Issue in sending mails using magento?

Question

I cannot send the email by clicking on the button 'email me'.It is redirecting and showing an empty page.Please anyone help me

my code form.phtml

<div>
<b> Hello <?php echo $_POST["name"]; ?>!</b><br>
<b>Email    :</b> <?php echo $_POST["email"]; ?>.<br>
<b>Gender   :</b> <?php echo $_POST["gender"]; ?>.<br>
<b>Birthday :</b>
<?php
     $day = $_POST['day'];
     $month = $_POST['month'];
     $year = $_POST['year'];
     $date = $day."-".$month."-".$year;
     $my_date = date('d-m-Y', strtotime($date));
     echo $my_date;
?>
</div>



<div>
<form method="post" action="<?php echo $this->getPostActionUrl()?>" id="form-validate">
<table border="1" style="width:100%">

<tr>
<th id= "sno" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;" class="bg-color" width="5%">S.No</th>
<th id= "vaccine" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;" class="bg-color center" width="32%">Vaccine</th>     
<th id="decsription" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;">Description</th>
<th id="duedate" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;" class ="bg-color" width="15%">Due Date</th>

 </tr>
<tr>
<td>1</td>
<td><a href="http://www.labwise.in/devel/hepatitis-b/" style="color: rgb(0,255,0)"><font color="#0000FF">Hepatitis B</font></a>
</td>       
<td>

        <b><span> At birth: </span></b><br></br>
        <span>For infants born to hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)-positive mothers, administer HepB vaccine and 0.5 mL of hepatitis B immune globulin (HBIG) within 12 hours of birth. These infants should be tested for HBsAg and antibody to HBsAg (anti-HBs) 1 to 2 months after completion of the HepB series at age 9 through 18 months (preferably at the next well-child visit).</span>

</td>
<td> 
<div id="duedtdiv">

<div class="input-box dob" id="duedtdiv">
<?php

      $date=date_create("now");
      $bdate=date_create($my_date);

      //echo date_format($dueDate,'d-m-Y');

        if($date >= $bdate)
        {
            $dueDate=$bdate->modify('+6 week');
            echo date_format($dueDate,"d-m-Y");
        }
        else
        {
            $bdate->modify('+2 week');
            echo date_format($bdate,'d-m-Y');
        }
?>

</div>


</div>

</td>
 </tr>
 </table>
</form>
       <button type="submit" title="<?php echo $this->__('Save Form') ?>" class="button"><span><span><?php echo $this->__('Save Form') ?></span></span> </button></div>

 </div>
&nbsp; 
 <div>
      <button type="submit" title="<?php echo Mage::helper('vaccination')->__('Email Me') ?>" class="button"><span><span><?php echo Mage::helper('vaccination')->__('Email Me')?></span></span>   </button>
 </div>
    <script type="text/javascript">

   //<![CDATA[
       var dataForm = new VarienForm('form-validate', true);

   //]]>
   </script>

IndexController.php

  <?php

    class Labwise_Vaccination_IndexController extends Mage_Core_Controller_Front_Action
{

const XML_PATH_EMAIL_RECIPIENT  = 'contacts/customemail/recipient_email';
const XML_PATH_EMAIL_SENDER     = 'contacts/customemail/sender_email_identity';
const XML_PATH_EMAIL_TEMPLATE   = 'contacts/customemail/email_template';
const XML_PATH_ENABLED          = 'contacts/vaccination/enabled';

public function preDispatch()
{
    parent::preDispatch();

    if( !Mage::getStoreConfigFlag(self::XML_PATH_ENABLED) ) {
        $this->norouteAction();
    }
}

public function indexAction()
{
    $this->loadLayout();
    $this->getLayout()->getBlock('vaccinationform')
        ->setFormAction( Mage::getUrl('*/*/send') );

    $this->_initLayoutMessages('customer/session');
    $this->_initLayoutMessages('catalog/session');
    $this->renderLayout();
}

public function sendAction()
{
    $post = $this->getRequest()->getPost();
    if ( $post ) {
        $translate = Mage::getSingleton('core/translate');
        $translate->setTranslateInline(false);
        try {
            $postObject = new Varien_Object();
            $postObject->setData($post);

