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In many web applications, the need to send emails with PDF attachments arises, allowing users to share documents securely and conveniently. In CodeIgniter 4, implementing the functionality to send emails with PDF attachments enhances communication by allowing users to share documents in a widely compatible format.

In this tutorial, we’ll see the comprehensive process of sending emails with PDF attachments using CodeIgniter 4. This functionality empowers developers to create and dispatch emails with PDF documents attached

We will use attach() method to add files with email as attachments. In this article we will attach a PDF as an attachment.

Let’s get started.

What is Email Class in CodeIgniter 4?

Email class is a in-built library. There are several features available by the help of which we configure emails. CodeIgniter 4 email class have all these features

Multiple Protocols: Mail, Sendmail, and SMTP
TLS and SSL Encryption for SMTP
Multiple recipients
CC and BCCs
HTML or Plaintext email
Attachments
Word wrapping
Priorities
BCC Batch Mode, enabling large email lists to be broken into small BCC batches.
Email Debugging tools

CodeIgniter 4 Installation

To create a CodeIgniter 4 setup run this given command into your shell or terminal. Please make sure composer should be installed.

composer create-project codeigniter4/appstarter codeigniter-4

Assuming you have successfully installed application into your local system.

Environment (.env) Setup

When we install CodeIgniter 4, we will have env file at root. To use the environment variables means using variables at global scope we need to do env to .env

Either we can do via renaming file as simple as that. Also we can do by terminal command.

Open project in terminal

cp env .env

Above command will create a copy of env file to .env file. Now we are ready to use environment variables.

Enable Development Mode

CodeIgniter starts up in production mode by default. You need to make it in development mode to see any error if you are working with application.

Open .env file from root.

# CI_ENVIRONMENT = production

 // Do it to 
 
CI_ENVIRONMENT = development

Now application is in development mode.

Email Library Class

To use Email library class in codeigniter 4 application, we need to do some email configuration inside Email.php file of /app/Config folder

It’s a class file, where we set some values to class member variables.

After doing all needed configuration settings, we load in application like this before use.

$email = \Config\Services::email();

//... rest code for email

Email Settings Configuration

For email configuration settings, we can use any sending email protocol like mail, sendmail or smtp.

Here, we will use SMTP and use Host as Gmail.

Open up the Email.php file from /app/Config folder.

<?php

namespace Config;

use CodeIgniter\Config\BaseConfig;

class Email extends BaseConfig
{
    /**
     * @var string
     */
    public $fromEmail = "xxxxx@gmail.com";

    /**
     * @var string
     */
    public $fromName = "Online Web Tutor Support";

    /**
     * @var string
     */
    public $recipients;

    /**
     * The "user agent"
     *
     * @var string
     */
    public $userAgent = 'CodeIgniter';

    /**
     * The mail sending protocol: mail, sendmail, smtp
     *
     * @var string
     */
    public $protocol = 'smtp';

    /**
     * The server path to Sendmail.
     *
     * @var string
     */
    public $mailPath = '/usr/sbin/sendmail';

    /**
     * SMTP Server Address
     *
     * @var string
     */
    public $SMTPHost = "smtp.gmail.com";

    /**
     * SMTP Username
     *
     * @var string
     */
    public $SMTPUser = "xxxxx@gmail.com";

    /**
     * SMTP Password
     *
     * @var string
     */
    public $SMTPPass = "xxxxxxx";

    /**
     * SMTP Port
     *
     * @var integer
     */
    public $SMTPPort = 587;

    /**
     * SMTP Timeout (in seconds)
     *
     * @var integer
     */
    public $SMTPTimeout = 60;

    /**
     * Enable persistent SMTP connections
     *
     * @var boolean
     */
    public $SMTPKeepAlive = false;

    /**
     * SMTP Encryption. Either tls or ssl
     *
     * @var string
     */
    public $SMTPCrypto = 'tls';

    /**
     * Enable word-wrap
     *
     * @var boolean
     */
    public $wordWrap = true;

    /**
     * Character count to wrap at
     *
     * @var integer
     */
    public $wrapChars = 76;

    /**
     * Type of mail, either 'text' or 'html'
     *
     * @var string
     */
    public $mailType = 'text';

    /**
     * Character set (utf-8, iso-8859-1, etc.)
     *
     * @var string
     */
    public $charset = 'UTF-8';

    /**
     * Whether to validate the email address
     *
     * @var boolean
     */
    public $validate = false;

    /**
     * Email Priority. 1 = highest. 5 = lowest. 3 = normal
     *
     * @var integer
     */
    public $priority = 3;

    /**
     * Newline character. (Use "\r\n" to comply with RFC 822)
     *
     * @var string
     */
    public $CRLF = "\r\n";

    /**
     * Newline character. (Use "\r\n" to comply with RFC 822)
     *
     * @var string
     */
    public $newline = "\r\n";

    /**
     * Enable BCC Batch Mode.
     *
     * @var boolean
     */
    public $BCCBatchMode = false;

    /**
     * Number of emails in each BCC batch
     *
     * @var integer
     */
    public $BCCBatchSize = 200;

    /**
     * Enable notify message from server
     *
     * @var boolean
     */
    public $DSN = false;
}

Here, inside this file we have configured all basic settings for sending emails. But one more thing before setting your email address and password to a SMTP details. You need to make it as for LESS SECURE APPS AT YOUR GOOGLE ACCOUNT.

When you go at your given email account settings. You will find a Security Tab. When you click into it –

Next, we need to create a method in controller and call Email service.

Add Route

Open Routes.php from /app/Config folder. Add given route into it.

//...

$routes->get("send-mail", "UserController::sendMail");

//...

Use & Send Email Using Library

We need to create a controller.

Controller Setup

Open project into terminal and run this spark command to create controller.

php spark make:controller User --suffix

It will create a file UserController.php inside /app/Controllers folder.

Assuming we have a PDF file onlinewebtutorblog.pdf inside /public/data folder.

Open file and write this code.

<?php

namespace App\Controllers;

use App\Controllers\BaseController;

class UserController extends BaseController
{
    public function sendMail()
    {
        $email = \Config\Services::email(); // loading for use

        // Email to
        $email->setTo("xxxx@gmail.com");

        $email->setSubject("PDF Attachment in Mail");
        $email->setMessage("This is test mail with sample PDF attachment.");

        // Attachment
        $email->attach(FCPATH . "data/onlinewebtutorblog.pdf");

        // Send email
        if ($email->send()) {
            echo 'Email successfully sent, please check.';
        } else {
            $data = $email->printDebugger(['headers']);
            print_r($data);
        }
    }
}

Concept to Attach a PDF file

// Attachment
$email->attach(FCPATH . "data/onlinewebtutorblog.pdf");

FCPATH is a CodeIgniter 4 constant which returns the path upto /public folder.

If you have your attachment files inside /writable folder then you should use WRITEPATH in place of it.

Application Testing

Open project terminal and start development server via command:

php spark serve

URL: http://localhost:8080/send-mail

Output

Email successfully sent, please check.

That’s it.

We hope this article helped you to learn about How To Send Email with PDF in CodeIgniter 4 Tutorial in a very detailed way.

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