Codeigniter 3: send account activation email fails - arguments

Question

I am working on a Register and Login application with CodeIgniter 3 and Twitter Bootstrap.
When a user registers, an email should be send to the address he/she provided, with an account confirmation link. The problem is that the confirmation email does not send.
In the Usermodel I have:
public function activationEmail($first_name='', $last_name='', $email='', $verification_key='')
{
$this->load->library('email');
$config = Array(
'protocol' => 'smtp',
'smtp_host' => 'smtp.code-love.tk',
'smtp_port' => 465,
'smtp_user' => 'razvan#code-love.tk',
'smtp_pass' => '******',
'smtp_crypto' => 'ssl',
'mailtype' => 'html',
'charset' => 'iso-8859-1'
);
$messg = 'Wellcome, '. $first_name . ' ' . $last_name . '! Click the <strong>confirmation link</strong> to confirm your account.';
$this->email->initialize($config);
$this->email->set_newline('\r\n');
$this->email->from('mail.code-love.tk','Razvan Zamfir');
$this->email->to($email);
$this->email->subject('Account activation');
$this->email->message($messg);
if (!$this->email->send()) {
show_error($this->email->print_debugger());
}
else {
echo 'Your e-mail has been sent!';
}
}
In my Signup controller I have this code:
public function signup() {
$this->form_validation->set_rules('first_name', 'First name', 'required');
$this->form_validation->set_rules('last_name', 'Last name', 'required');
$this->form_validation->set_rules('email', 'Email', 'required|trim|valid_email');
$this->form_validation->set_rules('password', 'Password', 'required|min_length[6]');
$this->form_validation->set_rules('cpassword', 'Confirm password', 'required|matches[password]');
$this->form_validation->set_error_delimiters('<p class="error">', '</p>');
if ($this->form_validation->run()) {
$first_name = $this->input->post('first_name');
$last_name = $this->input->post('last_name');
$email = $this->input->post('email');
$password = $this->input->post('password');
$verification_key = md5($email);
$date_created = date('Y-m-d H:i:s');
$date_updated = date('Y-m-d H:i:s');
$active = 0;
// Load user model
$this->load->model('Usermodel');
// If email does not already exist in the database
// signup new user
if (!$this->Usermodel->email_exists($email)) {
if ($this->Usermodel->user_register($first_name, $last_name, $email, $password, $verification_key, $date_created, $date_updated, $active) && $this->Usermodel->activationEmail($first_name, $last_name, $email, $verification_key)) {
$this->session->set_flashdata("signup_success", "Your account has just bean created. You must confirm it before you can sign in. We have send you a confirmation email at $email for this purpose.");
} else {
// unless sigup does not fail for whatever reason
$this->session->set_flashdata("signup_failure", "We ware unable to create your account.");
}
redirect('signup');
} else {
// If email is already in the database
// urge user to sign in (redirect to signup page too)
$this->session->set_flashdata("email_exists", "The email address $email already exists in the database. Please signin.");
redirect('signin');
}
} else {
$this->load->view('signup');
}
}
The sign up does happen, with the error below, and the verification email is not send. I am not doing this from a local XAMPP/WAMP/MAMP server, but from a "live" one, you can signup yourself.
Severity: Warning
Message: fsockopen(): php_network_getaddresses: getaddrinfo failed: Name or service not known
Filename: libraries/Email.php
Line Number: 1950
Backtrace:
File: /home/roxoqdat/code-love.tk/ciauth/application/models/Usermodel.php
Line: 52
Function: send
File: /home/roxoqdat/code-love.tk/ciauth/application/controllers/Signup.php
Line: 42
Function: activationEmail
File: /home/roxoqdat/code-love.tk/ciauth/index.php
Line: 292
Function: require_once
What am I doing wrong?

Answer 1

Check if you have the required SMTP service.
Try with google SMTP service.
$config = Array(
'protocol' => 'smtp',
'smtp_host' => 'ssl://smtp.googlemail.com',
'smtp_port' => 465,
'smtp_user' => 'xxx',
'smtp_pass' => 'xxx',
'mailtype' => 'html',
'charset' => 'iso-8859-1'
);
$this->load->library('email', $config);
$this->email->set_newline("\r\n");
$this->email->from('mygmail#gmail.com', 'myname');
$this->email->to('target#gmail.com');
$this->email->subject('Email Test');
$this->email->message('Testing the email class.');
$result = $this->email->send();
Next try with:
$config = array('mailtype' => 'html');
Remove the rest from $config = array.

Answer 2

First of all, after setting flashdata, I don't see you redirecting the user to where they can see it...
Also, send the mail first, then you set flash data as An Activation Link Has Been Sent To Your Email, Please Check Your Email To Activate Your Account!
So,
User Registers,
An email is sent to them only if it doesn't exist already,
Set flashdata for any errors that may arise... Eg:
Assign a variable to the email sending function:
$send_email = $this->activationEmail('params');
In your activationEmail function, make sure there is a simple control structure like this:
$success=$this->email->send();
if($success){ return true; } else{ return false; }
Now in your controller, compare to see if mail is actually sent:
if($send_email == true){ $this->session->flashdata('success','Your success message');
// use the redirect() helper function to the function that loads your view
} else { //set failed flashdata and redirect to where you want it seen like above}
You then will know where the problem is.
Let the program flow in your mind first, then implement it. Try that first and get back to me right after.
Hope it somehow helps

Answer 3

Debug whether your parameters are passing or not (specially last_name). Try to write the model method like this to avoid showing errors
public function activationEmail($first_name='', $last_name='', $email='', $verification_key='')
Try adding header to your email (You are setting mailtype twice, might be an issue).
$this->email->set_header('MIME-Version', '1.0; charset=utf-8');
$this->email->set_header('Content-type', 'text/html');