Implementing email templates and newsletters in Apache Wicket

25 Sep 2023

Setting Up the Project

Before we start implementing email templates and newsletters, let’s first set up the Apache Wicket project. Make sure you have Apache Maven installed.

To create a new Apache Wicket project, open your terminal and navigate to the directory where you want to create the project.

Type the following command to create a new Maven project:

mvn archetype:generate -DarchetypeGroupId=org.apache.wicket -DarchetypeArtifactId=wicket-archetype-quickstart -DarchetypeVersion=9.0.0-M8
   

Provide the necessary information like group id, artifact id, and package name for your project.
Once the project is created, navigate into the newly created project directory:
```
cd your-project-name
```

Creating Email Templates

Now let’s create the email templates using Apache Wicket’s markup language, HTML, and CSS.

Create a new package called email inside the src/main/java directory.

Inside the email package, create a new class called EmailTemplate that extends Panel:

public class EmailTemplate extends Panel {
    public EmailTemplate(String id) {
        super(id);
    }
}

Create a new HTML file called email-template.html in the same package and add the following HTML code:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <title>Email Template</title>
    <style type="text/css">
        /* CSS styles for the email template */
    </style>
</head>
<body>
    <!-- Email template content -->
</body>
</html>

Add the necessary CSS styles to the <style> tag in the HTML file to customize the appearance of the email template.

In the EmailTemplate class, override the onInitialize() method and load the HTML file using

add(new WebMarkupContainer("content").add(new AttributeAppender("innerHTML", MarkupUtils.fromFile(getClass(), "email-template.html"))))

public class EmailTemplate extends Panel {
    public EmailTemplate(String id) {
        super(id);
    }
       
    @Override
    protected void onInitialize() {
        super.onInitialize();
        add(new WebMarkupContainer("content").add(new AttributeAppender("innerHTML", MarkupUtils.fromFile(getClass(), "email-template.html"))));
    }
}

Integrating Email Templates in Apache Wicket

Now that we have created the email template, let’s integrate it into an Apache Wicket application.

Create a new class called HomePage that extends WebPage:

public class HomePage extends WebPage {
    public HomePage() {
        add(new EmailTemplate("emailTemplate"));
    }
}

In your WicketApplication class, configure the HomePage as your application’s home page:

public class WicketApplication extends WebApplication {
    @Override
    public Class<? extends Page> getHomePage() {
        return HomePage.class;
    }
       
    // Other configuration methods
}

Sending Newsletters

To send newsletters to your subscribers, you can utilize an email service provider or an SMTP server. Here’s an example of sending newsletters using the Apache Wicket framework.

Include the necessary dependencies in your pom.xml file:

<dependency>
    <groupId>org.apache.wicket</groupId>
    <artifactId>wicket-email</artifactId>
    <version>9.0.0-M8</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
    <groupId>org.apache.wicket</groupId>
    <artifactId>wicket-spring</artifactId>
    <version>9.0.0-M8</version>
</dependency>

Create a new class called NewsletterSender to handle sending newsletters:

public class NewsletterSender {
    @SpringBean
    private JavaMailSender mailSender;
       
    public void sendNewsletter(String recipient, String subject, String content) {
        MimeMessage message = mailSender.createMimeMessage();
        MimeMessageHelper helper = new MimeMessageHelper(message);
        // Set the recipient, subject, and content of the email
        try {
            helper.setTo(recipient);
            helper.setSubject(subject);
            helper.setText(content, true); // Enable HTML content
            mailSender.send(message);
        } catch (MessagingException e) {
            // Handle exception
        }
    }
}

Inject the NewsletterSender bean into the page where you want to send the newsletters:

public class HomePage extends WebPage {
    @SpringBean
    private NewsletterSender newsletterSender;
       
    // Other methods and components
}

Use the newsletterSender bean to send newsletters:

newsletterSender.sendNewsletter("example@example.com", "Welcome to our newsletter!", "<h1>Welcome to our newsletter!</h1><p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet...</p>");

With these steps, you can now implement email templates and send newsletters in Apache Wicket. Now you can effectively engage with your audience and deliver personalized and visually appealing content through emails.

#emailtemplates #newsletters