SMTP error for php emailer - php

Question

I am trying to set up a php script that would send an email to selected users, I looked on the internet and found out how but can't run the script cos I get the following error:
Warning: mail() [function.mail]:
"sendmail_from" not set in php.ini or
custom "From:" header missing in
E:\Program
Files\xampp\phpMyAdmin\emailer.php on
line 10
Here is the code of the script I designed following examples:
<?php
$recipient = "<ismael.srcyber#gmail.com>";
$subject = "Flight Status";
$body = "Flight has just landed.";
$host = "ssl://smtp.gmail.com";
$port = "465";
if(mail($recipient, $subject, $body))
{
echo("<p>Message successfully sent</p>");
}
else
{
echo("<p>Message Delivery failed </p>");
}
?>
Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

As the error suggest you must add the default "from" field (who sends the mail) in php.ini:
SMTP = localhost
sendmail_from = me#localhost.com
And then restart apache
Otherwise you can set it dinamically as the fourth parameter as stated in the php manual (look http://php.net/manual/en/function.mail.php)
Note:
When sending mail, the mail must
contain a From header. This can be set
with the additional_headers parameter,
or a default can be set in php.ini.
Failing to do this will result in an
error message similar to Warning:
mail(): "sendmail_from" not set in
php.ini or custom "From:" header
missing. The From header sets also
Return-Path under Windows.
Example:
<?php
$to = 'nobody#example.com';
$subject = 'the subject';
$message = 'hello';
$headers = 'From: webmaster#example.com' . "\r\n" .
'Reply-To: webmaster#example.com' . "\r\n" .
'X-Mailer: PHP/' . phpversion();
mail($to, $subject, $message, $headers);