(Android™) Using Replace Patterns in Email

See more Email Object Examples

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

Chilkat Android™ Downloads

Android™ Java Libraries

Android C/C++ Libraries

// Important: Don't forget to include the call to System.loadLibrary
// as shown at the bottom of this code sample.
package com.test;

import android.app.Activity;
import com.chilkatsoft.*;

import android.widget.TextView;
import android.os.Bundle;

public class SimpleActivity extends Activity {

  private static final String TAG = "Chilkat";

  // Called when the activity is first created.
  @Override
  public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

    // This example requires the Chilkat API to have been previously unlocked.
    // See Global Unlock Sample for sample code.

    boolean success;

    // ---------------------------------------------------------------------
    // Create an email template for sending.
    CkEmail emailTemplate = new CkEmail();

    // 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.put_Subject("Hello FIRST_NAME,");

    emailTemplate.put_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
    // CKX-Bounce-Address: 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>

    // Note: Ignore the CKX-Bounce-Address header.  It is automatically removed by Chilkat prior to sending.
    // All "CKX-" headers are automatically removed prior to sending.

    // ---------------------------------------------------------------------
    // Demonstrate replace patterns by setting and then rendering to MIME.

    CkMailMan mailman = new CkMailMan();

    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.
    String mime = mailman.renderToMime(emailTemplate);
    Log.i(TAG, 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.
    int count = emailTemplate.get_NumReplacePatterns();
    Log.i(TAG, "Number of replace patterns: " + String.valueOf(count));

    int 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
        Log.i(TAG, emailTemplate.getReplacePattern(i) + ": " + emailTemplate.getReplaceString(i));
        i = i + 1;
        }

    // Or lookup a replacement pattern by name:
    String name = "FIRST_NAME";
    Log.i(TAG, 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.put_SmtpHost("smtp.mail.us-west-2.awsapps.com");
    mailman.put_SmtpSsl(true);
    mailman.put_SmtpPort(465);

    mailman.put_SmtpUsername("john@example.com");
    mailman.put_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"
    // 		}	
    // 		...
    // 	]
    // }

    CkJsonObject json = new CkJsonObject();
    success = json.LoadFile("qa_data/json/mail_merge.json");
    if (success == false) {
        Log.i(TAG, json.lastErrorText());
        return;
        }

    String emailAddr;
    String firstName;
    String product;

    i = 0;
    count = json.SizeOfArray("mail_merge");
    while (i < count) {
        json.put_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) {
            Log.i(TAG, mailman.lastErrorText());
            return;
            }

        Log.i(TAG, "Send email to " + emailAddr);

        i = i + 1;
        }

    Log.i(TAG, "Success.");

  }

  static {
      System.loadLibrary("chilkat");

      // Note: If the incorrect library name is passed to System.loadLibrary,
      // then you will see the following error message at application startup:
      //"The application <your-application-name> has stopped unexpectedly. Please try again."
  }
}