Sending Emails in Laravel
Sending emails in Laravel is a common requirement for many applications, whether for user invitations, notifications, or general communication. Laravel provides a clean and simple API for email handling using the SwiftMailer library and supports multiple mail drivers like SMTP, Mailgun, Postmark, Amazon SES, and Sendmail. This guide walks you through setting up and sending emails in a Laravel project.
Step 1: Install Laravel
First, install a new Laravel project by running the following command:
composer create-project --prefer-dist laravel/laravel Laravel_SendMail
Step 2: Set Up Database Credentials
Create a new database (e.g., custom_auth) and configure your .env file with the appropriate database credentials.
Step 3: Configure SMTP in .env
Update your .env file with SMTP settings. If you don’t have email trap details, create an account with an email service provider like Mailtrap or Gmail.
MAIL_MAILER=smtp
MAIL_HOST=smtp.gmail.com
MAIL_PORT=587
MAIL_USERNAME=your_email@gmail.com
MAIL_PASSWORD=your_password
MAIL_ENCRYPTION=tls
Step 4: Define Routes
Add the following routes in routes/web.php for displaying the email form and sending the email:
use App\Http\Controllers\EmailController;
Route::get('/email', [EmailController::class, 'create']);
Route::post('/email', [EmailController::class, 'sendEmail'])->name('send.email');
Step 5: Create the Email Controller
Run the command to generate a new controller:
php artisan make:controller EmailController
Then, update app/Http/Controllers/EmailController.php with the following code:
namespace App\Http\Controllers;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Mail;
class EmailController extends Controller
{
public function create()
{
return view('email');
}
public function sendEmail(Request $request)
{
$request->validate([
'email' => 'required|email',
'subject' => 'required',
'name' => 'required',
'content' => 'required',
]);
$data = [
'subject' => $request->subject,
'name' => $request->name,
'email' => $request->email,
'content' => $request->content
];
Mail::send('email-template', $data, function ($message) use ($data) {
$message->to($data['email'])->subject($data['subject']);
});
return back()->with(['message' => 'Email successfully sent!']);
}
}
Step 6: Create the Blade View
Create an email form view in resources/views/email.blade.php:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1, shrink-to-fit=no">
<title>Send Email in Laravel</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://stackpath.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/4.5.0/css/bootstrap.min.css">
</head>
<body>
<div class="container">
<div class="row justify-content-center">
<div class="col-md-8">
<div class="card">
<div class="card-header">Send an Email</div>
<div class="card-body">
@if(session()->has('message'))
<div class="alert alert-success">
{{ session()->get('message') }}
</div>
@endif
<form action="{{ route('send.email') }}" method="POST">
@csrf
<div class="form-group">
<label for="name">Name</label>
<input type="text" name="name" class="form-control" required>
</div>
<div class="form-group">
<label for="email">Email</label>
<input type="email" name="email" class="form-control" required>
</div>
<div class="form-group">
<label for="subject">Subject</label>
<input type="text" name="subject" class="form-control" required>
</div>
<div class="form-group">
<label for="content">Message</label>
<textarea name="content" class="form-control" rows="5" required></textarea>
</div>
<button type="submit" class="btn btn-primary">Send Email</button>
</form>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>
Step 7: Create the Email Template
Create the email template in resources/views/email-template.blade.php:
<div class="container">
<div class="row justify-content-center">
<div class="col-md-8">
<div class="card">
<div class="card-header">Welcome!</div>
<div class="card-body">
{{ $content }}
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Conclusion
Congratulations! You have successfully implemented email sending in Laravel. Now, you can send emails with validation and templates. If you have any questions, feel free to ask!
