• How to send an email from a WINDEV application.
• How to include a supercontrol in a window.
• How to define the tab order in a window.
• How to open a non-modal window.

	Estimated time: 20 mn

• sender, recipients,
• outgoing date, subject, message,
• attachments...

• Via Lotus Notes, Outloook or MS Exchange:
  • Lotus Notes or Outlook: these programs allow you to send and receive emails.
  • "Simple Mail API" (also called SMAPI or Simple MAPI): this email management mode is used by most Microsoft applications, especially by Microsoft Exchange.
• Via the POP3, IMAP and SMTP protocols:
  • POP3 protocol: this protocol for receiving emails is supported by all service providers. It is used to communicate with the server directly, available at your ISP. This protocol is used to list and read incoming messages.
  • IMAP protocol: this protocol for receiving emails is used to leave the emails on the server so that they can be read from different email clients or webmails.
  • SMTP protocol: this protocol for sending emails is supported by all service providers.

In this lesson, we are going to create a window allowing the user to send an email from the "WD Full Application" application. This window is as follows:

• Open the project you worked on in the previous lesson.
  1. Go to the WINDEV home page (Ctrl + <).
  2. On the home page, click "Tutorial", then in "Part 4 - Full application with data", double-click "Full application - Exercise".
  3. A dialogue box prompts you to open the project you worked on in the previous lesson. You can open the local copy or the original project. Select "Open the local copy".

	Answers	A completed project is available. This project contains the different elements created in this lesson. To open the completed project, go to the home page and click "Tutorial", then in "Part 4 - Full application with data", double-click "Full application - Answers".

	Example	For more details, see the "WD Mail" example (full example provided with WINDEV). This example is accessible from the WINDEV home page (Ctrl + <).

Creating the window

• Create a new window:
  1. Open the "WD Full Application" project if necessary.
  2. Create a new blank window.
     • Click in the quick access buttons.
     • The new element window appears: click "Window" then "Window".
     • The window creation wizard starts.
     • In the "Based on a template" tab pane, select "Use: WINTPL_Template" and validate the wizard.
  3. The save window appears. Enter "Sending an email" in the title field, the name is automatically completed: "WIN_Sending_an_email". Validate the default information.

Creating the controls to send emails

• SMTP server,
• SMTP server port,
• Username,
• User password.

• To create the Edit control that corresponds to the name of the SMTP server:
  1. On the "Creation" tab, in the "Usual controls" group, click .
  2. The control shape appears under the cursor.
  3. Click in the upper-left area of the window: the Edit control is automatically created.
  4. Select the control and press Enter. The text becomes editable. Enter "SMTP server" and validate. The control name automatically changes to EDT_SMTP_Server.

• To create the Edit control that corresponds to the port:
  1. On the "Creation" tab, in the "Usual controls" group, expand "Edit".
  2. Select a preset Integer edit control.
  3. The control shape appears under the cursor.
  4. Click below the "SMTP server" control: the Edit control is automatically created.
  5. Select the control and press Enter. The text becomes editable. Enter "Port" and validate. The control name automatically changes to EDT_Port.

• To create the Edit control that corresponds to the username:
  1. On the "Creation" tab, in the "Usual controls" group, click .
  2. The control shape appears under the cursor.
  3. Click below the "Port" control: the Edit control is automatically created.
  4. Select the control and press Enter. The text becomes editable. Enter "User" and validate. The control name automatically changes to EDT_User.

• To create the Edit control that corresponds to the user password:
  1. On the "Creation" tab, in the "Usual controls" group, expand "Edit".
  2. Select a preset "Password" edit control.
  3. The control shape appears under the cursor.
  4. Click below the "User" control: the Edit control is automatically created.
     

     	Tip	The "Password" edit control appears in the editor with a bullet and an eye. At runtime, when users enter their passwords, the characters will be replaced with bullets. Users will be able to click the eye icon to toggle the visibility of the password: this allows users to check their passwords. This feature can be disabled through programming if necessary. For more details, see Toggling password visibility.

• Align the controls you have just created:
  1. Select the four controls.
  2. On the "Alignment" tab, in the "Inside and outside" group, click "Justify (Ins. and Out.)".
     
