App wants to send email from localhost

Question

I'm developing a php application and need to test the functionality of sending emails. Problem is I'm using a development environment (wamp on windows) so I'm guessing I don't have access to smtp or a mail server.

It looks like I may need to install a separate application that would act as my mail server. What's the easiest way to do this (I'm on windows working on wamp), and is there another alternative like a public server to be used for testing by developers (free please because I'll probably use it just 10 times until the email functionality is tweaked). Then I guess there are settings that I need to change to my development environment itself? Anyone can shed some light on this please.

Thanks

Answer 1

XAMPP comes with Mercury to handle E-Mails. It can talk to SMTP servers through SSL if necessary, and works well for me.

Answer 2

You need an SMTP Server. I use PostCast Server, which is free and does the needful.