mail: E-Mail Example using CDI and JSF

Author: Joel Tosi
Level: Beginner
Technologies: JavaMail, CDI, JSF
Summary: The mail quickstart demonstrates how to send email using CDI and JSF and the default Mail provider that ships with JBoss EAP.
Target Product: JBoss EAP
Source: https://github.com/jbossas/eap-quickstarts/

What is it?

The mail quickstart demonstrates sending email with the use of CDI (Contexts and Dependency Injection) and JSF (JavaServer Faces) in Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform.

The mail provider is configured in the mail subsystem of the EAP7_HOME/standalone/configuration/standalone.xml configuration file if you are running a standalone server or in the EAP7_HOME/domain/configuration/domain.xml configuration file if you are running in a managed domain.

You can use the default mail provider that comes out of the box with JBoss EAP. It uses your local mail relay and the default SMTP port of 25. However, this quickstart demonstrates how to define and use a custom mail provider.

This example is a web application that takes To, From, Subject, and Message Body input and sends mail to that address. The front end is a JSF page with a simple POJO backing, leveraging CDI for resource injection.

System Requirements

The application this project produces is designed to be run on Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 7.1 or later.

All you need to build this project is Java 8.0 (Java SDK 1.8) or later and Maven 3.3.1 or later. See Configure Maven for JBoss EAP 7.1 to make sure you are configured correctly for testing the quickstarts.

Use of EAP7_HOME

In the following instructions, replace EAP7_HOME with the actual path to your JBoss EAP installation. The installation path is described in detail here: Use of EAP7_HOME and JBOSS_HOME Variables.

Configure an SMTP Server on Your Local Machine

This quickstart expects that you have an SMTP mail server running on your machine and configured for the default port localhost:25. To configure an SMTP mail server, consult the documentation for your operating system. It is beyond the scope of this quickstart to provide these instructions.

If you do not configure an SMTP mail server on your local machine, you will see the exception com.sun.mail.util.MailConnectException: Couldn't connect to host, port: localhost, 25; timeout -1; when you access the application and attempt to send an email.

Configure the Server

You configure the custom mail session in JBoss EAP by running Management CLI commands. For your convenience, this quickstart batches the commands into a configure-mail-session.cli script provided in the root directory of this quickstart.

1. Before you begin, back up your server configuration file

   • If it is running, stop the JBoss EAP server.
   • Backup the file: EAP7_HOME/standalone/configuration/standalone.xml
   • After you have completed testing this quickstart, you can replace this file to restore the server to its original configuration.

2. Start the JBoss EAP server by typing the following:

    For Linux:  EAP7_HOME/bin/standalone.sh
    For Windows:  EAP7_HOME\bin\standalone.bat
   

3. Review the configure-mail-session.cli file in the root of this quickstart directory. This script creates custom outbound socket binding port for SMTP, POP3, and IMAP. It then creates the custom MyOtherMail mail session and configures it to use the custom outbound socket binding ports.

4. Open a new command prompt, navigate to the root directory of this quickstart, and run the following command, replacing EAP7_HOME with the path to your server:

    For Linux: EAP7_HOME/bin/jboss-cli.sh --connect --file=configure-mail-session.cli
    For Windows: EAP7_HOME\bin\jboss-cli.bat --connect --file=configure-mail-session.cli
   

   You should see the following result when you run the script:

    The batch executed successfully
    process-state: reload-required
   

5. Stop the JBoss EAP server.

Review the Modified Server Configuration

After stopping the server, open the EAP7_HOME/standalone/configuration/standalone.xml file and review the changes.

The following outbound-socket-binding groups are added to the standard-sockets <socket-binding-group> element.

  <socket-binding-group name="standard-sockets" default-interface="public" port-offset="${jboss.socket.binding.port-offset:0}">
    ...
    </outbound-socket-binding>
    <outbound-socket-binding name="my-smtp-binding">
        <remote-destination host="localhost" port="25"/>
    </outbound-socket-binding>
    <outbound-socket-binding name="my-pop3-binding">
        <remote-destination host="localhost" port="110"/>
    </outbound-socket-binding>
    <outbound-socket-binding name="my-imap-binding">
        <remote-destination host="localhost" port="143"/>
    </outbound-socket-binding>
 </socket-binding-group>

The MyOtherMail mail session is added to the mail subsystem and configured to use the custom outbound socket binding ports.

