How to send mail using PHPMailer in CodeIgniter 3

To send emails via Gmail in CodeIgniter 3 using PHPMailer, you’ll first need to include PHPMailer in your project. Here’s a step-by-step guide to setting it up:

Step 1: Download PHPMailer

1. Download the latest version of PHPMailer.
2. Extract the downloaded files and place the src folder into your CodeIgniter project’s application/third_party/ directory.

Step 2: Load PHPMailer in CodeIgniter

Create a new file in application/libraries called Phpmailer_lib.php and add the following code to load the PHPMailer library:

<?php
use PHPMailer\PHPMailer\PHPMailer;
use PHPMailer\PHPMailer\Exception;

class Phpmailer_lib {
    public function __construct() {
        require_once(APPPATH . 'third_party/src/Exception.php');
        require_once(APPPATH . 'third_party/src/PHPMailer.php');
        require_once(APPPATH . 'third_party/src/SMTP.php');
    }

    public function load() {
        $mail = new PHPMailer();
        return $mail;
    }
}

Step 3: Configure the Email Function in Your Controller

Create a method in your controller to send the email. Here’s an example:

<?php
defined('BASEPATH') OR exit('No direct script access allowed');

use PHPMailer\PHPMailer\PHPMailer;
use PHPMailer\PHPMailer\Exception;

class EmailController extends CI_Controller {

    public function __construct() {
        parent::__construct();
        // Load PHPMailer
        $this->load->library('Phpmailer_lib');
    }

    public function send_email() {
        // Load PHPMailer
        $mail = $this->phpmailer_lib->load();

        try {
            // SMTP configuration
            $mail->isSMTP();
            $mail->Host       = 'smtp.gmail.com';
            $mail->SMTPAuth   = true;
            $mail->Username   = 'your_email@gmail.com';
            $mail->Password   = 'your_password';
            $mail->SMTPSecure = 'tls';
            $mail->Port       = 587;

            // Email settings
            $mail->setFrom('your_email@gmail.com', 'Your Name');
            $mail->addReplyTo('your_email@gmail.com', 'Your Name');
            $mail->addAddress('recipient_email@gmail.com'); // Recipient's email

            $mail->Subject = 'Test Email';
            $mail->isHTML(true);
            $mail->Body = '<p>This is a test email sent using PHPMailer in CodeIgniter 3</p>';

            // Send email
            if ($mail->send()) {
                echo 'Email has been sent successfully.';
            } else {
                echo 'Email could not be sent. Error: ' . $mail->ErrorInfo;
            }
        } catch (Exception $e) {
            echo 'Message could not be sent. Mailer Error: ' . $e->getMessage();
        }
    }
}

Step 4: Access the Function in Your Browser

Go to http://yourdomain.com/index.php/emailcontroller/send_email to trigger the email send function.