Question

I have created some forms using zendframework on my local machine that send the form content via email.

I would like to test the functionality locally and have read some posts regarding configuring the php.ini file to do this but not sure which is the correct method ?

can anyone help me with this, many thanks

Answer 1

On Windows you will have to use SMTP to send the message. There is a drop in fake sendmail for Windows but it still requires an SMTP server.

You could use your ISP’s sendmail server if they offer one, or you can set one up on the local machine. 1, 2, 3, 4

Since you are using Zend Framework, you can alternatively use Zend_Mail to send through an SMTP server (Zend_Mail can also use sendmail, but since it isn’t configured, you can’t use that transport). In that case see Sending via SMTP, SMTP Authentication, and Securing SMTP Transport.

Here is some sample code for sending an SMTP message with AUTH and TLS security.

<?php

require_once 'Zend/Mail.php';
require_once 'Zend/Mail/Transport/Smtp.php';

$config    = array('ssl' => 'tls',
                   'port' => '465', // 25 if no ssl
                   'auth' => 'login',
                   'username' => 'user',
                   'password' => 'password');

$transport = new Zend_Mail_Transport_Smtp('smtp.example.com', $config);

$mail = new Zend_Mail();
$mail->addTo('user@domain')
     ->setSubject('Mail Test')
     ->setBodyText("Hello,\nThis is a Zend Mail message...\n")
     ->setFrom('sender@domain');

try {
    $mail->send($transport);
    echo "Message sent!<br />\n";
} catch (Exception $ex) {
    echo "Failed to send mail! " . $ex->getMessage() . "<br />\n";
}

Also note, your ISP may not require you to auth at all if you are sending from one of their IP addresses, but you probably do have to authenticate with your username and password, in which case you will want to use TLS.