C
C
Using Replace Patterns in Email
See more Email Object Examples
Demonstrates how to use the replace patterns (mail-merge) feature in Chilkat MailMan.Chilkat C Downloads
#include <C_CkEmail.h>
#include <C_CkMailMan.h>
#include <C_CkJsonObject.h>
void ChilkatSample(void)
{
BOOL success;
HCkEmail emailTemplate;
HCkMailMan mailman;
const char *mime;
int count;
int i;
const char *name;
HCkJsonObject json;
const char *emailAddr;
const char *firstName;
const char *product;
success = FALSE;
// This example requires the Chilkat API to have been previously unlocked.
// See Global Unlock Sample for sample code.
// ---------------------------------------------------------------------
// Create an email template for sending.
emailTemplate = CkEmail_Create();
// We're going to replace "FIRST_NAME" with an actual name.
// We arbitrarily chose "FIRST_NAME". We can choose anything, such as "CUSTOMER_NAME" or "THE_RECIPIENT_NAME"...
CkEmail_putSubject(emailTemplate,"Hello FIRST_NAME,");
CkEmail_putFrom(emailTemplate,"john@example.com");
CkEmail_AddTo(emailTemplate,"FIRST_NAME","RECIPIENT_EMAIL");
CkEmail_SetHtmlBody(emailTemplate,"<html><body><h2>Hello FIRST_NAME,</h2><p>Your order for PRODUCT_NAME has been shipped.</p></body></html>");
// If the email is saved to a file, we can see what it contains:
CkEmail_SaveEml(emailTemplate,"qa_output/emailTemplate.eml");
// For example:
// MIME-Version: 1.0
// Date: Tue, 26 Apr 2022 07:10:52 -0500
// Message-ID: <715CF231A9F07B0B9FDB073518CD94138D791866@XYZ>
// Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii
// Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
// X-Priority: 3 (Normal)
// Subject: Hello FIRST_NAME,
// From: john@example.com
// To: FIRST_NAME <RECIPIENT_EMAIL>
//
// <html><body><h2>Hello FIRST_NAME,</h2><p>Your order for PRODUCT_NAME has been shipped.</p></body></html>
// ---------------------------------------------------------------------
// Demonstrate replace patterns by setting and then rendering to MIME.
mailman = CkMailMan_Create();
CkEmail_SetReplacePattern(emailTemplate,"FIRST_NAME","Elon");
CkEmail_SetReplacePattern(emailTemplate,"RECIPIENT_EMAIL","elon.musk@example.com");
CkEmail_SetReplacePattern(emailTemplate,"PRODUCT_NAME","Twitter Corporation");
// Render to MIME to see what we get.
// Note: When the MailMan sends an email, it renders the email to MIME and then sends.
// The rendering process is to do replacements, or possibly sign, encrypt, etc.
// When MailMan.SendEmail is called, internally the email is rendered, and the rendered email is sent.
// The equivalent to MailMan.Send email is to call email.RenderToMime followed by MailMan.SendMime.
mime = CkMailMan_renderToMime(mailman,emailTemplate);
printf("%s\n",mime);
// This is the rendered MIME:
// MIME-Version: 1.0
// Date: Tue, 26 Apr 2022 07:25:49 -0500
// Message-ID: <750582BCDC891C67B48CEE2293C08B902C3891E9@XYZ>
// Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii
// Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
// X-Priority: 3 (Normal)
// Subject: Hello Elon,
// From: john@example.com
// To: Elon <elon.musk@example.com>
//
// <html><body><h2>Hello Elon,</h2><p>Your order for Twitter Corporation has been shipped.</p></body></html>
// Note: When rendering, the Date and Message-ID headers are automatically regenerated.
// ---------------------------------------------------------------------
// An application can see what replacement patterns it previously set by calling SetReplacePattern multiple times.
count = CkEmail_getNumReplacePatterns(emailTemplate);
printf("Number of replace patterns: %d\n",count);
i = 0;
while (i < count) {
// Note: The GetReplaceString method was found to not be working correctly. It was returning the same value as GetReplacePattern.
// It is fixed in Chilkat v9.5.0.91
printf("%s: %s\n",CkEmail_getReplacePattern(emailTemplate,i),CkEmail_getReplaceString(emailTemplate,i));
i = i + 1;
}
// Or lookup a replacement pattern by name:
name = "FIRST_NAME";
printf("%s = %s\n",name,CkEmail_getReplaceString2(emailTemplate,name));
// Sample output:
// Number of replace patterns: 3
// FIRST_NAME: Elon
// RECIPIENT_EMAIL: elon.musk@example.com
// PRODUCT_NAME: Twitter Corporation
// FIRST_NAME = Elon
// ---------------------------------------------------------------------
// Finally... demonstrate sending emails using the replacement patterns.
//
// Set our mail server settings..
CkMailMan_putSmtpHost(mailman,"smtp.mail.us-west-2.awsapps.com");
CkMailMan_putSmtpSsl(mailman,TRUE);
CkMailMan_putSmtpPort(mailman,465);
CkMailMan_putSmtpUsername(mailman,"john@example.com");
CkMailMan_putSmtpPassword(mailman,"the_password");
// Imagine we have data in JSON format, and we wish to send the templated email to each recipient...
//
// {
// "mail_merge" : [
// {
// "to": "mary@example.com",
// "name": "Mary",
// "product": "Widget 1"
// },
// {
// "to": "robert@example.com",
// "name": "Robert",
// "product": "Widget 2"
// }
// ...
// ]
// }
json = CkJsonObject_Create();
success = CkJsonObject_LoadFile(json,"qa_data/json/mail_merge.json");
if (success == FALSE) {
printf("%s\n",CkJsonObject_lastErrorText(json));
CkEmail_Dispose(emailTemplate);
CkMailMan_Dispose(mailman);
CkJsonObject_Dispose(json);
return;
}
i = 0;
count = CkJsonObject_SizeOfArray(json,"mail_merge");
while (i < count) {
CkJsonObject_putI(json,i);
emailAddr = CkJsonObject_stringOf(json,"mail_merge[i].to");
firstName = CkJsonObject_stringOf(json,"mail_merge[i].name");
product = CkJsonObject_stringOf(json,"mail_merge[i].product");
CkEmail_SetReplacePattern(emailTemplate,"FIRST_NAME",firstName);
CkEmail_SetReplacePattern(emailTemplate,"RECIPIENT_EMAIL",emailAddr);
CkEmail_SetReplacePattern(emailTemplate,"PRODUCT_NAME",product);
success = CkMailMan_SendEmail(mailman,emailTemplate);
if (success == FALSE) {
printf("%s\n",CkMailMan_lastErrorText(mailman));
CkEmail_Dispose(emailTemplate);
CkMailMan_Dispose(mailman);
CkJsonObject_Dispose(json);
return;
}
printf("Send email to %s\n",emailAddr);
i = i + 1;
}
printf("Success.\n");
CkEmail_Dispose(emailTemplate);
CkMailMan_Dispose(mailman);
CkJsonObject_Dispose(json);
}