On the PHPClasses.org blog Manuel Lemos has a recent post looking at a method for sending emails using a remote SMTP server (like Google or Yahoo's) via this package.

In most hosting environments, the PHP mail() function is sufficient to send e-mail messages without problems. However, there are situations on which using the mail function is inconvenient and may prevent that your messages reach the destination. [...] Therefore, you may need to find an alternative way for sending your e-mail messages from PHP.

The package lets you define a username/password, server, whether to use a SSL connection or not, and if the connection needs to use the TLS protocol.

On the Techfounder blog (from Eran Galperin) there's a quick tutorial about using the Zend_Mail component of the Zend Framework to send both normal, plain-text emails and ones with MIME attachments.

Using PHP's built in function (aptly named mail() ) is relatively straightforward - until you need slightly more advanced features, such as adding and encoding email headers or sending multiple mails efficiently. Fortunately, the Zend Framework comes with a very capable mail component called Zend_Mail.

He shows how to send a simple email, do something a bit more complex with a custom SMTP server, read messages from a remote POP3 email box and how to attach a binary file/message.

Since he didn't come across any issues or bug reports, Richard Heyes has officially released his SMTP class for PHP5 as "out of public beta" and ready for production use.

I've not added any new features to the class; I've simply updated it to be, well, better. Plus it uses PHP5's object model better. It's really just an update, ie if you're using the old version and it works, then you have no real reason to update it.

You can check out the source here and an example of it in action here.

Sebastian Nohn has created a handy little script using PEAR packages to work with a Nagios installation to perform an automatic check - validating that your domain isn't listed with the given black lists.

RBLs are a great way to get rid of a lot of SPAM (if you choose the right ones). On the other hand you (and users of your mail server) get in big trouble if your SMTP server gets listed on a common RBL.

Checking this manually is a job that sucks a lot, checking this automatically is an easy job with Nagios, PHP, Net_DNSBL and Console_Getopt.

He includes the parts you'll need - grabbing the PEAR package, the PHP script to make the request and the changes you'll need to make to the configuration files to make it all work together.

Chris Hartjes has posted a quick example of a useful method for CakePHP developers - how to test components.

Using the test suite is actually quite easy: drop SimpleTest into your cake/vendors directly and you're ready to start writing your tests. Having written tests using SimpleTest before it wasn't going to be too hard for me to get them done. But there was one little problem: how do you test a component?

He includes an example of such a test, running it on his Email controller to try to send an email via SMTP.

On the NorthClick blog today, there's a quick little set of hints talking about the creation of a simple ("but solid") newsletter system for your website.

He breaks it down into the individual steps you'll need to follow:

• Use a Framwork
• Queue in the database
• Use SMTP
• Check Headers
• Test it

In the step involving the database, he gives the create script you'll need to get the table set up and working. It's not so much a step-by-step tutorial with all of the needed code as it is a general look at what steps to follow when rolling your own newsletter setup.

Richard Davey has this new post today on his blog with a look at integrating POP authentication into the PHPMailer package.

Although it provides sending via SMTP, it only supports direct SMTP Authentication. Which was great until an application I built moved host and needed "POP before SMTP" Authentication instead. So I wrote this class. I figured I'd post it here incase anyone else had a use for it.

This is built for PHP Mailer 1.72 and was not tested with any previous version. It was developed under PHP 4.3.11 (E_ALL). It works under PHP 5 and 5.1 with E_ALL, but not in Strict mode due to var deprecation (but then neither does PHP Mailer either!). It follows the RFC 1939 standard explicitly and is fully commented.

From there, he shows you how to use it, including the classes, creating a new POP3 object and setting the user/pass for it, as well as a little (quick) documentation on how to use it. You can grab the files for this update here.