How do I setup Cakephp email? - php

Question

I was wondering about getting this cakephp email thing to work. I have not much knowledge but was wondering what I would need to use. I will be using my website email for this so something like admin#website.com but It is able to log in through gmail because it is setup that way. Thank you.
<?php
class EmailConfig {
public $mail = array(
'transport' => 'Mail',
'from' => 'test#test.com',
'charset' => 'utf-8',
'headerCharset' => 'utf-8',
);
public $smtp = array(
'transport' => 'Smtp',
'from' => array('site#localhost' => 'My Site'),
'host' => 'localhost',
'port' => 25,
'timeout' => 30,
'username' => 'user',
'password' => 'secret',
'client' => null,
'log' => false,
//'charset' => 'utf-8',
//'headerCharset' => 'utf-8',
);
public $gmail = array(
'host' => 'ssl://smtp.gmail.com',
'port' => 465,
'username' => 'test#test.com',
'password' => 'myPass',
'transport' => 'Smtp'
);
public $fast = array(
'from' => 'you#localhost',
'sender' => null,
'to' => null,
'cc' => null,
'bcc' => null,
'replyTo' => null,
'readReceipt' => null,
'returnPath' => null,
'messageId' => true,
'subject' => null,
'message' => null,
'headers' => null,
'viewRender' => null,
'template' => false,
'layout' => false,
'viewVars' => null,
'attachments' => null,
'emailFormat' => null,
'transport' => 'Smtp',
'host' => 'localhost',
'port' => 25,
'timeout' => 30,
'username' => 'user',
'password' => 'secret',
'client' => null,
'log' => true,
//'charset' => 'utf-8',
//'headerCharset' => 'utf-8',
);
}

Answer 1

Here is an example config that works for Gmail / Google Apps hosted emails. You'll obviously need to fill it in with your own email address and password.
class EmailConfig {
public $default = array(
'transport' => 'Smtp',
'from' => array('example#domain.com' => 'Joe Bloggs'),
'host' => 'ssl://smtp.gmail.com',
'port' => 465,
'timeout' => 30,
'username' => 'example#domain.com',
'password' => 'YOUR_GMAIL_PASS_GOES_HERE'
);
}

Answer 2

Unless there's a specific SMTP server you wish to connect to, to send email, you don't need to change the default email.php. Just make sure you include a from() and to() in your call.
App::uses('CakeEmail', 'Network/Email');
$Email = new CakeEmail();
$Email->from(['noreply#host.com' => 'No Reply'])
->to('recipient#otherhost.com')
->subject('My subject')
->send('The body of the email');
Just using the default config will use whatever mail functionality you have set up in PHP. On a UNIX box, the machine will usually be set up to relay mail. On a Windows machine, you may need to set up a mail relay, unless it is an SMTP server.
If it's your development environment and Windows, then I would recommend setting up smtp4dev. smtp4dev is a very handy tool that listens on port 25, and behaves like an SMTP server. This will ensure that any locally generated emails from your development environment do not make it to the outside world.