Sample code for 30+ languages & platforms
Node.js

Using Replace Patterns in Email

See more Email Object Examples

Demonstrates how to use the replace patterns (mail-merge) feature in Chilkat MailMan.

Chilkat Node.js Downloads

Node.js
NODEJS_PRELUDE

function chilkatExample() {

    var 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.
    var emailTemplate = new chilkat.Email();

    //  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"...
    emailTemplate.Subject = "Hello FIRST_NAME,";

    emailTemplate.From = "john@example.com";
    emailTemplate.AddTo("FIRST_NAME","RECIPIENT_EMAIL");

    emailTemplate.SetHtmlBody("<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:
    emailTemplate.SaveEml("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.

    var mailman = new chilkat.MailMan();

    emailTemplate.SetReplacePattern("FIRST_NAME","Elon");
    emailTemplate.SetReplacePattern("RECIPIENT_EMAIL","elon.musk@example.com");
    emailTemplate.SetReplacePattern("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.
    var mime = mailman.RenderToMime(emailTemplate);
    console.log(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.
    var count = emailTemplate.NumReplacePatterns;
    console.log("Number of replace patterns: " + count);

    var 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
        console.log(emailTemplate.GetReplacePattern(i) + ": " + emailTemplate.GetReplaceString(i));
        i = i+1;
    }

    //  Or lookup a replacement pattern by name:
    var name = "FIRST_NAME";
    console.log(name + " = " + emailTemplate.GetReplaceString2(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..
    mailman.SmtpHost = "smtp.mail.us-west-2.awsapps.com";
    mailman.SmtpSsl = true;
    mailman.SmtpPort = 465;

    mailman.SmtpUsername = "john@example.com";
    mailman.SmtpPassword = "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"
    //  		}	
    //  		...
    //  	]
    //  }

    var json = new chilkat.JsonObject();
    success = json.LoadFile("qa_data/json/mail_merge.json");
    if (success == false) {
        console.log(json.LastErrorText);
        return;
    }

    var emailAddr;
    var firstName;
    var product;

    i = 0;
    count = json.SizeOfArray("mail_merge");
    while (i < count) {
        json.I = i;
        emailAddr = json.StringOf("mail_merge[i].to");
        firstName = json.StringOf("mail_merge[i].name");
        product = json.StringOf("mail_merge[i].product");

        emailTemplate.SetReplacePattern("FIRST_NAME",firstName);
        emailTemplate.SetReplacePattern("RECIPIENT_EMAIL",emailAddr);
        emailTemplate.SetReplacePattern("PRODUCT_NAME",product);

        success = mailman.SendEmail(emailTemplate);
        if (success == false) {
            console.log(mailman.LastErrorText);
            return;
        }

        console.log("Send email to " + emailAddr);

        i = i+1;
    }

    console.log("Success.");

}

chilkatExample();