problem with sending mail in php

[yahyac]

When I try to send mail, using the typical php syntax, I get the following warning:

Warning: mail() [function.mail]: "sendmail_from" not set in php.ini or custom "From:" header missing

Here's my line of code:

mail($to, $subject, $body)

Is this common?

[iNFERiON]

You need to specify the sender's address. You can do that by using this:

$headers = 'From: You <[e-mail]>';
mail($to, $subject, $body, $headers);

[konrad]

I guess you don't have configured php to send mails under windows. Read the "Runtime Configuration" section of manual

[weekender]

Yep. Just to elaborate, there's a variable in the php.ini configuration file called sendmail_from, which is used as the default 'from' address when it's not specified within the code. Shared hosting servers usually have one php installation for each server, so this setting isn't usually set.

[yahyac]

So if i add the $headers, it should work?

Should I assume that the mail function will not work on one's local machine, even if they are running Appache?

[yahyac]

I tried with the one header line and it did not work. I just followed the exact syntax shown in the "newbie bookmarked threads" and it supposedly worked. It had me add to other lines of header "stuff".

But as mentioned, I'm doing this on my local machine, running Appache. How will it send? Does appache have an email server, of sorts, that sends these emails? I only ask because I have not received anything.

Here's my code:

$headers  = "MIME-Version: 1.0\r\n"; 
$headers .= "Content-type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1\r\n"; 
$headers .= 'From: ME <[e-mail]>';
$mail = @mail($to, $subject, $body, $headers);
if (!$mail) {
  echo("<p>Message successfully sent!</p>");
 } else {
  echo("<p>Message delivery failed...</p>");
 }

So how will this message send, and again, will it supposedly work from one's local machine if they are running appache?

Thanks.

[yahyac]

anyone?

[yahyac]

Still no luck. I have not received any messages back. I feel stupid even asking if this should work, as something tells me that it should not work from a local computer, even if it is indeed running appache server.

So the question is a simple one: should the php mail function be able to work from a website that is on an individual's computer, even if that computer is running appache with the new version of php? Or does the mail funciton only work on a site that is "live" so to speak?

Thanks.

[XPertMailer]

You can send an e-mail without mail() function, like:

<?php

set_time_limit(0);

// path to smtp.php from XPM2 package
require_once '/path/smtp.php';

$mail = new SMTP;
$mail->Delivery('client');
$mail->From('[e-mail]', 'my name');
$mail->AddTo('[e-mail]', 'user name');
$mail->Text('Text version of the message');
$sent = $mail->Send('Hello World!');

echo $sent ? 'Success' : $mail->result;

?>

[yahyac]

Okay, so then how does one know where this path to smtp.php is? Is it always basicaly in the same place from the php installation? is that smtp.php part of the installation? Or is this some program you are recommending as an addon?

[XPertMailer]

http://xpertmailer.sourceforge.net/DOCUMENTATION

[yahyac]

This is great that someone is recommending this xpertmailer, but can someone answer the questions I had regarding php and the problem I am having?

yahyac wrote:

So the question is a simple one: should the php mail function be able to work from a website that is on an individual's computer, even if that computer is running appache with the new version of php? Or does the mail funciton only work on a site that is "live" so to speak?

[bradgrafelman]

The mail function will work as long as you've configured it properly.

It has to point to an SMTP server that is able to send mail. Furthermore, this SMTP server cannot require authentication. PHP's internal mail() function does not support SMTP servers that require authentication, which is why more often that not you can't simply point PHP to your ISP's SMTP server that you send mail through (though sometimes you can).

Other SMTP classes, such as PHPMailer and XPertMail (haven't used this, so I don't know if this applies) have surpassed the capabilities of the internal mail() function by allowing authenticated SMTP server support, and so on.

[yahyac]

I checked my outlook for my mail settings, and my particular mail server does not require authentication. So in my case, it seems just a matter of figuring out how to configure the mail() funciton properly. What am I missing? Is there something to configure?

On a side note, I just tried both phpmailer and xpermailer and both worked, although I got an error with the xpertmailer.

However, here's my question. When I received the message that I sent to myself, they both went to my JUNK MAIL. Is there any explanation? This would obviously defeat the purpose if the mail will automatically go to the junk folder.

Thanks.

[yahyac]

Well, for my personal email that i check in Outlook, it goes to junk mail. When i sent to my yahoo account, it makes it to the inbox!

Just to confirm my humble understanding of phpmailer, is the ONLY thing i need to do for it to work is to save the class.phpmailer.php to my website somewhere, such as an includes directory. And then I simply include or "require" it on that mailing page? is it that simple?

Cause it is working. I just don't know why the mail() funciton never worked. It seems as though it should work for my site. Oh well. Thanks.