Mail

The Mail module enables the sending of emails from within Magnolia. The module can be used to send plain text and HTML messages, and template-based messages.

Sending emails from Magnolia is typically an automated process. An event acts as a trigger. For example, a verification message is sent to a user when they fill a registration form.

Other Magnolia modules such as Form, Observation and Public User Registration use the Mail module for messaging.

Configuration

The Mail module is configured at Configuration > /modules/mail. Besides configuring SMTP settings the module is ready to use.

Mail command

is used to send all mails in Magnolia. The command can execute on events such as user actions, workflow steps and scheduled jobs. You can write message templates and test them manually in the Mail tools app before automating the process for production use.

The command is registered at Configuration > /modules/mail/commands/default/sendMail .

Configuring SMTP

The Mail module installs the Mail Tools app that is accessible in Tools > Mail tools. The app is based on the small app concept. Permission to access the app is limited to the superuser role in both the app configuration and the app launcher layout.

The default transfer protocol (SMTP) settings are configured at Configuration > /modules/mail/config/smtp . These setting display the Mail subapp.

Add your SMTP settings in the Mail supapp to update the smtp configuration node:

• SMTP server: Name of your mail server.
• Authentication: Select:
  
  • Authentication with username and password,
    
    • Username: SMTP user name.
    • Password: SMTP user's password.
  • No authentication required.
• Security:
  
  • No encryption for simple SMTP (default communication port is 25).
  • SMTP over SLL (SMTPS, SSL v3) (port 465).
  • SMTP over TLS (extended SMTP, TLS 1.0) (port 587).
• Port: Dependent on security setting.

Verifying setup

The Verify setup subapp provides tools to:

1. Verify the current setup.
2. Verify message templates.

Use the first tool to send test mails to verify your SMTP settings. The tool sends a pre-configured simple mail with an optional attachment to the email address in the logged in user's profile.

To send a test message:

• Access the relevant profile, typically superuser , in the Security app. Go to System users and add your email address in the superuser profile.
• Select either plain text or rich text mail type.
• Optionally, select an asset attachments from the DAM in the Assets chooser. 
• Click Send Test Mail.
  

  

The content of the test mail is configured at Configuration > /modules/mail/config/simpleConfiguration .

Message templates

The second tool in the Verify setup subapp allows you to verify your mail message templates. Message templates are typically used by forms on pages to send the data to the user who submitted the form.

As in the case of verifying mail settings, the tool sends the test mail to the email address configured in your user profile.

To send a test message:

• Select a template in the dropdown. Only registered templates are available. See Templates configuration for more information.
• Enter the test data. The content depends on the template configuration.
• Click Send Test Mail.
  

  

Templates configuration

Templates are configured in the Configuration > /modules/mail/config/templateConfiguration folder. The testFreemarker template is provided as an example.

allows for a number of configuration nodes and properties. The following are the most commonly used:

• Properties:
  
  • templateFile: Mandatory. Relative path to the template script. 
  • type: Mandatory. Scripting language used in the template.
  • contentType: Type of content for the message body. It is only necessary to include this property for HTML emails.
  • from: Email address that will appear in the From field of the message, unless defined elsewhere, for example in Form module.
    subject: Subject line of the email, unless defined elsewhere for example in the Form module.
• Nodes:
  • attachments: provides for a number of attachment options. 

  • parameters: Any parameters to be passed to the script.

    Node name	Value
    config
    templatesConfiguration
    testFreemarker
    attachments
    parameters
    contentType	html
    from	testfreemarker@example.com
    subject	This is a test email for freemarker template
    templateFile	testFreemarker.html
    type	freemarker
    pageCommentsNotification

Template renderers

Template renderers are registered  in Configuration > /modules/mail/config/factory/renderers :

• freemarker: To render Freemarker email templates.
• magnolia: To render Magnolia web pages in an email.

• simple: To render simple text emails that do not require a specific scripting language to be parsed.

  Node name	Value
  config
  factory
  renderers
  freemarker	info.magnolia.module.mail.templates.impl.FreemarkerEmail
  magnolia	info.magnolia.module.mail.templates.impl.MgnlPageEmail
  simple	info.magnolia.module.mail.templates.impl.SimpleEmail
  class	info.magnolia.module.mail.MgnlMailFactory

Template script

Here's the example testFreemarker.html template script.

<h1>${user}</h2. 
    <img src="cid:0001"/>
    This is the path that has been changed: ${path} 

This script requires two parameters, user and path, that need to be provided in the Data to send box in the verify templates tool. The parameters are passed to the template script and rendered in the message. Each parameter should be added on a single line in the <parameter name=<value> format. For example:

user=jsmith
path=/my/path

Attachments

In the attachments node you can define properties for the parameters called by the script. For example, the testFreemarker.html template script references img src="cid:0001". The cid property identifies the attachment as an image (value={}) and the url property sets the image location.

The mimeMultipart property can be used to define the structure of a  :

• mixed: Standard email attachment.

• related: Attachment shown inline. This is the default when no mimeMultipart property is speciied. MailAttachment does not use Content-ID properties but uses attachment names (not file names).
  
  

  Node name	Value
  <template configuration>
  attachments
  <attachment name>
  mimeMultipart	mixed
  url	http://www.magnolia-cms.com/.imaging/amplify-miami-2014/imageForTeaserBinary/miami.png
  <attachment name>
  mimeMultipart	related
  url	http://www.magnolia-cms.com/.imaging/amplify-miami-2014/imageForTeaserBinary/miami.png

Creating a custom template

To create a custom template

1. Create a template named, for example simpleTemplate.html using Freemarker code.

   <html>
     <body>
       <p>Dear ${fullName},</p>
       <p>Please follow this link in order to validate your account: 
       <a href="${href}">Verify your user</a></p>
       <p>Thank you!</p>
     </body>
   </html>

2. Save the template to the file system in for example, /<CATALINA_HOME>/webapps/<contextPath>/templates/simpleTemplate.html. You can put the template anywhere in the webapps folder of a Magnolia instance. 

3. Register the new template in the /config/templatesConfiguration node.

   Node name	Value
   config
   templatesConfiguration
   newUserRegistration
   attachments
   parameters
   contentType	html
   from	info@registrations.com
   subject	New User Registration
   templateFile	templates/simpleTemplate.html
   type	freemarker

4. The new template appears in the dropdown list in the Verify templates tool.