EZ NewsLetter Test and DeBug Modes

[Greg]

EZ NewsLetter Test Mode
Before you send any live emails, you will want to test your server with EZ NewsLetter and get used to creating eye catching HTML emails. The best way to do this is in test mode.

Test mode is a mode in which you can test send to a userid or userids of your choice. You can send to only those userids or you can configure a second setting to mock a complete send only delivering email to your test userids.

Open the file uploads/admincp/eznl.php and find:

// For test mode, change 0 to the userid or userids that should receive test emails.
// You can have multiple test members by using a comma delimited list of userids
// such as $eztest = array(3,5,98,456,5701); and only those members will get the
// test emails. All other members in the selection criteria will be skipped.
// Set back to $eztest = array(0); to disable test mode. (default)
$eztest = array(0);

// Set to 1 to loop all pages but send to only test user ids when in eztest mode.
// Set to 0 to send one page of test users only when in eztest mode. (default)
$eztestallpages = 0;


If you want to send to two test users with the userid of 3 and 5, your $eztest variable line would look like...

$eztest = array(3,5);


If you want to loop all the users and mock a full send, your $eztestallpages variable should look like...

$eztestallpages = 1;


Save the file and upload it to test. When done testing edit the variables back to default and send your EZ NewsLetter to your community members.

EZ NewsLetter Debug Mode
The purpose of the debug mode is to while in test mode as described above, you can also set a variable to see the SMTP handshaking for debugging should you have any issues sending to your SMTP server.

Open the file uploads/admincp/eznl.php and find:

// Set to 1 to view smtp debug dialog while sending.
// Set to 0 to disable smtp debug dialog while sending. (default)
$ezdebug = 0;


To view the SMTP handshake while sending emails with EZ NewsLetter in test mode, you can set the variable $ezdebug to...


$ezdebug = 1;


This is very verbose when operating normally and should only be used when there is a problem sending mail to your SMTP server.

[Badger]

Just a thought for consideration..... :)

The "debug" mode is excellent and allows one to test the work product output really well before sending, however, it involves editing a PHP file and moving it back and forth to the "admin" directory.

Would it be a good idea to have a "test" box in the AdminCP newsletter setup that was on or off, then one of those input boxes that allowed a user to put in the UserId's of the folks he wanted to send to, separated by commas if there's more than one?

If the box is checked ON, then it's in test mode and the array gets filled in with the UserId's. If it's OFF, then the test mode is ignored and it's a full send. It would be a lot easier for the average admin to use instead of having to FTP edited files back and forth.

Does this make any sense, or have I missed something obvious?

Thanks for your efforts Greg... great product.... :)

Regards,
Badger

[Greg]

That is not bad idea. I didn't expect folks to want to experiment so much.

[Badger]

That is not bad idea. I didn't expect folks to want to experiment so much.

Well, when you screw up as much as I do with things, a TEST mode is what keeps me from looking too foolish.... :D

I think what the test mode does, which is excellent by the way, is permit the creator to see EXACTLY what his work product output will look like to end receiver, ie: Hotmail accounts, Outlook accounts, Mac Safari users etc.

We're currently testing our first newsletter using accounts that would receive all of the above.

Anyway, I don't know how difficult it is, but I was thinking about it when I was screwing up a file transfer to the main server of the PHP file and later wondered why the additional test user I had put in wasn't receiving the email. ;)

Thanks... :)

Regards,
Badger