How can I send mail from an iPhone application

I want to send an email from my iPhone application. I have heard that the iOS SDK doesn't have an email API. I don't want to use the following code because it will exit my application:

NSString *url = [NSString stringWithString: @"mailto:[email protected][email protected]&subject=Greetings%20from%20Cupertino!&body=Wish%20you%20were%20here!"];
[[UIApplication sharedApplication] openURL: [NSURL URLWithString: url]];

So how can I send an email from my app?

On iOS 3.0 and later you should use the MFMailComposeViewController class, and the MFMailComposeViewControllerDelegate protocol, that is tucked away in the MessageUI framework.

First add the framework and import:

#import <MessageUI/MFMailComposeViewController.h>

Then, to send a message:

MFMailComposeViewController* controller = [[MFMailComposeViewController alloc] init];
controller.mailComposeDelegate = self;
[controller setSubject:@"My Subject"];
[controller setMessageBody:@"Hello there." isHTML:NO]; 
if (controller) [self presentModalViewController:controller animated:YES];
[controller release];

Then the user does the work and you get the delegate callback in time:

- (void)mailComposeController:(MFMailComposeViewController*)controller  
          didFinishWithResult:(MFMailComposeResult)result 
                        error:(NSError*)error;
{
  if (result == MFMailComposeResultSent) {
    NSLog(@"It's away!");
  }
  [self dismissModalViewControllerAnimated:YES];
}

Remember to check if the device is configured for sending email:

if ([MFMailComposeViewController canSendMail]) {
  // Show the composer
} else {
  // Handle the error
}

MFMailComposeViewController is the way to go after the release of iPhone OS 3.0 software. You can look at the sample code or the tutorial I wrote.

A few things I'd like to add here:

1. Using the mailto URL won't work in the simulator as mail.app isn't installed on the simulator. It does work on device though.

2. There is a limit to the length of the mailto URL. If the URL is larger than 4096 characters, mail.app won't launch.

3. There is a new class in OS 3.0 that lets you send an e-mail without leaving your app. See the class MFMailComposeViewController.

If you want to send email from your application, the above code is the only way to do it unless you code your own mail client (SMTP) inside your app, or have a server send the mail for you.

For example, you could code your app to invoke a URL on your server which would send the mail for you. Then you simply call the URL from your code.

Note that with the above code you can't attach anything to the email, which the SMTP client method would allow you to do, as well as the server-side method.

Below code is used in my application to send email with an attachment here the attachments is an image .You can send any type of file only thing is to keep in mind is that you had to specify the correct 'mimeType'

add this to your .h file

#import <MessageUI/MFMailComposeViewController.h>

Add MessageUI.framework to your project file

NSArray *paths = SSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory,NSUserDomainMask, YES);

NSString *documentsDirectory = [paths objectAtIndex:0];

NSString *getImagePath = [documentsDirectory stringByAppendingPathComponent:@"myGreenCard.png"];



MFMailComposeViewController* controller = [[MFMailComposeViewController alloc] init];
controller.mailComposeDelegate = self;
[controller setSubject:@"Green card application"];
[controller setMessageBody:@"Hi , <br/>  This is my new latest designed green card." isHTML:YES]; 
[controller addAttachmentData:[NSData dataWithContentsOfFile:getImagePath] mimeType:@"png" fileName:@"My Green Card"];
if (controller)
    [self presentModalViewController:controller animated:YES];
[controller release];

Delegate method is as shown below

  -(void)mailComposeController:(MFMailComposeViewController*)controller didFinishWithResult:(MFMailComposeResult)result error:(NSError*)error;
{
    if (result == MFMailComposeResultSent) {
        NSLog(@"It's away!");
    }
    [self dismissModalViewControllerAnimated:YES];
}