(PHP ActiveX) 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

Note: The php_com_dotnet.dll may need to be enabled inside of php.ini.

<?php

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

// ---------------------------------------------------------------------
// Create an email template for sending.
// For versions of Chilkat < 10.0.0, use new COM('Chilkat_9_5_0.Chilkat.Email')
$emailTemplate = new COM("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
// 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.

// For versions of Chilkat < 10.0.0, use new COM('Chilkat_9_5_0.Chilkat.MailMan')
$mailman = new COM("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.
$mime = $mailman->renderToMime($emailTemplate);
print $mime . "\n";

// 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.
$count = $emailTemplate->NumReplacePatterns;
print 'Number of replace patterns: ' . $count . "\n";

$i = 0;
while ($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
    print $emailTemplate->getReplacePattern($i) . ': ' . $emailTemplate->getReplaceString($i) . "\n";
    $i = $i + 1;
}

// Or lookup a replacement pattern by name:
$name = 'FIRST_NAME';
print $name . ' = ' . $emailTemplate->getReplaceString2($name) . "\n";

// 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 = 1;
$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"
// 		}	
// 		...
// 	]
// }

// For versions of Chilkat < 10.0.0, use new COM('Chilkat_9_5_0.Chilkat.JsonObject')
$json = new COM("Chilkat.JsonObject");
$success = $json->LoadFile('qa_data/json/mail_merge.json');
if ($success == 0) {
    print $json->LastErrorText . "\n";
    exit;
}

$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 == 0) {
        print $mailman->LastErrorText . "\n";
        exit;
    }

    print 'Send email to ' . $emailAddr . "\n";

    $i = $i + 1;
}

print 'Success.' . "\n";

?>