skillby wheels-dev
Wheels Email Generator
Generate email functionality including mailer controllers, email templates, and configuration. Use when sending emails, creating notifications, or implementing transactional emails. Ensures proper email structure, layouts, and testing.
Installs: 0
Used in: 1 repos
Updated: 8h ago
$
npx ai-builder add skill wheels-dev/wheels-email-generatorInstalls to .claude/skills/wheels-email-generator/
# Wheels Email Generator
## When to Use This Skill
Activate automatically when:
- User wants to send emails
- User mentions: email, mailer, sendMail, notification
- User needs password reset emails
- User wants welcome emails or transactional emails
- User asks about email templates or configuration
## Email Directory Structure
```
/app/
├── controllers/
│ └── Mailer.cfc # Email controller
├── views/
│ └── mailer/ # Email templates
│ ├── layouts/
│ │ ├── email.cfm # HTML layout
│ │ └── email.txt.cfm # Plain text layout
│ ├── welcome.cfm # HTML version
│ ├── welcome.txt.cfm # Text version
│ ├── resetPassword.cfm
│ └── resetPassword.txt.cfm
└── /config/
└── settings.cfm # Email configuration
```
## Mailer Controller Template
```cfm
component extends="Controller" {
function config() {
// Configure email defaults
set(
functionName = "sendEmail",
from = "noreply@yourapp.com",
layout = "email",
detectMultipart = true
);
}
/**
* Send welcome email to new user
*/
function welcome(required user) {
sendEmail(
to = arguments.user.email,
subject = "Welcome to Our App!",
template = "mailer/welcome",
user = arguments.user
);
}
/**
* Send password reset email
*/
function resetPassword(required user, required token) {
local.resetUrl = URLFor(
route = "passwordReset",
token = arguments.token,
onlyPath = false
);
sendEmail(
to = arguments.user.email,
subject = "Reset Your Password",
template = "mailer/resetPassword",
user = arguments.user,
resetUrl = local.resetUrl
);
}
/**
* Send order confirmation email
*/
function orderConfirmation(required order) {
sendEmail(
to = arguments.order.customerEmail,
subject = "Order Confirmation - ##" & arguments.order.id,
template = "mailer/orderConfirmation",
order = arguments.order
);
}
/**
* Send notification to admin
*/
function adminNotification(required subject, required message) {
sendEmail(
to = application.adminEmail,
subject = arguments.subject,
template = "mailer/adminNotification",
message = arguments.message
);
}
}
```
## Email Layout (HTML) - views/mailer/layouts/email.cfm
```cfm
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
<style>
body {
font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
line-height: 1.6;
color: ##333;
max-width: 600px;
margin: 0 auto;
padding: 20px;
}
.header {
background: ##007bff;
color: white;
padding: 20px;
text-align: center;
}
.content {
background: ##f9f9f9;
padding: 30px;
border: 1px solid ##ddd;
}
.button {
display: inline-block;
padding: 12px 24px;
background: ##007bff;
color: white;
text-decoration: none;
border-radius: 4px;
margin: 20px 0;
}
.footer {
text-align: center;
padding: 20px;
color: ##666;
font-size: 12px;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<div class="header">
<h1>Your App Name</h1>
</div>
<div class="content">
<cfoutput>##contentForLayout()##</cfoutput>
</div>
<div class="footer">
<p>© #Year(Now())# Your Company. All rights reserved.</p>
<p>
<a href="##">Unsubscribe</a> |
<a href="##">Privacy Policy</a> |
<a href="##">Contact Us</a>
</p>
</div>
</body>
</html>
```
## Email Layout (Plain Text) - views/mailer/layouts/email.txt.cfm
```cfm
<cfoutput>
========================================
YOUR APP NAME
========================================
##contentForLayout()##
========================================
© #Year(Now())# Your Company
All rights reserved.
Unsubscribe: [URL]
Privacy: [URL]
========================================
</cfoutput>
```
## Email Template Examples
### Welcome Email (HTML) - views/mailer/welcome.cfm
```cfm
<cfparam name="user">
<cfoutput>
<h2>Welcome, ##user.firstName##!</h2>
<p>Thank you for joining our community. We're excited to have you on board.</p>
<p>Here's what you can do next:</p>
<ul>
<li>Complete your profile</li>
<li>Explore our features</li>
<li>Connect with other users</li>
</ul>
<p>
<a href="##URLFor(route='dashboard', onlyPath=false)##" class="button">
Get Started
</a>
</p>
<p>If you have any questions, feel free to reply to this email.</p>
<p>Best regards,<br>
The Team</p>
</cfoutput>
```
### Welcome Email (Plain Text) - views/mailer/welcome.txt.cfm
```cfm
<cfparam name="user">
<cfoutput>
Welcome, ##user.firstName##!
