CakePHP 1.3 running shell with cron - passing data to email template - shell

Question

I'm running a shell script via a cron job. It correctly sends an email. However I want to be able to pass data to the email template from the database which I seem unable to do.
Here is the shell
App::import('Core', 'Controller');
App::import('Component', 'Email');
class ExampleShell extends Shell {
var $uses = array('User');
function main() {
$users = $this->User->find('all');
$this->Controller =& new Controller();
$this->Email =& new EmailComponent(null);
$this->Email->initialize($this->Controller);
$this->Email->reset();
$this->Email->to = 'xx<xx#xx.com>';
$this->Email->subject = "Subject";
$this->Email->template = 'example';
$this->Email->sendAs = "both";
$this->Controller->set('users', $users);
$this->Email->send();
}
}
The variable $users does not seem to be available in the example.ctp file? How can I pass data from the shell script to the template please?

Answer 1

I managed to do it in following way
class ExampleShell extends Shell {
var $uses = array('User');
var $Controller = null;
function __construct(&$dispatch) {
App::import('Core', 'Controller');
App::import('Controller', 'App');
$this->Controller = & new Controller();
App::import('Component', 'Email');
$this->Email = new EmailComponent();
$this->Email->initialize($this->Controller);
parent::__construct($dispatch);
}
function main() {
$users = $this->User->find('all');
$this->Controller =& new Controller();
$this->Email =& new EmailComponent(null);
$this->Email->initialize($this->Controller);
$this->Email->reset();
$this->Email->to = 'xx<xx#xx.com>';
$this->Email->subject = "Subject";
$this->Email->sendAs = "both";
$this->Controller->set('users', $users);
$this->Email->send(null, 'template_1');
}
}
I hope it helps someone.
Make sure template is located where it should be app/views/elements/email/html/template_1.ctp and app/views/elements/email/text/template_1.ctp for text version. You should create layouts too in app/views/layouts/email/html/default.ctp and app/views/layouts/email/text/default.ctp