Newsletter Function - help please!

[vapour_]

Hey everyone,

 

I have been trying, for a while now, to make my own newsletter function that takes a list of emails from a SQL Database (and from a text form) and sends out the newsletter that has been uploaded on the same page as an attachment. I'm not very experienced with PHP and so this is quite beyond me, so far I have had no luck grabbing bits of code, that seemed relevant, from other sources and as such I have a whole bunch of code that I don't really understand. Could someone help me out please? I have uploaded the page (just html) to this directory: http://www.ula.co.nz/test/newsletterUpload.html (it's usually a PHP file, hence why the page looks mucked up)

 

This is the code I am using on the next page (newsletterBrain.php) to send the emails with the attached file.

 

<?php 
include("../scripts/authentication.php");

session_start();

include("fileUploader.php");

$checked = $_POST['all'];

if ($checked == 1) {
include("scripts/db_connect_alt.php");

$sql = "SELECT *
		FROM users
		";

// initiate query
$query = mysql_query($sql);
if (!$query) {
	echo "Could not successfully run query ($sql) from DB: " . mysql_error();
	exit;
}

while ($results = mysql_fetch_assoc($query)) { 
	#
	//define the receiver of the email
	#
	define('MAIL_RCPT', $results['email']);
	#
	//define the subject of the email
	#
	define('MAIL_SUBJECT', 'ULA Newsletter ('.date("d-m-Y").')');

	#
	//supply the text and html versions of your email message
	#
	$text = 'Hello "'.$results['first'].'", the latest ULA Newsletter is attached  Enjoy! \n\nThank you!\nULA - www.ula.co.nz\n\n\nTo unsubscribe from the ULA Newsletter please click on 				        this link:\nhttp://www.ula.co.nz/newsletter/unsubscribe.php?id="'.$results['id'].'" ';
	#
	#
	//provide path to the file to be attached
	#
	$file = $_SESSION['fileDir'];
	#
	//create a boundary string. It must be unique
	#
	//so we use the MD5 algorithm to generate a random hash
	#
	$random_hash = md5(date('r', time()));
	#
	//add boundary string and mime type specification
	#
	$headers = "\r\nContent-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary=\"PHP-mixed-{$random_hash}\"";
	#
	//read the atachment file contents into a string,
	#
	//encode it with MIME base64,
	#
	//and split it into smaller chunks
	#
	$attachment = chunk_split(base64_encode(file_get_contents($file)  ));
	#
	//define the body of the message.
	#
	$body = "--PHP-mixed-{$random_hash}\r\n"
	#
		  . "Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=\"PHP-alt-{$random_hash}\"\r\n"
	#
		  . "--PHP-alt-{$random_hash}\r\n"
	#
		  . "Content-Type: text/plain; charset=\"iso-8859-1\"\r\n"
	#
		  . "Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit\r\n\r\n"
	#
		  . "{$text}\r\n\r\n"
	#
		  . "--PHP-alt-{$random_hash}--\r\n\r\n"
	#
		  . "--PHP-mixed-{$random_hash}\r\n"
	#
		  . "Content-Type: " . mime_content_type($file) . "; name=\"" . basename($file) . "\"\r\n"
	#
		  . "Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64\r\n"
	#
		  . "Content-Disposition: attachment\r\n\r\n"
	#
		  . "{$attachment}\r\n"
	#
		  . "--PHP-mixed-{$random_hash}--\r\n\r\n";
	#

	//send the email
	#
	mail(MAIL_RCPT, MAIL_SUBJECT, $body, $headers );

}

}

if ($_POST['emails'] != '') {

$emails = explode(", ", $_POST['emails']);

for($i = 0; $i < count($emails); $i++) {
	#
	//define the receiver of the email
	#
	define('MAIL_RCPT', $emails[$i]);
	#
	//define the subject of the email
	#
	define('MAIL_SUBJECT', 'ULA Newsletter ('.date("d-m-Y").')');

	#
	//supply the text and html versions of your email message
	#
	$text = 'Hello! The latest ULA Newsletter is attached  Enjoy! \n\nThank you!\nULA - www.ula.co.nz\n\n\nTo permanantly subscribe to the ULA Newsletter please click on 				        this link:\nhttp://www.ula.co.nz/newsletter/signup.php';
	#
	#
	//provide path to the file to be attached
	#
	$file = $_SESSION['fileDir'];
	#
	//create a boundary string. It must be unique
	#
	//so we use the MD5 algorithm to generate a random hash
	#
	$random_hash = md5(date('r', time()));
	#
	//add boundary string and mime type specification
	#
	$headers = "\r\nContent-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary=\"PHP-mixed-{$random_hash}\"";
	#
	//read the atachment file contents into a string,
	#
	//encode it with MIME base64,
	#
	//and split it into smaller chunks
	#
	$attachment = chunk_split(base64_encode(file_get_contents($file)  ));
	#
	//define the body of the message.
	#
	$body = "--PHP-mixed-{$random_hash}\r\n"
	#
		  . "Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=\"PHP-alt-{$random_hash}\"\r\n"
	#
		  . "--PHP-alt-{$random_hash}\r\n"
	#
		  . "Content-Type: text/plain; charset=\"iso-8859-1\"\r\n"
	#
		  . "Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit\r\n\r\n"
	#
		  . "{$text}\r\n\r\n"
	#
		  . "--PHP-alt-{$random_hash}--\r\n\r\n"
	#
		  . "--PHP-mixed-{$random_hash}\r\n"
	#
		  . "Content-Type: " . mime_content_type($file) . "; name=\"" . basename($file) . "\"\r\n"
	#
		  . "Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64\r\n"
	#
		  . "Content-Disposition: attachment\r\n\r\n"
	#
		  . "{$attachment}\r\n"
	#
		  . "--PHP-mixed-{$random_hash}--\r\n\r\n";
	#

	//send the email
	#
	mail(MAIL_RCPT, MAIL_SUBJECT, $body, $headers );

}
}
?>

 

The first part of the code is for the emails retrieved from the SQL Database, and the second is for the emails entered as extras on the Upload page.

 

As you can see, I have done quite a bit of snatching from random sources.. Any help would be appreciated to get those emails flowing!

 

Thanks,

Kind regards,

George Cooke.

[RussellReal]

Add me to MSN: RussellonMSN@hotmail.com

[vapour_]

Added you, haven't heard a word from you though. Can anyone help me out? It's kinda urgent and I am really lost. I have looked through other similar threads, but everyone is saying use BBC or PEAR or CRONJOB etc... and I really don't know what that is. I'm not looking for something complex, just a simple way to send an email to lots of addresses (50+) with an attachment.

 

George.

[RussellReal]

You added me wrong.. lol