Thank you for joining our community. We're excited to have you on board.
Here's what you can do next:
- Complete your profile
- Explore our features
- Connect with other users
Get Started: ##URLFor(route='dashboard', onlyPath=false)##
If you have any questions, feel free to reply to this email.
Best regards,
The Team
</cfoutput>
```
### Password Reset Email - views/mailer/resetPassword.cfm
```cfm
<cfparam name="user">
<cfparam name="resetUrl">
<cfoutput>
<h2>Reset Your Password</h2>
<p>Hi ##user.firstName##,</p>
<p>We received a request to reset your password. Click the button below to create a new password:</p>
<p>
<a href="##resetUrl##" class="button">Reset Password</a>
</p>
<p>Or copy and paste this link into your browser:</p>
<p>##resetUrl##</p>
<p><strong>This link will expire in 24 hours.</strong></p>
<p>If you didn't request a password reset, you can safely ignore this email.</p>
<p>Thanks,<br>
The Security Team</p>
</cfoutput>
```
## Email Configuration - config/settings.cfm
```cfm
<cfscript>
// Email Server Configuration
set(
functionName = "sendEmail",
server = "smtp.gmail.com",
port = 587,
username = "your-email@gmail.com",
password = "your-app-password",
useTLS = true,
useSSL = false,
from = "noreply@yourapp.com",
type = "html",
charset = "utf-8"
);
// Environment-Specific Email Settings
if (application.wheels.environment == "development") {
// Log emails instead of sending
set(functionName = "sendEmail", debug = true, deliver = false);
}
if (application.wheels.environment == "testing") {
// Send all emails to test account
set(functionName = "sendEmail", to = "test@yourapp.com");
}
if (application.wheels.environment == "production") {
// Production settings
set(
functionName = "sendEmail",
server = getEnv("SMTP_SERVER"),
username = getEnv("SMTP_USERNAME"),
password = getEnv("SMTP_PASSWORD"),
deliver = true
);
}
</cfscript>
```
## Using the Mailer
### In Controllers
```cfm
component extends="Controller" {
function create() {
user = model("User").new(params.user);
if (user.save()) {
// Send welcome email
controller("Mailer").welcome(user);
redirectTo(route="home", success="Account created! Check your email.");
} else {
renderView(action="new");
}
}
function forgotPassword() {
user = model("User").findOne(where="email='#params.email#'");
if (isObject(user)) {
// Generate reset token
token = createUUID();
user.update(resetToken=token, resetTokenExpiry=dateAdd("h", 24, now()));
// Send reset email
controller("Mailer").resetPassword(user=user, token=token);
flashInsert(success="Password reset instructions sent to your email.");
}
redirectTo(action="login");
}
}
```
### Direct Usage
```cfm
// Simple email
sendEmail(
to = "user@example.com",
from = "noreply@yourapp.com",
subject = "Test Email",
body = "This is a test email."
