(AutoIt) Using Replace Patterns in Email

See more Email Object Examples

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

Chilkat ActiveX Downloads

ActiveX for 32-bit and 64-bit Windows

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

Local $bSuccess

; ---------------------------------------------------------------------
; Create an email template for sending.
$oEmailTemplate = ObjCreate("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"...
$oEmailTemplate.Subject = "Hello FIRST_NAME,"

$oEmailTemplate.From = "john@example.com"
$oEmailTemplate.AddTo("FIRST_NAME","RECIPIENT_EMAIL")

$oEmailTemplate.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:
$oEmailTemplate.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.

$oMailman = ObjCreate("Chilkat.MailMan")

$oEmailTemplate.SetReplacePattern("FIRST_NAME","Elon")
$oEmailTemplate.SetReplacePattern("RECIPIENT_EMAIL","elon.musk@example.com")
$oEmailTemplate.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.
Local $sMime = $oMailman.RenderToMime($oEmailTemplate)
ConsoleWrite($sMime & @CRLF)

; 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.
Local $iCount = $oEmailTemplate.NumReplacePatterns
ConsoleWrite("Number of replace patterns: " & $iCount & @CRLF)

Local $i = 0
While $i < $iCount
    ; Note: The GetReplaceString method was found to not be working correctly.  It was returning the same value as GetReplacePattern.
    ; It is fixed in Chilkat v9.5.0.91
    ConsoleWrite($oEmailTemplate.GetReplacePattern($i) & ": " & $oEmailTemplate.GetReplaceString($i) & @CRLF)
    $i = $i + 1
Wend

; Or lookup a replacement pattern by name:
Local $sName = "FIRST_NAME"
ConsoleWrite($sName & " = " & $oEmailTemplate.GetReplaceString2($sName) & @CRLF)

; 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..
$oMailman.SmtpHost = "smtp.mail.us-west-2.awsapps.com"
$oMailman.SmtpSsl = True
$oMailman.SmtpPort = 465

$oMailman.SmtpUsername = "john@example.com"
$oMailman.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"
; 		}	
; 		...
; 	]
; }

$oJson = ObjCreate("Chilkat.JsonObject")
$bSuccess = $oJson.LoadFile("qa_data/json/mail_merge.json")
If ($bSuccess = False) Then
    ConsoleWrite($oJson.LastErrorText & @CRLF)
    Exit
EndIf

Local $sEmailAddr
Local $sFirstName
Local $sProduct

$i = 0
$iCount = $oJson.SizeOfArray("mail_merge")
While $i < $iCount
    $oJson.I = $i
    $sEmailAddr = $oJson.StringOf("mail_merge[i].to")
    $sFirstName = $oJson.StringOf("mail_merge[i].name")
    $sProduct = $oJson.StringOf("mail_merge[i].product")

    $oEmailTemplate.SetReplacePattern("FIRST_NAME",$sFirstName)
    $oEmailTemplate.SetReplacePattern("RECIPIENT_EMAIL",$sEmailAddr)
    $oEmailTemplate.SetReplacePattern("PRODUCT_NAME",$sProduct)

    $bSuccess = $oMailman.SendEmail($oEmailTemplate)
    If ($bSuccess = False) Then
        ConsoleWrite($oMailman.LastErrorText & @CRLF)
        Exit
    EndIf

    ConsoleWrite("Send email to " & $sEmailAddr & @CRLF)

    $i = $i + 1
Wend

ConsoleWrite("Success." & @CRLF)