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How to send an Email notification with Gmail?

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Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) is a quick and easy way to send emails from one server to another. Python has EmailMessage class which can be used to build email messages. In this tutorial, how to send an email notification with Django.

Introduction :

Django (Django rest Framework):

Django REST framework (DRF) is a powerful and flexible toolkit for building Web APIs. Its main benefit is that it makes serialization much easier. Django REST framework is based on Django's class-based views, so it's an excellent option if you're familiar with Django. To know more about relative links click here

SMTP :

SMTP (or the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) is a set of rules for determining how emails are transferred from senders to recipients. SMTP servers use this protocol to send and relay outgoing emails. (Note that other protocols govern how emails are received.)

An SMTP server always has a unique address, and a specific port for sending messages, which in most cases is 587. We’ll see how the port is relevant while sending emails with Django. To know more about relative links click here

Flow Diagram:

Prerequisites:

Python
Django

Steps:

Step 1: Set Up an App Password in Gmail

Go to Gmail and log in to your account.
Go to your Google Account

Go to option Security and Enable two-factor authentication, as it’s required to get an app password.

Once you’re in, click on the select app, where you’ll choose a custom name for that app password — such as “Django Send Email” — then click on GENERATE.

Step 2: Install Python

Python3.6 or above is needed in order to create a Django project, therefore please install python and proceed to the next step.

Step 3: Install Django:

Install the Django framework using the following command.

1pip install django

Step 4: Create a Django Project:

Create a Django project using the below command.

1django-admin startproject backend

Step 5: Create a Django App:

After creating the Django project, then create the Django app

1python manage.py startapp accounts

A sample screenshot of Django project files is shown below.

Screenshot6

Step 6: Configure the Django project to establish a connection with SMPT.

In backend/settings.py, add the following piece of code:

1EMAIL_BACKEND = 'django.core.mail.backends.smtp.EmailBackend'
2EMAIL_HOST = 'smtp.gmail.com'
3EMAIL_HOST_USER = 'gmail account email id'
4EMAIL_HOST_PASSWORD = '#############'                  #  You two verification password
5EMAIL_USE_TLS = True
6EMAIL_PORT = 587

The sample code for the backend/settings.py file can be found in the following Github URL.

django_smtp_configuration_example/settings.py at master · episyche/django_smtp_configuration_example

Update the accounts/views.py file with the following code.

1from django.core.mail.message import EmailMultiAlternatives
2from django.conf import settings
3from django.template.loader import render_to_string
4from django.shortcuts import redirect, render
5
6def send_email(request):
7    if request.method=="POST":
8        email_id = request.POST.get('email_id')
9        response_data = "email send to "+email_id
10        email_name = email_id.split('@')
11
12        email_template = render_to_string(
13            'email.html', {"username": email_name[0]})
14        email_obj = EmailMultiAlternatives(
15            "Email Notification Example",
16            "Email Notification Example",
17            settings.EMAIL_HOST_USER,
18            [email_id],
19        )
20        email_obj.attach_alternative(email_template, 'text/html')
21        email_obj.send()
22        context = {"data":response_data}
23        return render(request,"index.html",context)
24    else:
25        context = {"data":"response_data"}
26        return render(request,"index.html")

The sample code for the accounts/views.py file can be found in the following Github URL.

django_smtp_configuration_example/views.py at master · episyche/django_smtp_configuration_example

Add the accounts/urls.py file with the following content.

1from django.urls import path
2from .views import*
3
4urlpatterns = [
5    path("send-email/",send_email)
6]

The sample code for the accounts/urls.py file can be found in the following Github URL.

django_smtp_configuration_example/urls.py at master · episyche/django_smtp_configuration_example

Create the templates in your project directory.

In your project, go to your /templates directory and create a file called index.html

In templates/index.html, add the following piece of code:

1<!DOCTYPE html>
2<html lang="en">
3
4<head>
5    <meta charset="UTF-8">
6    <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge">
7    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
8    <script src="https://cdn.tailwindcss.com"></script>
9
10    <title>Email Notification</title>
11</head>
12
13<body>
14    <div class="w-[1100px] mx-auto py-10">
15        <form action="." method="post">
16            {% csrf_token %}
17            {% if data %}
18            <h1 class="w-fit bg-green-300 py-1 px-7  rounded-xl text-center mx-auto mb-10 ">{{data}}</h1>
19            {% endif %}
20            <div class="w-80 mx-auto space-y-3">
21                <label for="email" class="block text-sm font-medium text-gray-700 ml-1">Email Id</label>
22                <div class="mt-1"></div>
23
24                <input type="email" name="email_id" id="email"
25                    class="block w-full rounded-md border text-center h-10 border-gray-300 shadow-sm focus:border-indigo-500 focus:ring-indigo-500 sm:text-sm"
26                    placeholder="you@example.com" aria-describedby="email-description" required>
27                <input type="submit" value="submit"
28                    class="w-fit px-3 mx-auto border bg-blue-400 rounded-md border-gray-400">
29            </div>
30        </form>
31    </div>
32    </div>
33</body>
34</html>

Sample code for the templates/index.html the file can be found in the following Github URL.

django_smtp_configuration_example/index.html at master · episyche/django_smtp_configuration_example

In your project, go to your /templates directory and create a file called email.html

In templates/email.html, add the following piece of code:
1<!DOCTYPE html> 2<html lang="en"> 3 4<head> 5 <meta charset="UTF-8"> 6 <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge"> 7 <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0"> 8 <title>Email Notification</title> 9</head> 10<body> 11 Hello, {{username}} 12 13 Email Notification 14 15 Thank you 16 Team <a href="https://episyche.com/">Episyche Technologies</a> 17</body> 18</html>

The sample code for the templates/email.html file can be found in the following Github URL.

django_smtp_configuration_example/email.html at master · episyche/django_smtp_configuration_example 

A Sample GitHub repo, with all the required configurations, is given below.

GitHub - episyche/django_smtp_configuration_example

Result:

After finishing all the steps mentioned above, please go to the web browser, and try to access the next.js application (i.e http://127.0.0.1:8000/send-email). An example output screenshot is given below.

Results1