How to use GMail’s SMTP Server with Merb

I switched our email service provider to Google last week. So I have to figure out how to send out emails with GMail. I started with the default Net::SMTP settings, but it failed miserable:

    ~ 530 5.7.0 Must issue a STARTTLS command first. 7sm1765038qwf.45

After playing a while and googled a bit, here is the solution:

1. In your dependencies.rb, add following line:
    dependency "tlsmail"
2. Install the gem
    bin/thor merb:gem:install
3. Modify your init.rb
   

	Merb::BootLoader.after_app_loads do
	# for the mailer - gmail
	Merb::Mailer.config = {
	:host => 'smtp.gmail.com',
	:port => '587',
	:user => 'your_name@your_domain',
	:pass => 'your_pass',
	:auth => :plain, # :plain, ;login, :cram_md5
	:domain => "your_domain"
	}
	end

view raw gmail_mailer_conf.rb hosted with ❤ by GitHub

4. Over write the mailer
   

	class Mailer
	# Sends the mail using SMTP.
	def net_smtp
	Net::SMTP.enable_tls(OpenSSL::SSL::VERIFY_NONE)
	Net::SMTP.start(config[:host], config[:port].to_i, config[:domain],
	config[:user], config[:pass], config[:auth]) { |smtp|
	smtp.send_message.....
	}
	end
	end

view raw mailer.rb hosted with ❤ by GitHub

    Note: the "Net::SMTP.enable_tls(OpenSSL::SSL::VERIFY_NONE)"
5. Sending email
   

	def send_email()
	begin
	mailer = Merb::Mailer.new(
	:from => 'your from',
	# hack: Net::SMTP.send_message does not send msg to cc
	:to => 'your_to list',
	:subject => 'your subject',
	:text => 'content')
	mailer.deliver!
	rescue => exception
	Merb.logger.error(exception)
	end
	end

view raw send_email.rb hosted with ❤ by GitHub

    Note: use :text instead of :body

Now, you are good to go.

How to add a third-party framework in your iphone project

I was working on an iPhone project, which needs some other third-party frameworks which is developed in c++. Since I am new to XCode, it really took me a while to get it straight.

1. Hard copy the third-party's src code fold into your iPhone project.
2. In your iPhone project, create a new taget
3. Unfold your target, right click(or control click) on the new target, choose "add existing files", then find the src you just copied. Do NOT check "Copy items into destination group's folder", because you've already copied it.
4. Compile your new target, if every thing goes well you should be able to get the .a file.
5. Drag the .a file to your project target -> link binary with libraries folder.
6. This step is optional, it depends on what type the third party src is. If it is c++ src, you have to rename your file which make directly calls to the third-party from .m to .mm.

I am hoping this could save you sometime to get your iPhone project up and running.