Developing ColdFusion MX Applications with CFML Previous Up One Level Next Home Search
Sending and Receiving E-Mail


Sending e-mail messages

Before you configure ColdFusion to send e-mail messages, you must have access to an SMTP e-mail server. Also, before you run application pages that refer to the e-mail server, you can configure the ColdFusion Administrator to use the SMTP server. If you later need to override the SMTP server information, you can specify a new mail server in the server attribute of the cfmail tag.

To configure ColdFusion for e-mail:

  1. In the ColdFusion Administrator, select Server Settings > Mail Server.
  2. In the Mail Server box, enter the name or IP address of your SMTP mail server.
  3. (Optional) Change the Server Port and Connection Timeout default settings.
  4. Select the Verify Mail Server Connection check box to make sure ColdFusion can access your mail server.
  5. (Optional) Change the Server Port and Connection Timeout default settings.
  6. Click Submit Changes.

    ColdFusion saves the settings. The page displays a message indicating success or failure for connecting to the server.

For more information on the Administrator's mail settings, see Administering ColdFusion MX.

Sending SMTP e-mail with cfmail

The cfmail tag provides support for sending SMTP e-mail from within ColdFusion applications. The cfmail tag is similar to the cfoutput tag, except that cfmail outputs the generated text as SMTP mail messages rather than to a page. The cfmail tag supports all the attributes and commands that you use with cfoutput, including query. The following table describes important cfmail tag attributes:
Attribute
Description
subject
The subject of the message.
from
The e-mail address of the sender.
to
The e-mail address of the recipient. Use a comma-delimited list to specify multiple recipients.
cc
(Optional) The e-mail address of a carbon copy recipient. The recipient's address is visible to other recipients. Use a comma-delimited list to specify multiple cc recipients.
bcc
(Optional) The e-mail address of a blind carbon copy recipient. The recipient's address is not visible to other recipients. Use a comma-delimited list to specify multiple bcc recipients.
SpoolEnable
(Optional) When SpoolEnable="yes", saves a copy of the message until the sending operation is complete.

To send a simple e-mail message:

  1. Create a ColdFusion page with the following content:
    <html>
<head>
  <title>Sending a simple e-mail</title>
</head>

<body>
<h1>Sample e-mail</h1>
<cfmail
  from="Sender@Company.com"
  to="#URL.email#"
  subject="Sample e-mail from ColdFusion MX">

This is a sample e-mail message to show basic e-mail capability.

</cfmail>

The e-mail was sent.

</body>
</html>
  2. Save the file as send_mail.cfm in the myapps directory under your web_root directory.
  3. Open your browser and enter the following URL:

    http://localhost:8500/myapps/send_mail.cfm?email=myname@mycompany.com

    (Replace myname@mycompany.com with your e-mail address.)

    The page sends the e-mail message to you, through your SMTP server.

Note:   If you do not receive an e-mail message, check whether you have configured ColdFusion to work with your SMTP server; for more information, see "Sending e-mail messages".

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