Creating email auto-responder

[superbullet]

Hello,

I am wondering how would I be able to develop an email auto-responder for POP mails? Do I have to use event gateways? If so which gateway would I be using?

[PaulH]

i guess that depends on how responsive you want to be. if some lag is ok, then
simply cfschedule a page w/cfpop to check email and respond accordingly. or if
there's no need for any logic, most mail servers have some type of
auto-responder already.

if you're on cf 7 and need more responsiveness, you could write a simple
custom gateway in java (using javamail) to check a mailbox (or a series of
mailboxes) which in turn informed CFC that mail was available and the CFC would
actually process the email.

[superbullet]

Thanks for the reply Paul,

Yes, I was thinking of making it use cfschedule, but like you said, I would
need it to respond as soon as possible. I am trying to create a blog reply via
email. Where the person subscribes to the blog and then can post by just
replying to the subscription email.

If only I knew java. Paul, any way I can learn simple steps to write java code
to use javamail?

[PaulH]

well mm's supplies an empty gateway example that should get you started in
terms of the gateway. for the javamail bits, there's a boatload of examples on
[url]http://java.sun.com/products/javamail/[/url]. prodding a POP3 inbox is almost
trivial.

if i get the time, i'll see what i have laying around.

[superbullet]

I managed to somehow use an XMPP gateway a week ago, but all I understood was
basically the Administrative Gateway page, how gateways work, and the
configuration file. Besides these 3, I am completely lost. Therefore, I don't
know how to import these java classes, how to use the javamail api, or anything
associated with java for that matter, except simple invokations.

I ordered forta's cf 7 adv book, it has a few sections on gateways, maybe that
will help me understand how the java side of it functions. I have no problem
with how the cf components act as a listener, and the cfgs, etc etc, but I
don't know exactly how they work internally and how the java invokation works.
And I can't seem to understand it either.

If you have a better source for understanding this Paul, please let me know,
thanks.

[PaulH]

well if you understand that much i'd say you're well on your way.

i forgot that the advanced cf 7 book has a chapter on gateways and the
[url]http://www.forta.com/books/0321292693/[/url] (see chapter 31) is exactly what you're
looking for. i think robi sen wrote that chapter.

[zbob99]

I have been using cfschedule to do something similar. It checks our email
server every 2 minutes. It is simple, fast and actually very little overload
to the system. A easy, cheap alternative until you can get the cool CFMX7
event gateway to work!

Bob