php and sendemail

esthera

I am sending emails through php with the following code:

mail($recipient,$subject,$msg,$extraHeaders);

For some reason the emails seem to be sending only 85% of the time. (I also add the entries to a db so I can see that we are not recieving all of the emails.)

What could be causing this?

Can I redirect to another mail server to send the email?

shamly

Well yes you can redirect to another mail server. just change the setting SMTP in php.ini to your desired mail server. Its simple as that. Try using the imap_mail function before switching to amother mail server and see what happens.

esthera

when i tried
$success = imap_mail($recipient,$subject,$msg,$extraHeaders);
It gave me an error
Fatal error: Call to undefined function: imap_mail()

Where is the php.ini to change the settings?

(I am new to php)

Thanks

shamly

open php.ini and look for ;extension=php_imap.dll
delete the ";" and restart your web server if its apache.
Next copy all the files in PHP\dlls directory to system root directory. Actually you dont have to copy all files, but i dont seem to be able to remember the exact files to copy 😉.

By the way are u using php on windows or linux? The above method is for windows.

esthera

on linux.
It 's not my server. It's the server my pages are hosted on.

Is there a way to change the mail server? I would want it changed only for my domain.

Is there any other options?

shamly

Hmm .. well there is an option .... if you know another SMTP server address. You can use the ini_set function to change the php.ini file. This option will keep this new value during the script's execution, and will be restored at the script's ending. Using this u can change the SMTP value to another SMTP server.

The other option is that you will have to ask from the guys who are hosting the server, cause to enable imap they will have to install PHP with imap enabled.

The last option is to redirect your script to another server which has a SMTP running and send the email from there.

esthera

how does the ini_set work?

If I redirect then is the best thing to include the subject and message in the querystring. Will the user see that I am redirecting if I redirect back after the email is sent?

shamly

string ini_set ( string varname, string newvalue )

to change smtp it will be
ini_set ( "SMTP", "mail server address" )

Yes user will notice the redirection.

esthera

with ini_set do I need to put the username and password in somewhere?
Do all servers support this method?

shamly

Its a php function so it should work in any machine.

Does the SMTP server require authentication?. If not you dont have to put any user name or password.

Check out the PHP Manual available at www.php.net

esthera

ini_set ( "SMTP", "mail.xxx.com" );
worked on my test server but when I moved it to another server it didn't work. (It didn't give an error but didn't send the email either.

Any suggestions?
Please help

shamly

check if you can connect to the SMTP server from that server. My be it has been blocked.

Also see what the output is from the mail function u r using.

esthera

how can I check that?

shamly

telnet to the SMTP server on port 25

esthera

sorry for my ignorance - I mainly do windows programming.

If I have the ip address and username and password -- how would I telnet to test the smtp?

Drakla

to test if there's a server response just pop open a dos prompt, or go into Start -> Run and type

telnet smtp.mail.yahoo.com 25

but obviously your server - see if there's a response message - type quit to get out.

If the server requires password and user then they have to be base64 encoded and you'll have to write your own sendmail routine, or just grab a copy of the Richard Heyes one.

shamly

Its the same in linux too

telnet "smtp server" 25

esthera

can I test this from my machine. (windows). The actual problem is on the server where this form is hosted? Will it help to telnet from my machine?

Any other way to assure that the emails are all being sent?

shamly

No .. u have to test it on that machine. you can try asking them if there are any restrictions.

The Only other option ot make sure that mails have been sent is to check the status returned by the mail function. if its 0 then try sending it at a later time.

esthera

I was never able to do the above settings.
Is there any way for me to call a function on another server that sends the mail? (By using an include file?)