mail

Icon:

<i class="fa fa-envelope"></i>

We have other mail related apps:

MailChimp
Mandrill (do not use). Do NOT use this app. The code was moved to the mail app.
postfix

Prerequisites

Setup Celery (using Redis)…

The mail app supports sending mail using Mandrill or SparkPost

Requirements

Add the mail app to requirements/local.txt:

-e ../../app/mail

Mandrill Requirements
Sparkpost Requirements

Management Commands

check-mail-size

Uses file_size_as_base64 to check the size of file attachments when encoded to base64?:

django-admin check-mail-size 100

Tip

The parameter is the pk of the Mail model (source code in mail/management/commands/).

email-has-clean-history

Check the email address to see if it has a clean history i.e. has not been rejected for spam, bouncing etc:

django-admin email-has-clean-history code@pkimber.net

Tip

The source code is in the mail app in mail/management/commands/email-has-clean-history.py

email-init-rejected

To reject an email address after checking Mandrill. Has the following parameters:

email address (case is ignored)
Reason for rejection, hard-bounce, soft-bounce or spam
Name of the template (should be an optional parameter)

django-admin email-init-rejected code@pkimber.net soft-bounce notify-weekly

Tip

The source code is in the mail app in mail/management/commands/email-init-rejected.py

mail_send

Send all pending mail messages:

django-admin mail_send

Tip

Check MailManager, get_mail_to_send for selection criteria.

Settings

In your settings/base.py, add mail to your apps e.g:

LOCAL_APPS = (
    'project',
    ...
    'mail',

And add the default from address:

DEFAULT_FROM_EMAIL = 'patrick@hatherleigh.info'

Add the template type:

MAIL_TEMPLATE_TYPE = get_env_variable("MAIL_TEMPLATE_TYPE")
# if you are not using third party templates, you can use:
MAIL_TEMPLATE_TYPE = "django"

Warning

Don’t forget to set the EMAIL_BACKEND to use Mandrill or Sparkpost as appropriate.

In project/management/commands/start_scheduler.py (see APScheduler (with Redis) for more information):

# process_mail
scheduler.add_job(
    "mail.tasks:schedule_process_mail",
    "interval",
    minutes=60,
    id="schedule_process_mail",
    max_instances=1,
    replace_existing=True,
)

Mandrill Settings
Sparkpost Settings

A host_name for your site will automatically be generated by Salt. If you need to override this, then you can set the host_name in the pillar. For more information, see Host Name.

Note

Our standard is to use host_name rather than the Django build_absolute_uri method for adding links to email messages.

Usage

Important

The slug value for the template name should always be in lower case. We will make all Mandrill template names lower case - using underscores instead of a space.

Create a Template

from django.conf import settings
from mail.models import MailTemplate

# slug for the email template
PAYMENT_THANKYOU = 'payment_thankyou'

MailTemplate.objects.init_mail_template(
    PAYMENT_THANKYOU,
    'Thank you for your payment',
    (
        "You can add the following variables to the template:\n"
        "{{ NAME }} name of the customer.\n"
        "{{ DATE }} date of the transaction.\n"
        "{{ DESCRIPTION }} transaction detail.\n"
        "{{ TOTAL }} total value of the transaction."
    ),
    False,
    MailTemplate.MANDRILL,
    subject='Thank you for your payment',
    description="We will send you the course materials.",
)

Queue an email

Note

In the examples below, self.object is an object which the email will be linked to.

To queue an email without using a template:

from mail.models import Notify
from mail.service import queue_mail_message

email_addresses = [n.email for n in Notify.objects.all()]
if email_addresses:
    queue_mail_message(
        self.object,
        email_addresses,
        subject,
        message,
    )
else:
    logging.error(
        "Cannot send email notification of payment.  "
        "No email addresses set-up in 'mail.models.Notify'"
    )

To add attachments, add a list of file names to the queue_mail_message function e.g:

from mail.service import queue_mail_message

queue_mail_message(
    self.object,
    ['web@pkimber.net'],
    subject,
    message,
    attachments=['/temp/note.doc'],
    # attachments to be a simple path rather than a copy of the 'FileField'
    # attachments_use_path=True,
)

Note

Attachments are only available on the queue_mail_message function. They do not work with templates (queue_mail_template).

