Objective C: Send email without leaving app

Question

How do I send an email within an app without leaving the app.

This works:

-(void) sendEmailTo:(NSString *)to withSubject:(NSString *)subject withBody:(NSString *)body {
NSString *mailString = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"mailto:?to=%@&subject=%@&body=%@",
                        [to stringByAddingPercentEscapesUsingEncoding:NSASCIIStringEncoding],
                        [subject stringByAddingPercentEscapesUsingEncoding:NSASCIIStringEncoding],
                        [body stringByAddingPercentEscapesUsingEncoding:NSASCIIStringEncoding]];
[[UIApplication sharedApplication] openURL:[NSURL URLWithString:mailString]];
}

but goes to the mail app to send. Is there a way to do this without leaving the app?

Answer 1

Yes. Use the MFMailComposeViewController.

// From within your active view controller
if([MFMailComposeViewController canSendMail]) {
    MFMailComposeViewController *mailCont = [[MFMailComposeViewController alloc] init];
    mailCont.mailComposeDelegate = self;

    [mailCont setSubject:@"yo!"];
    [mailCont setToRecipients:[NSArray arrayWithObject:@"[email protected]"]];
    [mailCont setMessageBody:@"Don't ever want to give you up" isHTML:NO];
    [self presentViewController:mailCont animated:YES completion:nil];

}


// Then implement the delegate method
- (void)mailComposeController:(MFMailComposeViewController*)controller didFinishWithResult:(MFMailComposeResult)result error:(NSError*)error {
    [self dismissViewControllerAnimated:YES completion:nil];
}

Answer 2

1. Add MessageUI framework:

   • Click on the project
   • Select "Build Phases"
   • Expand "Link Binary With Libraries"
   • Click "+" and type "Message" to find "MessageUI" framework, then add.

2. In current view controller add import and implement a protocol:

   #import <MessageUI/MessageUI.h> 
   #import <MessageUI/MFMailComposeViewController.h> 
   @interface MyViewController : UIViewController<MFMailComposeViewControllerDelegate>
   

Add methods:

    -(void)sendEmail {
        // From within your active view controller
        if([MFMailComposeViewController canSendMail]) {
            MFMailComposeViewController *mailCont = [[MFMailComposeViewController alloc] init];
            mailCont.mailComposeDelegate = self;        // Required to invoke mailComposeController when send

            [mailCont setSubject:@"Email subject"];
            [mailCont setToRecipients:[NSArray arrayWithObject:@"[email protected]"]];
            [mailCont setMessageBody:@"Email message" isHTML:NO];

            [self presentViewController:mailCont animated:YES completion:nil];
        }
    }

    - (void)mailComposeController:(MFMailComposeViewController*)controller didFinishWithResult:(MFMailComposeResult)result error:(NSError*)error {
        [controller dismissViewControllerAnimated:YES completion:nil];
    }

Answer 3

Updated for iOS 6. Please note that this uses ARC and does not use the deprecated modal view presentation:

#import <MessageUI/MessageUI.h> 
#import <MessageUI/MFMailComposeViewController.h> 
@interface MyViewController : UIViewController<MFMailComposeViewControllerDelegate>

And then the code to present the email screen:

- (IBAction)emailButtonPushed:(id)sender {

    if([MFMailComposeViewController canSendMail]) {
        MFMailComposeViewController *mailCont = [[MFMailComposeViewController alloc] init];
        mailCont.mailComposeDelegate = self;
        [mailCont setSubject:@"Your email"];
        [mailCont setMessageBody:[@"Your body for this message is " stringByAppendingString:@" this is awesome"] isHTML:NO];
        [self presentViewController:mailCont animated:YES completion:nil];
    }

}

- (void)mailComposeController:(MFMailComposeViewController*)controller didFinishWithResult:(MFMailComposeResult)result error:(NSError*)error {
    //handle any error
    [controller dismissViewControllerAnimated:YES completion:nil];
}