Rails 3 Action Mailer Example

Update: This tutorial has been tested using Rails 3.0.9. Source code is available on Github: https://github.com/kuntoaji/rails_3_contact_form

Create Rails app

rails new my_app
cd my_app

Create mailer

rails g mailer notifier

Create Support Resource

rails g resource support

Remove Support's migration (we don't use database)

rm db/migrate/20100323085113_create_supports.rb

Sending email via Gmail

# config/initializers/mailer.rb
ActionMailer::Base.delivery_method = :smtp

ActionMailer::Base.smtp_settings = {
:enable_starttls_auto => true,
:address => 'smtp.gmail.com',
:port => 587,
:domain => "yourdomain.com",
:user_name => '[email protected]',
:password => 'yourpassword',
:authentication => 'plain'
}

# app/mailer/notifier.rb
class Notifier < ActionMailer::Base

  def support_notification(sender)
    @sender = sender
    mail(:to => "[email protected]",
         :from => sender.email,
         :subject => "New #{sender.support_type}")
 end
end

# app/views/notifier/support_notification.html.erb
hello world!
<%= @sender.content %>

# config/routes.rb
resources :supports, :only => [:new, :create]

# app/controller/supports_controller.rb
class SupportsController < ApplicationController
  def new
    # id is required to deal with form
    @support = Support.new(:id => 1)
  end

  def create
    @support = Support.new(params[:support])
    if @support.save
      redirect_to('/', :notice => "Support was successfully sent.")
    else
      flash[:alert] = "You must fill all fields."
      render 'new'
    end
  end
end

# app/models/support.rb
class Support
  include ActiveModel::Validations

  validates_presence_of :email, :sender_name, :support_type, :content 
  # to deal with form, you must have an id attribute
  attr_accessor :id, :email, :sender_name, :support_type, :content

  def initialize(attributes = {})
    attributes.each do |key, value|
      self.send("#{key}=", value)
    end
    @attributes = attributes
  end

  def read_attribute_for_validation(key)
    @attributes[key]
  end

  def to_key
  end

  def save
    if self.valid?
      Notifier.support_notification(self).deliver!
      return true
    end
    return false
  end
end

# app/views/supports/new.html.erb

Contact Us
<%= render 'form' %>

# app/views/supports/_form.html.erb
<% form_for @support, :url => { :action => "create" }, :html => { :method => :post } do |f| %>
  <p>
    <%= f.label "Name" %>
  </p>
  <p>
    <%= f.text_field :sender_name %>
  </p>
  <p>
    <%= f.label "Email" %>
  </p>
  <p>
    <%= f.text_field :email %>
  </p>
  <p>
    <%= f.label "Type" %>
  </p>
  <p>
    <%= f.select :support_type, options_for_select(["Bug", "Ask", "Idea"]) %>
  </p>
  <p>
    <%= f.label "Details" %>
  </p>
  <p>
    <%= f.text_area :content %>
  </p>
  <p>
    <%= f.submit "Submit" %>
  </p>
<% end %>

Raise Exception When Mailer Can't Send the Email (Development mode)

# config/environments/development.rb
# ...
config.action_mailer.raise_delivery_errors = true
# ...

done! To try this code, open http://localhost:3000/supports/new or try the code via Rails console.

support = Support.new(:email => "[email protected]", :sender_name => "my name", :support_type => "bug", :content => "this is my support")
support.save