(Lianja) Using Replace Patterns in Email

See more Email Object Examples

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

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Chilkat Lianja Extension

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

// ---------------------------------------------------------------------
// Create an email template for sending.
loEmailTemplate = createobject("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"...
loEmailTemplate.Subject = "Hello FIRST_NAME,"

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

loEmailTemplate.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:
loEmailTemplate.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.

loMailman = createobject("CkMailMan")

loEmailTemplate.SetReplacePattern("FIRST_NAME","Elon")
loEmailTemplate.SetReplacePattern("RECIPIENT_EMAIL","elon.musk@example.com")
loEmailTemplate.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.
lcMime = loMailman.RenderToMime(loEmailTemplate)
? lcMime

// 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.
lnCount = loEmailTemplate.NumReplacePatterns
? "Number of replace patterns: " + str(lnCount)

i = 0
do while i < lnCount
    // 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
    ? loEmailTemplate.GetReplacePattern(i) + ": " + loEmailTemplate.GetReplaceString(i)
    i = i + 1
enddo

// Or lookup a replacement pattern by name:
lcName = "FIRST_NAME"
? lcName + " = " + loEmailTemplate.GetReplaceString2(lcName)

// 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..
loMailman.SmtpHost = "smtp.mail.us-west-2.awsapps.com"
loMailman.SmtpSsl = .T.
loMailman.SmtpPort = 465

loMailman.SmtpUsername = "john@example.com"
loMailman.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"
// 		}	
// 		...
// 	]
// }

loJson = createobject("CkJsonObject")
llSuccess = loJson.LoadFile("qa_data/json/mail_merge.json")
if (llSuccess = .F.) then
    ? loJson.LastErrorText
    release loEmailTemplate
    release loMailman
    release loJson
    return
endif

i = 0
lnCount = loJson.SizeOfArray("mail_merge")
do while i < lnCount
    loJson.I = i
    lcEmailAddr = loJson.StringOf("mail_merge[i].to")
    lcFirstName = loJson.StringOf("mail_merge[i].name")
    lcProduct = loJson.StringOf("mail_merge[i].product")

    loEmailTemplate.SetReplacePattern("FIRST_NAME",lcFirstName)
    loEmailTemplate.SetReplacePattern("RECIPIENT_EMAIL",lcEmailAddr)
    loEmailTemplate.SetReplacePattern("PRODUCT_NAME",lcProduct)

    llSuccess = loMailman.SendEmail(loEmailTemplate)
    if (llSuccess = .F.) then
        ? loMailman.LastErrorText
        release loEmailTemplate
        release loMailman
        release loJson
        return
    endif

    ? "Send email to " + lcEmailAddr

    i = i + 1
enddo

? "Success."


release loEmailTemplate
release loMailman
release loJson