Sending e-mails with NodeJS is almost a breeze. Almost. First, you have to plug-in the NodeMailer module than set up a transport type, load the templates, add attachments and finally send...
The Code
The first thing you tend to do is to create a wrapper class to manage all this tasks. So, I wrapped it in an Eamiler class to centralize the mail sending in my app.
# /lib/emailer.coffee
emailer = require("nodemailer")
fs = require("fs")
_ = require("underscore")
class Emailer
options: {}
data: {}
# Define attachments here
attachments: [
fileName: "logo.png"
filePath: "./public/images/email/logo.png"
cid: "logo@myapp"
]
constructor: (@options, @data)->
send: (callback)->
html = @getHtml(@options.template, @data)
attachments = @getAttachments(html)
messageData =
to: "'#{@options.to.name} #{@options.to.surname}' <#{@options.to.email}>"
from: "'Myapp.com'"
subject: @options.subject
html: html
generateTextFromHTML: true
attachments: attachments
transport = @getTransport()
transport.sendMail messageData, callback
getTransport: ()->
emailer.createTransport "SMTP",
service: "Gmail"
auth:
user: "myappemail@gmail.com"
pass: "secretpass"
getHtml: (templateName, data)->
templatePath = "./views/emails/#{templateName}.html"
templateContent = fs.readFileSync(templatePath, encoding="utf8")
_.template templateContent, data, {interpolate: /\{\{(.+?)\}\}/g}
getAttachments: (html)->
attachments = []
for attachment in @attachments
attachments.push(attachment) if html.search("cid:#{attachment.cid}") > -1
attachments
exports = module.exports = Emailer
In a standard ExpressJS project structure you'll store this file in /lib/emailer.coffee.
You'll need to have the email templates stored in /views/emails/ as HTML files and the attachments in /public/images/email/.
A potential email view will look like this:
<!-- invite.html --><html><head><title>Invite from Myapp</title></head><body><p>
Hi {{name}} {{surname}},</p><p>
Myapp would like you to join it's network on <a href="http://myapp.com">Myapp.com</a>.<br />
Please follow the link bellow to register:</p><p><a href="http://myapp.com/register?invite={{id}}">http://myapp.com/register?invite={{id}}</a></p><p>
Thank you,<br />
Myapp Team</p><p><a href="http://myapp.com"><img src="cid:logo@myapp" /></a></p></body></html>UnderscoreJS template will take care about your variables in the template and the getAttachments() function will automatically attache the files you need by the cid from the template.
To use the class in your code you have to instantiate a new Emailer object with the desired options, the template data and send the email:
options =
to:
email: "username@domain.com"
name: "Rick"
surname: "Roll"
subject: "Invite from Myapp"
template: "invite"
data =
name: "Rick"
surname "Roll"
id: "3434_invite_id"
Emailer = require "../lib/emailer"
emailer = new Emailer options, data
emailer.send (err, result)->
if err
console.log errUsing a MongooseJS: http://mongoosejs.com/ model for the invites you would have something like this:
InviteSchema = new Schema
email:
type: String
name:
type: String
surname:
type: String
status:
type: String
enum: ["pending", "accepted"]
default: "pending"
clicks:
type: Number
default: 0
created_at:
type: Date
default: Date.now
InviteSchema.methods.send = ()->
options =
to:
email: @email
name: @name
surname: @surname
subject: "Invite from Myapp"
template: "invite"
Emailer = require "../lib/emailer"
emailer = new Emailer options, @
emailer.send (err, result)->
if err
console.log err
Invite = mongoose.model("Invite", InviteSchema)
exports = module.exports = InviteAnd you'll call it from an ExpressJS router:
Invite = require('../models/invite')
module.exports = (app)->
app.post '/invites', (req, res)->
data = req.body
invite = new Invite data
invite.save ()->
invite.send()
res.writeHead(303, {'Location': "/invites"})
res.end()
app.get '/invites', (req, res)->
Invite.find().desc("created_at").run (err, invites)->
res.render 'invites/invites', {title: "Invites", invites: invites}That's all about it.
Your feedback is highly appreciated. Thanks.