     
  3. Save the window ( or Ctrl + S).

Creating the controls to enter the email characteristics

• A control to enter the sender address.
• A control to enter or select the recipient address.
• A control to enter the email subject.
• A control to enter the email text. The user must have the ability to format the email text.
• A control to add attachments.

• To create the Edit control that corresponds to the sender address:
  1. On the "Creation" tab, in the "Usual controls" group, expand "Edit".
  2. Enter "Email" in the search box at the top of the list of preset controls. Select "eMail edit".
  3. The control shape appears under the cursor.
  4. Click below the "Password" control: the Edit control is automatically created.
  5. Select the control and press Enter. The text becomes editable. Enter "Sender" and validate.

• The control used to type the recipient address must list the addresses of the customers found in the database but it must also allow the user to type another address. To do so, we will use an "Editable combo box" control linked to the Customer data file.
  1. On the "Creation" tab, in the "Usual controls" group, click "Combo Box".
  2. The control shape appears under the cursor.
  3. Click below the "Sender" control: the Combo Box control creation wizard starts automatically.
  4. Select "Display data from a file or existing query". Go to the next step.
  5. Select the Customer data file. Go to the next step.
  6. The email addresses of the customers will be displayed in the control:
     • Uncheck the "CustomerID" item.
     • Check the "Email" item.
     Go to the next step.
  7. The sort item is the "Email" item. Go to the next step.
  8. The return value is the "Email" item. Go to the next step.
  9. Keep the default options. Go to the next step.
  10. In the "Additional settings" screen, check "Allow input". The user must have the possibility to enter a new email address. Go to the next step.
  11. Change the name and caption of the Combo Box control:
      • Enter "COMBO_Recipient" in the name field.
      • Enter "Recipient" in the caption field.
  12. Validate the wizard. The control is automatically created in the window.

• To create the Edit control that corresponds to the email subject:
  1. On the "Creation" tab, in the "Usual controls" group, click .
  2. The control shape appears under the cursor.
  3. Click below the "Recipient" control: the Edit control is automatically created.
  4. Select the control and press Enter. The text becomes editable. Enter "Subject" and validate.

• For the message body, we will use an HTML Email Editor control: the user will be able to easily format the email text via a specific ribbon.
  1. On the "Creation" tab, in the "Other controls" group, expand "HTML" and select "HTML Email Editor".
  2. The control shape appears under the cursor.
  3. Click below the "Subject" control: The HTML Editor control is automatically created.
  4. Enlarge the window using the sizing handles, then enlarge the control vertically and horizontally so that the ribbon of the control and some text lines are visible.
  5. Select the HTML Editor control and open the control description window (Alt + Enter).
  6. Change the control name. Name the control "HTMEDT_Email".

• We will create a file picker to allow users to add attachments. Instead of creating it from scratch, we will use a file preset edit control. The user will be able to select the file to attach by clicking "Browse" in the context menu of the control.
  1. On the "Creation" tab, in the "Usual controls" group, expand "Edit". The list of preset controls is displayed.
  2. Select the "File path edit" control and drag it to the "WIN_Sending_an_email" window: drop the control below the "HTML Editor" control. The file picker is immediately created.

• Align all controls in the window.
  

Sending emails

• Enlarge the window to have enough space to add a button below the HTML Editor control: use the bottom-right resizing handle of the window.

• To create the Button control to send emails:
  1. On the "Creation" tab, in the "Usual controls" group, click .
  2. Click the location where you want to create the control (e.g., at the bottom of the window).
  3. Select the control and change its text (press Enter for example). Enter "Send".
  4. Edit the WLanguage code associated with this Button control: right-click and select "Code" in the context menu.
  5. Write the following lines of code in the "Click" event:
     • WLanguage code for opening the connection and starting the SMTP session:
       
       MySession is emailSMTPSession
       MySession.Name = EDT_User
       MySession.Password = EDT_Password
       MySession.ServerAddress = EDT_SMTP_Server
       MySession.Port = EDT_Port
       // Starts the SMTP session
       IF NOT MySession.StartSession() THEN
       Error("Unable to connect to the SMTP server.", ErrorInfo())
       RETURN
       END
       This code uses an advanced emailSMTPSession variable. The different properties of this variable define the characteristics of the SMTP session. Then, the <Session>.StartSession function is used to start the session.
     • WLanguage code for preparing the email:
       
