Mailing list implimentation.

[wjh2303]

Id like to set up a mailing list associated with my wbsite so i can inform subscribers of updates, but cant quite figure out how to do so. I got as far as createing an e-mail account and mailing list from cpanel.
I had a search through google and such, but cant quite figure how to have a form on a page where people can put thir e-mail to subscribe. Could someone provide, either in text or by link, a quick guide on how to impliment a mailing list for a website.

Hlp apprciated thanks.

[freecrm]

I could, as could many others here but first...

Does your server support server-side scripting like php?

Do you have a database set up?

Do you do any coding or use WYSIWYG editors like Dreamweaver? (or nothing and use a content management system)

[wjh2303]

Im just using the x10 free hosting, so php is supported, and mySQL databases, im already using both of them in the site. I use a plain text editor (notepad++) for the editing.

thanks

[freecrm]

First off, you need to have a field in your contact/email database that specifies if they are a subscriber - usually a Y/N field (varchar (1)) or 0/1 (tinyint)

Second, you need to create a page (preview.php) that you can use to design your e-mail - whether it be in plain text or more complex htm.

This page will have a form, with two inputs - one for the Subject (text field) and one for the message (text area) and, of course a submit button.

When you click on submit, the php code will post the data back to the same page and parse the contents - to give a good idea of what it will look like. (make sure this page has no css!)

i.e.

<?php

echo stripslashes($_POST['subjectfield']);
echo stripslashes($_POST['messagefield']);

?>

Personally, I put the contents of the post variables into session variables for ease of passing between one page and the next.

<?php

$_SESSION['sesssubject'] = $_POST['subjectfield']
$_SESSION['sessmessage'] = $_POST['messagefield']

?>

If you put the default value of the form fields as the posted values, you can keep editing your input until you get the desired effect.

Right at the bottom of the body, you then put in a standard link to the clever page.... (you don't need to post or pass the variables into the next page as they are in session memory)

mail.php

The first part of this page is a recordset (I'll call it subscriberlist), based on whether a contact has subscribed or not.

sql.... SELECT ID, EMAIL, SUBSCRIBED FROM CONTACTS WHERE SUBSCRIBED ="Y"

Then, what I do, is to echo the results so you can check your recipients.

So... in the page body, created a repeating table

<form>
<table>
<?php do { ?>
<tr>
<td>
<input name="checkbox[]" type="checkbox" id="checkbox[]" value="<?php echo $row_subscriberlist['ID']; ?>" />
</td>
<td><?php echo $row_subscriberlist['EMAIL'];?></td>
<td><?php echo $row_subscriberlist['SUBSCRIBED'];?></td>
</tr>
<?php } while ($row_subscriberlist = mysql_fetch_assoc($subscriberlist)); ?>
</table>
<input name="rowstosend" type="hidden" value="<?php echo $totalRows_subscriberlist;?>" />
<input name="send" type="submit" id="send" value="Send E-mails" />
</form>

You'll note that I've wrapped a form tag round the whole table and entered a checkbox in the left table column with a weird name.

You can either then manually input ticks for each subscriber, or get some javascript to fill them all in for you.

I've also put in two field at the bottom - one of which carries a value for the number of rows in the recordset and the other is just a button to do the magic.

Next is the code to send them...

<?php
    // Check if edit button active, start this 
    if($send)
    {
    for($i=0;$i<$_POST['rowstosend'];$i++)
        {
            $edit_id = $checkbox[$i];
            if (isset($edit_id))
            {
                $query_sendlist = sprintf("SELECT ID, EMAIL FROM CONTACTS WHERE ID LIKE '$edit_id'");
                $sendlist = mysql_query($query_sendlist) or die(mysql_error());
                $row_sendlist = mysql_fetch_assoc($sendlist);
                                
                $toemail = stripslashes($row_sendlist['EMAIL']);
                
                $headers  = 'MIME-Version: 1.0' . "\n";
                $headers .= 'Content-type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1' . "\n";
                $headers .= "Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit\n"; 
                $headers .= 'From: yourname <'youremailaddress'>' . "\n";
                $headers .= 'Reply-To: 'youremailaddress"\n";
                $headers .= 'X-Mailers: PHP /'.phpversion() . "\n";
                $subject = $_SESSION['sessionsubject'];
                $message = $_SESSION['sessionmessage'];
                $message = str_replace("<<<NAME>>>", $row_sendlist['NAME'], $message);
                        
                
                echo "</br>Mailing: ".$row_sendlist['EMAIL']." <".$row_sendlist['EMAIL']."></br>";
                
                if (@mail($toemail,stripslashes($subject),stripslashes($message),stripslashes($headers)))
                {
                    echo "Mail to:".$row_sendlist['EMAIL']." confirmed.</br>";
                }
                else
                {
                    echo "Mail to".$row_sendlist['EMAIL']." failed.</br>";
                }
            }
        }
    }
?>

Phew!

I've also put in the option for merge fields (i.e. parts of the design that will change depending on who it goes to) in the form of <<<NAME>>>. When the php loops through each record, it replaces this set of characters with the value from each recordset...

It even tells you if they've worked!

Happy coding!

[wjh2303]

thanks alot, that looks great, ill have a play around with it

[casenote]

How do you implement the mailing list that is supplied in the cpanel of x10hosting?
I set up a mailing list, but do not know how to add a form to add users to the list?
Is there a tutorial on this somewhere?

Thanks,
Casey