            $error = false;

            if (!Zend_Validate::is(trim($post['name']) , 'NotEmpty')) {
                $error = true;
            }


            if (!Zend_Validate::is(trim($post['email']), 'EmailAddress')) {
                $error = true;
            }

            if (Zend_Validate::is(trim($post['hideit']), 'NotEmpty')) {
                $error = true;
            }

            if ($error) {
                throw new Exception();
            }
            Zend_Debug::dump($postObject); 
            die();
            $mailTemplate = Mage::getModel('core/email_template');
            $mailTemplate->setDesignConfig(array('area' => 'frontend'))
                ->setReplyTo($post['email'])
                ->sendTransactional(
                    Mage::getStoreConfig(self::XML_PATH_EMAIL_TEMPLATE),
                    Mage::getStoreConfig(self::XML_PATH_EMAIL_SENDER),
                    Mage::getStoreConfig(self::XML_PATH_EMAIL_RECIPIENT),
                    null,
                    array('data' => $postObject)
                );

            if (!$mailTemplate->getSentSuccess()) {
                throw new Exception();
            }

            $translate->setTranslateInline(true);

            Mage::getSingleton('customer/session')->addSuccess(Mage::helper('vaccination')->__('Thanks for your enquiry. We will be in touch shortly!'));
            $this->_redirect('*/*/');

            return;
        } catch (Exception $e) {
            $translate->setTranslateInline(true);

            Mage::getSingleton('customer/session')->addError(Mage::helper('vaccination')->__('Sorry, we were unable to submit your enquiry.'));
            $this->_redirect('*/*/');
            return;
        }

    } else {
        $this->_redirect('*/*/');
    }
}

}
 ?>

email template:

<?php
 $installer = $this;
 $installer->startSetup();

 $installer->run("
  INSERT INTO {$this->getTable('core_email_template')} (`template_code`, `template_text`, `template_type`, `template_subject`, `template_sender_name`, `template_sender_email`, `added_at`, `modified_at`) VALUES
('Vaccination', 'Child Name: {{var data.name}}\r\nE-mail: {{var data.email}}\r\nMobile Number: {{var data.mobile}}', 1, 'Vaccination', NULL, NULL, NOW(), NOW());
");
 $installer->endSetup();

Answer 1

Inchoo has an excellent post on this: http://inchoo.net/magento/magento-custom-emails/

No need for an installer even, if you follow the instructions you should be able to send an email.

From the post: In your controller you should have something like this where you would fill the $emailTemplateVariables with your post data

...
/*
 * Loads the html file named 'custom_email_template1.html' from
 * app/locale/en_US/template/email/activecodeline_custom_email1.html
 */ 
$emailTemplate  = Mage::getModel('core/email_template')
                        ->loadDefault('custom_email_template1');                                    

//Create an array of variables to assign to template
$emailTemplateVariables = array();
$emailTemplateVariables['myvar1'] = 'Branko';
$emailTemplateVariables['myvar2'] = 'Ajzele';
$emailTemplateVariables['myvar3'] = 'ActiveCodeline';

/**
 * The best part :)
 * Opens the activecodeline_custom_email1.html, throws in the variable array 
 * and returns the 'parsed' content that you can use as body of email
 */
$processedTemplate = $emailTemplate->getProcessedTemplate($emailTemplateVariables);

/*
 * Or you can send the email directly, 
 * note getProcessedTemplate is called inside send()
 */
$emailTemplate->send('john@someemail.com','John Doe', $emailTemplateVariables);
...

In your config.xml you assign a template

<global>      
    <template>
        <email>
            <custom_email_template1 module="SampleModule1">
                <label>ActiveCodeline custom email module</label>
                <file>activecodeline_custom_email1.html</file>
                <type>html</type>
            </custom_email_template1>
        </email>
    </template>
</global>  
...

And create the email template under app/locale/[language]/template/email/[templatefile].html

<!--@subject ActiveCodeline custom email module @-->

<div>
<h1>ActiveCodeline custom email example by Branko Ajzele</h1>
<p>Hi there {{var myvar1}} {{var myvar2}} from {{var myvar3}}. This is just some example template to test custom email module.</p>
</div>

Where you can reference the keys in your template variable array in the controller via the syntax {{var [keyname]}}