Database Mailer Extension

About

A Radiant Extension by Aissac that adds database persistence to emailed forms. It works on top of the Radiant Mailer Extension and the fields recorded to the database are user defined. The extension adds a tab to the Radiant admin interface allowing you to browse saved records.

Tested on Radiant 0.7.1, 0.8 and 0.9 RC1.

Features

  • Save posted form fields and entire mail message to the database
  • Save e-mail attachments using paperclip
  • Configurable save-to-database for mailer forms
  • Add fields to be saved without loosing data
  • Admin interface to browse saved records
  • Export data to CSV and XLS

Installation

Radiant Database Mailer Extension has three dependecies, the Radiant Mailer Extension, the will_paginate gem/plugin and the paperclip gem/plugin

Install the mailer extension:

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git clone git://github.com/radiant/radiant-mailer-extension.git\
 vendor/extensions/mailer

Note

At the time being you will need Aissac’s version of the Radiant Mailer Extension, as it incorporates sending e-mails with attachments.

the will_paginate gem/plugin: 

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git clone git://github.com/mislav/will_paginate.git\
 vendor/plugins/will_paginate

or

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sudo gem install mislav-will_paginate --source http://gems.github.com

and the paperclip gem/plugin 

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git clone git://github.com/thoughtbot/paperclip.git \
 vendor/plugins/paperclip

or

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sudo gem install thoughtbot-paperclip --source http://gems.github.com

Then install the Database Mailer Extension:

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git close git://github.com/Aissac/radiant-database-mailer-extension.git\
 vendor/extensions/database_mailer

Next edit config/environment.rb and add desired fields to be recorded:

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DATABASE_MAILER_COLUMNS = {
  :name => :string,
  :message => :text,
  :email => :string
}

Migrate and update the extension:

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rake radiant:extensions:database_mailer:migrate
rake radiant:extensions:database_mailer:update

Note

The git branches hold stable versions of the extension for older version of Radiant CMS. To checkout one of these branches:

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git clone git://github.com/Aissac/radiant-database-mailer-extension.git \
 vendor/extensions/database_mailer
cd vendor/extensions/database_mailer
git checkout -b <branch-name> origin/<remote-branch-name>

Configuration

Adding fields to the DATABASE_MAILER_COLUMNS hash and re-running rake radiant:extensions:database_mailer:migrate nondestructively adds fields to be saved. Fields removed from the hash are not deleted.

Look at the Mailer Extension README for information on how to configure mail delivery.

If you set save_to_database to false in the Mailer config, saving to the database is skipped and just mail delivery takes place. Example (in the mailer page part):

subject: From the website of Whatever
from: noreply@example.com
redirect_to: /contact/thank-you
save_to_database: false
recipients:
  - one@one.com
  - two@two.com

Any attachments that the e-mail might have will be saved on the file system. They can be downloaded from the details page of every record.

If you want to take advantage of the blob field you need to create a email page part. The blob field keeps the sent version of the email.

Fields that are not specified by DATABASE_MAILER_COLUMNS are silently ignored.

Usage

Create your Mailer pages and make sure to use the same field names:

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<r:mailer:form>
  <label for="name">Name:</label><br/>
  <r:mailer:text name="name" /><br/>
 
  <label for="email">Email:</label><br/>
  <r:mailer:text name="email" /><br/>
 
  <label for="message">Message:</label><br/>
  <r:mailer:textarea name="message" /> <br/>
 
  <label for="attachment">Image:</label><br/>
  <r:mailer:file name="attachment" /><br/>
 
  <input type="submit" value="Send" />
</r:mailer:form>

Create the mailer page part:

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subject: From the website of Whatever
from: noreply@example.com
redirect_to: /contact/thank-you
recipients:
  - one@one.com
  - two@two.com

Create an email page part (to take advantage of the blob field):

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<r:mailer>
  Name: <r:get name="name" />
  Email: <r:get name="email" />
  Message: <r:get name="message" />
</r:mailer>

Contributors