How to Send Email with Ruby on Rails

Email messages are a perfect match for Ruby's strict object orientation — each email an instance of a general Email class —, and the message contents fit Rail's template approach perfectly — many of the emails you send from your web-based app will be very similar. A match made in programmer heaven, sending mail from Ruby on Rails can still be a bit more tricky than anticipated. But by no means is it hard, and the flexibility is awesome.

Send Email with Ruby on Rails

To send an email message from a Ruby on Rails app:

First, create a mailer for use in your application.

• Open a terminal or command prompt window.
• From your Rail application's home directory, run ./script/generate mailer MyMailer.

Configuration

Configure the mailer for your system.

• Open config/environment.rb in a text editor.
• Add the following to the bottom of the file:

  config.action_mailer.delivery_method = :smtp
  ActionMailer::Base.server_settings = {
    :address => "smtp.example.com",
    :port => 25,
    :user_name => "username",
    :password => "password",
    :authentication => :plain
  }

Adjust the settings for your needs. If your SMTP server does not require authentication, remove the :user_name, :password and :authentication lines altogether. For more options, see the ActionMailer::Base class documentation.

A Method for a Message

It's high time to create the method in the MyMailer class that sets the stage for messages being sent.

• Open app/models/my_mailer.rb in an editor.
• Add the following method:

    def mail(recipient)
      @from "sender.address@example.com"
      @recipients recipient
      @subject "Hi #{recipient}"
      @body(:recipient => recipient)
    end

The Message Template

The message body will be taken from an ActionView template, in which the body parameters from above are available.

• Create app/views/my_mailer/mail.rhtml and open it in a text editor.
• Type something like:

  Hi <%= @recipient %>,
  
  your inspirational thought for the day...

Creating and Sending a Message

Finally, call the (automatically generated) deliver_mail() class method from the desired controller:

• Open the desired controller .rb file in an editor.
• Add the following code to the desired method:

    def email_sent
      MyMailer::deliver_mail("recipient.address@example.com")
    end

To send an email from vanilla Ruby, you can use the Net::SMTP class.