internal email system

[The_FedEx_Guy]

I want to create a internal email system that is able to send email everyone that has signed up with an email address, but also I want to be able to choose certain people from the list also.

Will a database be needed to hold the message details?

Or can the user just write an email and then send it to everyone?

[bregent]

You should not need to store the email contents in a database. Just store the email addresses and populate those into the email object.

[The_FedEx_Guy]

ok, but how do I select more than one email address to be put into the email form?

I've got an option to send to ALL or individual

I have realised I am stuck.

I have created a database to hold the mails.

CREATE TABLE `messages` (
  `mess_id` int(10) NOT NULL auto_increment,
  `mess_title` varchar(50) NOT NULL,
  `mess_category` varchar(20) default NULL,
  `mess_text` longtext NOT NULL,
  `mess_send_to` varchar(50) NOT NULL,
  `mess_status` varchar(3) NOT NULL default 'On',
  `mess_date` date NOT NULL,
  PRIMARY KEY  (`mess_id`)
) ENGINE=MyISAM DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1 AUTO_INCREMENT=1 ;

I wanted to display the message on the clients login area, hence using the database.

I have now decided to use the client name/ ID to send messages to the correct user

[bregent]

>ok, but how do I select more than one email address to be put into the email form?

>I've got an option to send to ALL or individual

First you'll need a way to display the list of individuals. Depending on how many there are, you could use a multiple selection listbox, or display them on a page with a check box for each. Also include a "Select All" checkbox.

Evaluate the form, and if the "Select All" checkbox is checked, then simply loop through all of the values and append them to a comma seperated string. If "Select All' is not checked, then loop through the selected records. Be aware that many hosts limit the number of emails you can send at a time, so if the list is long you may need to break it into smaller chunks.

>I wanted to display the message on the clients login area, hence using the database.

If you want to display the message as well as email it, then yes, use a database. Sorry if I didn't understand your original message.