A common requirement for applications is the ability to send email. They might be business data reports, status notifications, or administrative alerts. Fortunately, since 8i the Oracle database has included support for email (SMTP) communication with the UTL_SMTP package. Later, with the 10gR1 release, Oracle added the UTL_MAIL package which has limited functionality; but provides a simple one-step API for small messages. The low-code platform APEX includes it’s own simplified API with the APEX_MAIL package.
In this series of articles I will explain how to send email from within an Oracle database with each package. I’ll begin with the basics and then move into more complex functionality.
I’ll begin with UTL_MAIL as it has the simplest API and then move on to APEX_MAIL which is a little richer in functionality and then wrap up with multiple articles covering UTL_SMTP to implement the full range of email tools.
Part 3: UTL_SMTP – Introduction
Part 4: UTL_SMTP – Authentication (API)
Part 5: UTL_SMTP – Authentication (manual)
Part 6: UTL_SMTP – MIME Content
Part 7: UTL_SMTP – Attachments
Part 8: UTL_SMTP – HTML Formatted Content