Coming in v3.4.0 - New email features, SMTP authentication...

[adwh.com]

With my hosting, unathenticated email being sent out from a website is handled by one server and authenticated email is handled by another. What happens is that sometimes email is lost due to the email server handling unauthenticated email being backed up by spam.

Here is my question: Is there a way to set the email server and authentication (email and password) for SquirrelCart to use so the emails always go out from the authenticated server?

Thanks!
Dawn

[Jamie]

Hi Dawn,

Unfortunately, no. Not without custom programming. We will be adding support for SMTP authentication in the future.

If you know a little PHP, it should be easy to add. You would first need to find a function that will send an email via SMTP and using authentication. You could then update our "squirrelcart/functions/common/sc_email.func.php" so that it calls that function instead of the built in PHP mail() function.

[adwh.com]

Hi Dawn,

Unfortunately, no. Not without custom programming. We will be adding support for SMTP authentication in the future.

If you know a little PHP, it should be easy to add. You would first need to find a function that will send an email via SMTP and using authentication. You could then update our "squirrelcart/functions/common/sc_email.func.php" so that it calls that function instead of the built in PHP mail() function.

Thanks Jamie! I know you guys work very hard, but I hope this is high on the list of adds.

Not much of a php programmer. If I were, I would send you the code.

[RobC]

This is probably an issue for a lot of people, especially if your server is in the Amazon AWS cloud.

Email sent to customers via my 1and1 mail xchange always arrives, but a large amount of email sent via mail() from SC on my Amazon EC2 server never arrives (I have no easy means of seeing if it bounced). I know this because many times customers have told me their confirmation email didn't arrive. I spent a lot of time making sure my EC2 server had correct MX records and correct hostname etc. Professional email is a key consideration in the overall business plan for any company on the Internet. I hope this is high on the list of adds too!

[Jamie]

I will have this available later today as an update. You'll need to hard code your settings in the file for the current version (or maybe your config file, haven't decided).

For v3.4.0, all the settings will be on the Store Settings page:


This supports 3 mail engines:

• Built-in PHP mail() function
• SMTP
• sendmail

When using SMTP, you have the option of setting the hostname port number, security protocol, and can turn authentication on or off.

For sendmail, you'll have the option of specifying the path to sendmail if needed.

I have it working for the next release and am just finishing it up.

In current versions, we use our sc_email() function to send all emails, which does a lot of things before calling PHP's mail() function. This change is a complete rewrite of sc_email() which now uses the PHPMailer class. sc_email() accepts the same parameters as it always did, but now uses PHPMailer to send.

[Jamie]

I've attached an update to get this functionality in v3.3.5 - 3.0.0. See the read me file inside, and please let me know how it works for you. This will probably also work in version 2.x though I didn't test for it.

[adwh.com]

I've attached an update to get this functionality in v3.3.5 - 3.0.0. See the read me file inside, and please let me know how it works for you. This will probably also work in version 2.x though I didn't test for it.

You are AWESOME!!! Thanks Jamie!

[RobC]

thanks Jamie. I tried it and couldn't get it to work - it's late Sunday night here now, I'll have another try late one evening during the week. I'm sure the problem is with my 1and1 SMTP server, not with your code. Will let you know how I get on. Cheers

[RobC]

the penny just dropped - 1and1's SMTP server firewall is blocking everything that doesn't come from their own network, so nothing will ever get through from my SC application server on Amazon EC2.

1and1 are anti-competitive. The only way I can solve the problem is to dump 1and1 and get a decent authenticated SMTP provider.

[dave01978]

Works great with google apps account

[RobC]

works great with authsmtp.com

[Jamie]

Thanks for the feedback everyone, glad its working OK!

[nxindy89]

Works like a charm dude. I'll try to come up with some other convoluted problem so you won't be bored tomorrow.

[Jamie]

Thanks!