Queue an email template

from mail.service import queue_mail_template

context = {
    'test@pkimber.net': {
        "DATE": created.strftime("%d-%b-%Y %H:%M:%S"),
        "DESCRIPTION": description,
        "NAME": "Re: {}".format(subject),
        "TOTAL": "123.34",
    },
}
queue_mail_template(
    self.object,
    'enquiry_acknowledgement',
    context,
)

A dictionary or list can be added to the context if required e.g:

context = {
    'test@pkimber.net': {
        "cake": ['Carrot', 'Ginger'],
        "fruit": {'a': 'Apple'},
    },
}

Note

The data will be serialized and deserialized using json.dumps and json.loads, so not all data types have their types preserved (for some unknown reason) e.g. datetime becomes a string.

Send queued emails

from django.db import transaction
from mail.tasks import process_mail

# with a transaction
transaction.on_commit(lambda: process_mail.send())

# without a transaction
process_mail.send()

To send email, you can use the mail_send management command e.g:

django-admin mail_send

Rejected Mail

If you look for rejected email addresses using Mandrill:

# mandrill - find rejected email
# https://www.kbsoftware.co.uk/crm/ticket/5388/
scheduler.add_job(
    "mail.tasks:schedule_find_rejected_email",
    "cron",
    hour=2,
    minute=30,
    id="schedule_find_rejected_email",
    max_instances=1,
    replace_existing=True,
)

Testing

Unit Testing

Pick some code from the following (just a quick reference):

from mail.models import Message
from mail.tests.factories import MailTemplateFactory

MailTemplateFactory(slug=Enrol.MAIL_TEMPLATE_CHARGE)
NotifyFactory()

# check email template context
assert 1 == Message.objects.count()
message = Message.objects.first()
assert 1 == message.mail_set.count()
mail = message.mail_set.first()
assert 4 == mail.mailfield_set.count()
assert {
    'description': '2 of 3 instalments',
    'enrol_description': '1 x Apple @ 100.00',
    'name': enrol.checkout_name,
    'total': '£{:.2f}'.format(Decimal('50.00')),
} == {f.key: f.value for f in mail.mailfield_set.all()}

Maintenance

Warning

Only run the following command on a test site. It will mark all emails as sent (which you wouldn’t want on a live site)!

This will mark all emails as sent:

from django.utils import timezone
from mail.models import Mail

Mail.objects.filter(sent__isnull=True).update(sent=timezone.now())

Mandrill

Mandrill Requirements

Add the following to requirements/base.txt:

djrill==<current version e.g. 1.3.0>

See Requirements for the current version…

Note

We have started using django-anymail for SparkPost. It would probably be a good idea to replace djrill with django-anymail at some stage (for more information, see SparkPost).

Mandrill Settings

Add the following to settings/production.py:

# mandrill
EMAIL_BACKEND = 'djrill.mail.backends.djrill.DjrillBackend'
MANDRILL_API_KEY = get_env_variable('MANDRILL_API_KEY')
MANDRILL_USER_NAME = get_env_variable('MANDRILL_USER_NAME')

Warning

Don’t forget to set the EMAIL_BACKEND to use Mandrill.

Mandrill Development

For Mandrill add the following to your .private file e.g:

export MANDRILL_API_KEY="your-api-key"
export MANDRILL_USER_NAME="notify@hatherleigh.info"

Mandrill Deploy

In the salt pillar sls file for your site, add the mandrill_api_key and mandrill_user_name e.g:

sites:
  my_site:
    celery: True
    env:
      mail_template_type: <'sparkpost' | 'mandrill' | 'django'>
      mandrill_api_key: your-api-key
      mandrill_user_name: <mandrill user name>

Mandrill Template

Tip

The example_mail_template management command has some sample code showing the following features.

Mandrill Templates are usually designed in MailChimp and then Sent to Mandrill.

When you Queue an email template, you can add variables to the templates. To add line breaks to these variables:

context={
    "test@pkimber.net": {
        "COLOURS": "1. Red<br />2. Green<br />3. Blue",

You can also add HTML links:

context={
    "test@pkimber.net": {
        "ACTION": '<a href="https://www.kbsoftware.co.uk/" mc:disable-tracking>Click here!</a>',

Tip

The mc:disable-tracking attribute prevents click tracking and makes the generated HTML much easier to read (from Can I disable click-tracking on selected links in my email?).

Warning

For some reason HTML links do not work when loaded from the Mandrill View content option in Outbound, Activity. I am hoping they work when the email is live!

To disable tracking in a MailChimp template:

Click the chevron icon <>.

Add mc:disable-tracking to the anchor tag e.g.

