Send an Email Using React.js + Express.js

Question

I have built a web app using React.js in ES6. I currently want to create a basic \"Contact Us\" page and want to send an email. I am new to React and just discovered that I

Answer 1

@ryan-jenkin is completely correct.

Alternatively, if you don't have / want jQuery as a dependency, you can use the native fetch api. Also, I typically set up my form so each input has a state, then use that state in the stringified blob.

Client-side (React):

handleSubmit(e){
  e.preventDefault()

  fetch('/contactus', {
    method: 'POST',
    headers: {
      'Accept': 'application/json',
      'Content-Type': 'application/json',
    },
    body: JSON.stringify({
      email: this.state.email,
      // then continue this with the other inputs, such as email body, etc.
    })
  })
  .then((response) => response.json())
  .then((responseJson) => {
    if (responseJson.success) {
      this.setState({formSent: true})
    }
    else this.setState({formSent: false})
  })
  .catch((error) => {
    console.error(error);
  });
}

render(){
  return (
    <form onSubmit={this.handleSubmit} >
      <input type="text" name="email" value={this.state.email} />
      // continue this with other inputs, like name etc
    </form>
  )
}

Answer 2

When the button is clicked, execute an ajax POST request to your express server, i.e "/contactus". /contactus can fetch the email, subject, and content out of the post data and send to the mail function.

In React:

$.ajax({
    url: '/contactus',
    dataType: 'json',
    cache: false,
    success: function(data) {
        // Success..
    }.bind(this),
    error: function(xhr, status, err) {
        console.error(status, err.toString());
    }.bind(this)
});

In express add the nodemailer code within an express post handler:

app.post('/contactus', function (req, res) {
    // node mailer code
});