php mail

[sridharao]

While searching the net I found a rather simple lines of code for sending email.

$to = "[email protected]";
$subject = "site feedback";
$message = stripslashes(trim($_POST['mssg']));
$from = "[email protected]";
$headers = "From: ".$_POST['user'];
mail($to,$subject,$message,$headers); 

I know, this is not ALL, there has to be more to it. I have not specified mail server and stuff like that. How can I set it up on my site?

I am running wampserver and email page is in localhost. Can I send email from my desktop? I found 2 more lines of code to be appended before mail(), these are:

ini_set("SMTP","smtp.example.com" );
ini_set('sendmail_from', '[email protected]');

It refuses to work. here is the error message:

Warning: mail() [function.mail]: SMTP server response: 501 5.7.1 <[email protected]>... Sender refused by the DNSBL xbl.spamhaus.org

[kows]

using mail() assumes that you have a mail server to use. you can set it up in the INI file, but most SMTP servers require authentication and the mail() function lacks the ability to authenticate you to outside servers (like hotmail, gmail, or your ISP's mail server). instead, you could use the PHPMailer class to send mail.

[sridharao]

I checked out PHPmailer. I am stuck right at the beginning. The documentation states;

Copy class.phpmailer.php into your php.ini include_path. If you are using the SMTP mailer then place class.smtp.php in your path as well.

On a server where my site is hosted, how can I do that?
The mail server available to me is mail.mydomain.com
How do I proceed from here?

further additions:
These are the folders installed in wamp folder; alias, appa, bin, lang, logs, scripts, tmp, www
"Copy class.phpmailer.php into your php.ini include_path." Where is that?
I located php.ini at C:\wamp\bin\php\php5.2.9-1. In this file is an entry ";include_path = ";include_path = ".;c:\php\includes"" but there is no such folder in C: drive. So, where should I place class.phpmailer.php

Also noted that there is a folder named pear inside php5.2.9-1 folder. How can I use pear mail?

[sridharao]

I am still waiting for reply

[kows]

read this.

[sridharao]

Ok,

The problem is solved, Thanks for the link. In fact, the documentation of phpmailer itself was clear enough. I had to struggle a bit in placing the class.phpmailer.php in the require statement. A little search and got the answer.

All is well, except that the mails sent in this fashion is considered spam and gets delivered straight into spam or junk folder. Why could this be so?

[kows]

probably has to do with your mail headers, the content of your mail, or your domain's MX records. I really can't provide any help to fix your problem though.

[sridharao]

It's working, as you said it had something to do with MX records. Really, PHPmailer is indeed a boon to webmasters.

[LingoOutsider]

I'm sending a html page to an email address through a godaddy server and when it is received by the recipient, it shows it's from that server as one would expect.

What can I do with '$headers' or others that would allow people to answer / reply to my own email address because otherwise the person repling gets a failure message from godaddys server?

I know I can put in a weblink but is there an easy - more common option for users.

[penagate]

Sounds like you're not setting the From header correctly.

Additionally, you can set Reply-to, but this is usually only used if the reply address is specifically different from the originating address. In either case From should be set.

[LingoOutsider]

Reply-to works great thanks penagate