The variable name for unsubscribe is UNSUB:

To unsubscribe from this list <a href="*|UNSUB|*" mc:disable-tracking="">click here...</a><br />

SMTP

SparkPost

SMTP

Google Mail

SMTP settings to send mail from a printer, scanner, or app:

_images/mail-google-smtp-relay-service.png

Note

I failed to get this working for several days. It finally worked when I set Require TLS encryption: to No. I then realised that EMAIL_USE_TLS was not in setttings, so it was defaulting to False.

Add the following to settings/production.py:

EMAIL_BACKEND = 'django.core.mail.backends.smtp.EmailBackend'
EMAIL_HOST = 'smtp-relay.gmail.com'
EMAIL_HOST_USER = get_env_variable('EMAIL_HOST_USER')
EMAIL_PORT = 587
EMAIL_USE_TLS = True

Standard SMTP

EMAIL_BACKEND = 'django.core.mail.backends.smtp.EmailBackend'
EMAIL_HOST = get_env_variable('EMAIL_HOST')
EMAIL_HOST_USER = get_env_variable('EMAIL_HOST_USER')
EMAIL_PORT = int(get_env_variable('EMAIL_PORT'))
EMAIL_USE_TLS = get_env_variable_bool('EMAIL_USE_TLS')

SparkPost

Tip

We have started using django-anymail instead of sparkpost to allow use of the EU account and to add track options.

Links

SparkPost - Blacklisted

SparkPost Requirements

Add the following to requirements/base.txt:

sparkpost==<current version e.g. 1.3.0>

See Requirements for the current version.

SparkPost Settings

Add the following to settings/base.py:

# sparkpost
EMAIL_BACKEND = 'sparkpost.django.email_backend.SparkPostEmailBackend'
SPARKPOST_API_KEY = get_env_variable('SPARKPOST_API_KEY')

SPARKPOST_OPTIONS = {
  'track_opens': False,  # or True as required
  'track_clicks': False,  # or True as required
  'transactional': True,
}

SparkPost Development

Add the following to your .private file e.g:

export SPARKPOST_API_KEY="your-api-key"

SparkPost Deploy

In the salt pillar sls file for your site add the sparkpost_api_key e.g:

sites:
  my_site:
    celery: True
    env:
      mail_template_type: <'sparkpost' | 'mandrill' | 'django'>
      sparkpost_api_key: your-api-key

Tip

SparkPost for API, Domains and SMTP

Convert from Mandrill

In requirements/base.txt include the line:

sparkpost==<current sparkpost version>

e.g. at the time of writing the latest version is 1.3.0:

sparkpost==1.3.0

If mandrill was previously used remove the line:

djrill==2.1.0

In your .private file for the project include the lines:

export SPARKPOST_API_KEY='<your sparkpost api key>'

unset MANDRILL_API_KEY
unset MANDRILL_USER_NAME

If mandrill was previously included in your project remove the lines:

export MANDRILL_API_KEY='<your mandrill api key>'
export MANDRILL_USER_NAME='<your mandrill username>'

In settings/base.py include the line:

DEFAULT_FROM_EMAIL = 'user@example.com'

EMAIL_BACKEND = 'sparkpost.django.email_backend.SparkPostEmailBackend'

SPARKPOST_API_KEY = get_env_variable('SPARKPOST_API_KEY')

SPARKPOST_OPTIONS = {
  'track_opens': False,  # or True as required
  'track_clicks': False,  # or True as required
  'transactional': True,
}

If mandrill was previously included in the project remove the lines (search for EMAIL_BACKEND in the settings directory to make sure you get all occurances):

EMAIL_BACKEND = 'djrill.mail.backends.djrill.DjrillBackend'

MANDRILL_API_KEY = get_env_variable('MANDRILL_API_KEY')
MANDRILL_USER_NAME = get_env_variable('MANDRILL_USER_NAME')

In settings/base.py alter the THIRD_PARTY_APPS (included in INSTALLED_APPS) to include the sparkpost app for example:

THIRD_PARTY_APPS = (
   'easy_thumbnails',
   'reversion',
   'captcha',
   'sparkpost',
)

If mandrill was previously used in a the project remove the following line from THIRD_PARTY_APPS:

'djrill',

Tips

Celery (or cron)

If you are not using Celery add the the mail_send cron command e.g:

sites:
  my_site:
    celery: True
    cron:
      mail_send:
        schedule: "*/5    *       *       *       *"
    env:
      mail_template_type: <'sparkpost' | 'mandrill' | 'django'>
      sparkpost_api_key: your-api-key

Password Reset

When testing the password reset workflow, make sure you use a valid email address for a user. On the standard demo data, this will be web@pkimber.net