Newsletter

This package automatically generates and sends a newsletter for posts and comments on a predefined schedule.

Every x days, it builds a digest consisting of the top y items posted in the past x days that haven’t yet been sent out in a newsletter. It then sends the campaign, and sends you a confirmation email.

Note: this package requires using a third-party email provider (MailChimp and Sendy are currently supported).

Install

meteor add vulcan:newsletter

Dependencies

Vulcan Dependencies

• vulcan:core
• vulcan:posts
• vulcan:comments
• vulcan:categories
• vulcan:email

NPM Dependencies

• mailchimp
• sendy-api

Settings

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"newsletter": {
  "enabled":true,
  "enabledInDev":false,
  "autoSubscribe":false,
  "frequency": [1,2,3,4,5,6,7],
  "time": "00:00",
  "provider": "mailchimp"
},
"sendy": {
  "server": "http://sendy.myapp.com/",
  "apiKey": "123foo",
  "listId": "456bar",
  "fromName": "Bruce Willis",
  "fromEmail": "hello@myapp.com",
  "replyTo": "hello@myapp.com"
},
"mailchimp": {
  "apiKey": "123foo",
  "listId": "456bar",
  "fromName": "hello@myapp.com",
  "fromEmail": "hello@myapp.com"
},

• enabled: enable/disable automated newsletter sending.
• enabledInDev: enable/disable newsletter while in development mode.
• autoSubscribe: automatically subscribe every new user to your newsletter.
• frequency: which days the newsletter should go out. 1 is Monday, 2 is Tuesday, etc.
• time: what time the newsletter should go out.
• provider: the name of your newsletter provider.

Sendy Settings

• server: The URL to your self-hosted Sendy server (including trailing /).
• apiKey: Your API key.
• listId: List ID.
• fromName: “From” name.
• fromEmail: “From” email.
• replyTo: “Reply to” email.

MailChimp Settings

• apiKey: Your API key.
• listId: List ID.

Test Routes

If you want to preview your email templates, you can do so at the following routes:

• Campaign: http://localhost:3000/email/newsletter
• Confirmation: http://localhost:3000/email/newsletter-confirmation

(Replace http://localhost:3000 with your app’s URL)

Mutations

The package exposes the following GraphQL mutations:

• sendNewsletter: generate and send the next newsletter.
• testNewsletter: same as sendNewsletter, but without marking posts as sent.
• addUserNewsletter(userId: String): add a user to your subscriber list.
• addEmailNewsletter(email: String): add an email to your subscriber list.
• removeUserNewsletter(userId: String): remove a user from your subscriber list.

You can call these mutations from any React component using the withMutation HoC:

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import React, { PropTypes, Component } from 'react';
import { withMutation } from 'meteor/vulcan:core';

const SendButton = ({ sendNewsletter }) => <button onClick={sendNewsletter}>Send Newsletter</button>

export default withMutation({name: 'sendNewsletter'})(SendButton);

Providers

To add a provider, you can start from the sample.js template included in the package.

Any new provider must implement the following methods:

• Newsletters.providerName.subscribe(email): subscribe an email to your list.
• Newsletters.providerName.unsubscribe(email): unsubscribe an email from your list.
• Newsletters.providerName.send({ title, subject, text, html, isTest}): send a newsletter.

NewsletterSubscribe Component

This package also exports a NewsletterSubscribe custom form field component used to add a subscribe/unsubscribe button to the user account page.

Settings