       MyMessage is Email
        
       MyMessage.Sender = EDT_Sender
       MyMessage.Subject = EDT_Subject
        
       HTMEDT_Email.ToEmail(MyMessage)
        
       // Adds a recipient
       MyMessage.Recipient.Add(COMBO_Recipient.DisplayedValue)
        
        
       // Adds the attachment if necessary
       IF EDT_File <> "" THEN
       MyMessage.LoadAttachment(EDT_File)
       END
       This code uses a variable of type Email. The different properties of this variable define the characteristics of the email to be sent. This code associates the content of the different window controls to the properties of the Email variable.
       In this code:
       • <HTML Editor control>.ToEmail directly associates the contents of the email with the corresponding properties of the Email variable. If images are included in the text of the email, they will be automatically added as attachments.
       • <Email>.LoadAttachment integrates the attached file if it exists in the Email variable.
     • WLanguage code for sending the email:
       
       // Sends the email
       IF MySession.SendMessage(MyMessage) = False THEN
       Error("Message not sent.", ErrorInfo())
       ELSE
       // Message sent
       ToastDisplay("Message sent", toastShort, vaMiddle, haCenter)
       END
       The email is sent by <Email>.SendMessage. Simply pass as parameters: the variable that contains the characteristics of the SMTP session, and the variable that contains the characteristics of the email to send.
       If the email is sent, a Toast message is displayed, indicating that the email was sent. A Toast message is a small message that appears for a few seconds.
     • WLanguage code for closing the SMTP session:
       
       // Closes the SMTP session
       MySession.CloseSession()
       This code closes the session with <Session>.CloseSession.

• Save the window and its code ( or Ctrl + S).

• Add a Button control to close the window.
• Format the window by setting the anchors and the tab order.
• Open the window from the "WIN_Menu" window.

Closing the window

• To add a Button control to close the window:
  1. On the "Creation" tab, in the "Usual controls" group, expand "Button": the list of preset buttons appears.
  2. Click the "Close" button.
  3. Click the position in the window where the control must be created (for example at the bottom, to the right of the "Send" Button control).

Formatting

• To define the anchors:
  • Select the "Sender", "Recipient" and "Subject" controls: anchor these controls horizontally.
  • Select the "HTML Editor" control: anchor this control vertically and horizontally.
  • Select the Button controls: anchor these controls to the right and to the bottom.
  • Select the file selection control: anchor this control horizontally and to the bottom.

• To define the tab order:
  

  	Note	The tab order of the controls is the order in which the user will be able to enter the values in the different controls of the window. At runtime, the Tab key allows switching from one control to another. The default tab order is the order in which the controls have been created. It can be modified: by specifying an automatic tab order: the first control in the upper-left area of the window will be the first in the tab order, the second control will be the one to its right or below, and so on... by specifying a tab order from a selection.

  1. Display the tab order by pressing F5.
  2. Define the automatic tab order: on the "Window" tab, in the "Order" group, expand "Tab order" and select "Define automatically".
  3. The numbers change and appear in order.
     
  4. Press F5 again to hide the numbers.
  5. Save the window ( or Ctrl + S).

Non-modal window opening

• To open the "WIN_Sending_an_email" window from the "WIN_MENU" window:
  1. Open "WIN_Menu" in the editor (double-click its name in the "Project explorer" pane, for example).
  2. In the editor, expand the "Menu" option and select "Exit".
  3. Right-click to open the context menu of the "Exit" option and select "Add before".
  4. Type the option caption ("Send an email") and validate.
  5. Select the "Exit" option again.
  6. Right-click to open the context menu of the "Exit" option and select "Insert a separator".
  7. Right-click to open the context menu of the "Send an email" option and select "Code".
  8. Write the following WLanguage code:
     
     // Opens the window for sending emails
     WIN_Sending_an_email.OpenChild()
     In this WLanguage code, <Window>.OpenChild is used to open the window in "non-modal" mode: the user will be able to write an email and to see the information displayed in the main window at the same time.

• Save the window and its code ( or Ctrl + S).

• Test the project (click in the quick access buttons) and open the window for sending emails via "Menu .. Send an email".