);
// Email with template
sendEmail(
to = "user@example.com",
subject = "Custom Email",
template = "mailer/custom",
customVariable = "value"
);
// Email with attachments
sendEmail(
to = "user@example.com",
subject = "Invoice",
template = "mailer/invoice",
file = expandPath("./uploads/invoice.pdf"),
fileName = "invoice-##123##.pdf"
);
```
## Email with File Attachments
```cfm
function sendInvoice(required order) {
local.pdfPath = expandPath("./temp/invoice-##arguments.order.id##.pdf");
// Generate PDF invoice
generateInvoicePDF(arguments.order, local.pdfPath);
// Send email with attachment
sendEmail(
to = arguments.order.customerEmail,
subject = "Your Invoice - Order ##arguments.order.id##",
template = "mailer/invoice",
order = arguments.order,
file = local.pdfPath,
fileName = "invoice-##arguments.order.id##.pdf"
);
// Clean up temp file
fileDelete(local.pdfPath);
}
```
## Email with Multiple Recipients
```cfm
function sendNewsletter(required subject, required template) {
// Get all subscribed users
subscribers = model("User").findAll(where="subscribed=1");
// Send to each subscriber
for (local.subscriber in subscribers) {
sendEmail(
to = local.subscriber.email,
subject = arguments.subject,
template = arguments.template,
user = local.subscriber
);
}
}
```
## Testing Emails
### Email Test
```cfm
component extends="wheels.Test" {
function testWelcomeEmailSent() {
// Create test user
user = model("User").create(
email = "test@example.com",
firstName = "Test"
);
// Call mailer
controller("Mailer").welcome(user);
// Verify email was queued
assert("application.wheels.emailQueue.len() > 0");
}
function testPasswordResetEmail() {
user = model("User").findByKey(1);
token = createUUID();
controller("Mailer").resetPassword(user=user, token=token);
// Check email contains reset link
lastEmail = application.wheels.emailQueue[1];
assert("findNoCase('reset', lastEmail.body) > 0");
assert("findNoCase(token, lastEmail.body) > 0");
}
}
```
### Manual Testing
```cfm
// Test in browser - add route
.get(name="testEmail", pattern="/test/email", to="tests##testEmail")
// Test controller
function testEmail() {
user = model("User").findByKey(1);
controller("Mailer").welcome(user);
renderText("Email sent! Check server logs.");
}
```
## Email Best Practices
### ✅ DO:
- Always provide both HTML and plain text versions
- Use responsive email layouts (max-width: 600px)
- Include unsubscribe links
- Test emails across different clients
- Use descriptive subject lines
- Handle email failures gracefully
- Queue emails for bulk sending
- Use environment-specific settings
### ❌ DON'T:
- Send emails synchronously in production
- Hardcode email addresses
- Use complex CSS (limited support)
- Forget error handling
- Send without user consent
- Include sensitive data in emails
- Use JavaScript in emails
## Common Email Patterns
### 1. Transactional Emails
```cfm
// Order confirmation, password resets, account verification
- Time-sensitive
- User-triggered
- High priority
```
### 2. Notification Emails
```cfm
// Activity updates, mentions, reminders
- Event-driven
- May be batched
- User preferences apply
```
### 3. Marketing Emails
```cfm
// Newsletters, promotions
- Bulk sending
- Unsubscribe required
- Scheduled
```
## Email Queue Pattern
```cfm
// Queue email for background processing
function queueEmail(required struct emailData) {
model("EmailQueue").create(
recipient = arguments.emailData.to,
subject = arguments.emailData.subject,
template = arguments.emailData.template,
data = serializeJSON(arguments.emailData),
status = "pending"
);
}
// Process queue (run via scheduled task)
function processEmailQueue() {
pending = model("EmailQueue").findAll(
where = "status='pending'",
order = "createdAt",
maxRows = 50
);
for (local.email in pending) {
try {
local.data = deserializeJSON(local.email.data);
sendEmail(argumentCollection=local.data);
local.email.update(status="sent", sentAt=now());
} catch (any e) {
local.email.update(
status = "failed",
errorMessage = e.message
);
}
}
}
```
## SMTP Providers
### Gmail
```cfm
server = "smtp.gmail.com"
port = 587
useTLS = true
// Note: Use app password, not account password
```
### SendGrid
```cfm
server = "smtp.sendgrid.net"
port = 587
username = "apikey"
password = "YOUR_API_KEY"
useTLS = true
```
### Mailgun
```cfm
server = "smtp.mailgun.org"
port = 587
username = "postmaster@yourdomain.mailgun.org"
password = "YOUR_PASSWORD"
useTLS = true
```
### AWS SES
```cfm
server = "email-smtp.us-east-1.amazonaws.com"
port = 587
username = "YOUR_SMTP_USERNAME"
password = "YOUR_SMTP_PASSWORD"
useTLS = true
```
## Related Skills
- **wheels-controller-generator**: Create mailer controllers
- **wheels-view-generator**: Create email templates
- **wheels-auth-generator**: Password reset emails
- **wheels-test-generator**: Test email functionality
---
**Generated by:** Wheels Email Generator Skill v1.0Quick Install
$
npx ai-builder add skill wheels-dev/wheels-email-generatorDetails
- Type
- skill
- Author
- wheels-dev
- Slug
- wheels-dev/wheels-email-generator
- Created
- 2d ago