ActionMailer does not work with the URL helpers (like url_for and @link_to@) automatically, because those helpers depend on a reference to the current controller. However, you can very easily make those helpers work with your mailers.
First, define your mailer method such that it accepts a controller instance as a parameter, and passes it to the body:
<pre>
class MyMailer < ActionMailer::Base
...
def send_urls(controller, to)
subject "Sending some URLs..."
from "myapp @ example.com"
recipients to
body :controller => controller
end
...
end
</pre>
Then, you need to add the helper reference to your mailer. You need to give the complete reference to the module currently (this might change eventually, though):
<pre>
class MyMailer < ActionMailer::Base
...
helper ActionView::Helpers::UrlHelper
...
end
</pre>
Now, you can use the url_for helper in your mailer views:
<pre>
Here is my mailer view! Have some url's, on me:
You just need to remember to pass the controller instance first when invoking this mailer method:
<pre>
def some_action
...
MyMailer.deliver_send_urls(self, "<a href="mailto:recip@example.com">recip@example.com</a>")
...
end
</pre>
Note: It may be easier, and more extensible, to just pass a hash of all the options you want directly to the mailer method:
<pre>
def some_action
...
MyMailer.deliver_send_urls(:controller => "self", :to => "recip @ example.com")
...
end
</pre>
Then, in your mailer, you can just take that hash and assign it directly to the body:
<pre>
class MyMailer < ActionMailer::Base
...
def send_urls(params)
subject "Sending some URLs..."
from "myapp @ example.com"
recipients params[:to]
body params
end
...
end
</pre>
It’s all up to you.
Question: How do you use ActionMailer from script/runner, Rake tasks, tests, etc?
One way to test action mailers is to mock out the controller using Openstruct.
<pre>
require 'ostruct'
class Controller < OpenStruct
def url_for(options)
return “/some/url”
end
end
class MailerTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
def test_invite
controller = Controller.new
invitation = invitations(:joey)
response = Mailer.create_invitation(invitation,controller)
end
end
category:Howto