method
...........................

The ``send()`` method of the ``Swift_Mailer`` class
sends a message using exactly the same logic as your Desktop mail client would
use. Just pass it a Messgae and get a result.

To send a Message with ``send()``:

* Create a Transport from one of the provided Transports --
  ``Swift_SmtpTransport``, ``Swift_SendmailTransport``,
  ``Swift_MailTransport`` or one of the aggregate Transports.

* Create an instance of the ``Swift_Mailer`` class, using the Transport as
  it's constructor parameter.

* Create a Message.

* Send the message via the ``send()`` method on the Mailer object.

The message will be sent just like it would be sent if you used your mail
client. An integer is returned which includes the number of successful
recipients. If none of the recipients could be sent to then zero will be
returned, which equates to a boolean ``false``. If you set two
``To:`` recipients and three ``Bcc:`` recipients in
the message and all of the recipients are delivered to successfully then the
value 5 will be returned.

.. code-block:: php

    require_once 'lib/swift_required.php';

    //Create the Transport
    $transport = Swift_SmtpTransport::newInstance('localhost', 25);

    //Create the Mailer using your created Transport
    $mailer = Swift_Mailer::newInstance($transport);

    //Create a message
    $message = Swift_Message::newInstance('Wonderful Subject')
      ->setFrom(array('john@doe.com' => 'John Doe'))
      ->setTo(array('receiver@domain.org', 'other@domain.org' => 'A name'))
      ->setBody('Here is the message itself')
      ;
  
    //Send the message
    $numSent = $mailer->send($message);

    printf("Sent %d messages\n", $numSent);

    /* Note that often that only the boolean equivalent of the
       return value is of concern (zero indicates FALSE)
   
    if ($mailer->send($message))
    {
      echo "Sent\n";
    }
    else
    {
      echo "Failed\n";
    }

    */

Sending Emails in Batch
.......................

If you want to send a separate message to each recipient so that only their
own address shows up in the ``To:`` field, follow the following recipe:

* Create a Transport from one of the provided Transports --
  ``Swift_SmtpTransport``, ``Swift_SendmailTransport``,
  ``Swift_MailTransport`` or one of the aggregate Transports.

* Create an instance of the ``Swift_Mailer`` class, using the Transport as
  it's constructor parameter.

* Create a Message.

* Iterate over the recipients and send message via the ``send()`` method on
  the Mailer object.

Each recipient of the messages receives a different copy with only their own
email address on the ``To:`` field.

.. note::

    In the following example, two emails are sent. One to each of
    ``receiver@domain.org`` and ``other@domain.org``. These recipients will
    not be aware of each other.

    .. code-block:: php

        require_once 'lib/swift_required.php';

        //Create the Transport
        $transport = Swift_SmtpTransport::newInstance('localhost', 25);

        //Create the Mailer using your created Transport
        $mailer = Swift_Mailer::newInstance($transport);

        //Create a message
        $message = Swift_Message::newInstance('Wonderful Subject')
          ->setFrom(array('john@doe.com' => 'John Doe'))
          ->setBody('Here is the message itself')
          ;

        //Send the message
        $failedRecipients = array();
        $numSent = 0;
        $to = array('receiver@domain.org', 'other@domain.org' => 'A name');

        foreach ($to as $address => $name)
        {
          $message->setTo(array($address => $name));
          $numSent += $this->send($message, $failedRecipients);
        }

        printf("Sent %d messages\n", $numSent);

Finding out Rejected Addresses
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It's possible to get a list of addresses that were rejected by the Transport
by using a by-reference parameter to ``send()``.

As Swift Mailer attempts to send the message to each address given to it, if a
recipient is rejected it will be added to the array. You can pass an existing
array, otherwise one will be created by-reference.

Collecting the list of recipients that were rejected can be useful in
circumstances where you need to "prune" a mailing list for example when some
addresses cannot be delivered to.

Getting Failures By-reference
.............................

Collecting delivery failures by-reference with the ``send()`` method is as
simple as passing a variable name to the method call.

To get failed recipients by-reference:

* Pass a by-reference variable name to the ``send()`` method of the Mailer
  class.

If the Transport rejects any of the recipients, the culprit addresses will be
added to the array provided by-reference.

.. note::

    If the variable name does not yet exist, it will be initialized as an
    empty array and then failures will be added to that array. If the variable
    already exists it will be type-cast to an array and failures will be added
    to it.

    .. code-block:: php

        $mailer = Swift_Mailer::newInstance( ... );

        $message = Swift_Message::newInstance( ... )
          ->setFrom( ... )
          ->setTo(array(
            'receiver@bad-domain.org' => 'Receiver Name',
            'other@domain.org' => 'A name',
            'other-receiver@bad-domain.org' => 'Other Name'
          ))
          ->setBody( ... )
          ;

        //Pass a variable name to the send() method
        if (!$mailer->send($message, $failures))
        {
          echo "Failures:";
          print_r($failures);
        }

        /*
        Failures:
        Array (
          0 => receiver@bad-domain.org,
          1 => other-receiver@bad-domain.org
        )
        */