  <subsystem xmlns="urn:jboss:domain:mail:2.0">
     <mail-session name="default" jndi-name="java:jboss/mail/Default">
        <smtp-server outbound-socket-binding-ref="mail-smtp"/>
     </mail-session>
     <mail-session name="MyOtherMail" jndi-name="java:jboss/mail/MyOtherMail">
        <smtp-server password="pass" username="nobody" tls="true" outbound-socket-binding-ref="my-smtp-binding"/>
        <pop3-server outbound-socket-binding-ref="my-pop3-binding"/>
        <imap-server password="pass" username="nobody" outbound-socket-binding-ref="my-imap-binding"/>
     </mail-session>
  </subsystem>

Start the Server

1. Open a command prompt and navigate to the root of the JBoss EAP directory.

2. The following shows the command line to start the server:

    For Linux:   EAP7_HOME/bin/standalone.sh
    For Windows: EAP7_HOME\bin\standalone.bat
   

Build and Deploy the Quickstart

1. Make sure you have started the JBoss EAP server as described above.

2. Open a command prompt and navigate to the root directory of this quickstart.

3. Type this command to build and deploy the archive:

    mvn clean install wildfly:deploy
   

4. This will deploy target/mail.war to the running instance of the server.

Access the Application

The application will be running at the following URL: http://localhost:8080/mail/.

Note: If you see Error processing request in the browser when you access the application and attempt to send email, followed by javax.servlet.ServletException: com.sun.mail.util.MailConnectException: Couldn't connect to host, port: localhost, 25; timeout -1; nested exception is: java.net.ConnectException: Connction refused, make sure you followed the instructions above to Configure an SMTP Server on Your Local Machine.

Undeploy the Archive

1. Make sure you have started the JBoss EAP server as described above.

2. Open a command prompt and navigate to the root directory of this quickstart.

3. When you are finished testing, type this command to undeploy the archive:

    mvn wildfly:undeploy
   

Remove the Mail Configuration

You can remove the mail configuration by running the remove-mail-session.cli script provided in the root directory of this quickstart or by manually restoring the back-up copy the configuration file.

Remove the Custom Mail Configuration by Running the JBoss CLI Script

1. Start the JBoss EAP server by typing the following:

    For Linux:  EAP7_HOME/bin/standalone.sh
    For Windows:  EAP7_HOME\bin\standalone.bat
   

2. Open a new command prompt, navigate to the root directory of this quickstart, and run the following command, replacing EAP7_HOME with the path to your server:

    For Linux: EAP7_HOME/bin/jboss-cli.sh --connect --file=remove-mail-session.cli
    For Windows: EAP7_HOME\bin\jboss-cli.bat --connect --file=remove-mail-session.cli
   

   This script removes the custom MyOtherMail session from the mail subsystem in the server configuration. file You should see the following result when you run the script:

    The batch executed successfully
    process-state: reload-required
   

Remove the Custom Mail Configuration Manually

1. If it is running, stop the JBoss EAP server.
2. Replace the EAP7_HOME/standalone/configuration/standalone-full.xml file with the back-up copy of the file.

Run the Quickstart in Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio or Eclipse

You can also start the server and deploy the quickstarts or run the Arquillian tests from Eclipse using JBoss tools. For general information about how to import a quickstart, add a JBoss EAP server, and build and deploy a quickstart, see Use JBoss Developer Studio or Eclipse to Run the Quickstarts.

NOTE:

• Be sure to Configure an SMTP Server on Your Local Machine.
• Be sure to configure the JBoss EAP custom mail configuration as described above under Configure the JBoss EAP Server. Stop the server at the end of that step.
• To deploy the server project, right-click on the mail project and choose Run As --> Run on Server. A browser window appears that accesses the running application.
• Be sure to Remove the Mail Configuration when you have completed testing this quickstart.

Debug the Application

If you want to debug the source code of any library in the project, run the following command to pull the source into your local repository. The IDE should then detect it.

    mvn dependency:sources