[wp-hackers] Adding phpmailer options (smtp for example)

[Peter Westwood]

On 29 Aug 2007, at 23:46, Callum Macdonald wrote:

> One of our sites had an issue today where it was dying with the error:
> The e-mail could not be sent.
> Possible reason: your host may have disabled the mail() function...
>
> Investigating, I realise that phpmailer is bundled with WordPress  
> and it's configured to use PHP's mail() function by default. That  
> seems sensible, however, I think it would be useful to add some  
> options to allow the user to configure it's use. For example, to  
> send mail by SMTP and then specify a host (even a username/password).
>
> Before I bash out some code and send a patch, I thought I'd ask for  
> feedback. Can anyone see any flaws in this plan? Would the options  
> be best implemented in the options database? Which admin screen  
> would be most relevant? If the user specifies an invalid server,  
> how will that affect the system? Is that more or less likely than  
> mail() being disabled?
>
> I think the current default is sensible, but options would be  
> useful. If I don't hear anything in the next few days I'll write  
> some code anyway and we can take it from there.

I don't think this kind of configuration is needed for 90% of users.   
Therefore it would be better as a plugin.
I would suggest you try and write a plugin to achieve what you require.
If you find you need extra actions/filters in WordPress in order to  
achieve the functionality within the plugin then let us know (tickets  
in trac) and I am sure they will be added.

Cheers

westi
-- 
Peter Westwood <peter.westwood at ftwr.co.uk>
Blog: http://blog.ftwr.co.uk/
WordPress Plugins: http://blog.ftwr.co.uk/wordpress/