This is a basic instruction of how to send messages with PHP list once it is configured. No configuration details are included here. For the full support and docs, please go here:

Once you arrive at the main Admin screen it will look something like this:

Click on the “send a message” button in the menu (right hand side) and you will see the following screen:

Notice the four areas highlited here:

1. The subject line. This can say whatever you want it to say. It is very important that it catches the attention of your audience and idetifies your company.

2. The from field. This contains two elements. The first is your name or company name. It can be several words separated by spaces if you wish. There must be a space after your name and before your email address. Your email address should be at your domain and it should be the registered reply-to address for PHPlist for best spam filter results.

3. The send test message button is used to send yourself a copy of the message to confirm that it looks the way you want it to before distributing it to your clients.

4. The test message address must be in the database for this function to work. That is, you must be signed up to your own newsletter.

5. The save button can and should be used at frequent intervals while composing your message.

TIP: The content that you enter in the main message box, should preferably not be posted from Word or another word processor. It is better to format your text after you enter it into PHPlist with bullets, bold, underline and colours. To strip away all formatting, simply paste your text into windows notepad first and the copy it from there.

Next click the Format Tab at the top:

Flashme clients usually have a default message format set and therefore you can skip this step. If the test message is not appearing as you hoped, check these settings. Any messages with images or text formatting included must be sent as “HTML”. The templates section is not covered here. This instruction assumes your designer has already installed a template for you. Flashme clients, this will usually be your default stationery.

Next click onthe “Lists” tab:

You will probably only have one list, but it must be selected nonetheless. When you have made your selection, click the button at the bottom to send the message to the queue.

PHPlist places messages in the queue for sending. If you want to create another message, do so before processing the queue as the program will not be usable while the queue is processing. It is advisable to leave your browser open for the duration of the queue process. For Flashme Clients, your messages will be sent out at 1 every 15 seconds, so every 100 messages will take 25 minutes. This is to prevent server overload and spam filters from marking your sender as unsolicited.

YOU ARE NOT FINSIHED YET.

When your process is due to be finished, you need to check that it is finished. The easiest way is simply to log in and click the button again here:

If the process is complete, you will see the log display a series of checks and then. “Nothing to do.” The process could be interrupted for a number of reasons. If you send a monthly newsletter and last month’s process was not completed, when you process the queue this month it will begin by finishing last months message, which will of course be out of date.

If you want to check to see if there are any old messages still queued go here:

Any messages that are still unfinished will have a suspend link visible beside them. Most businesses will want to suspend any old messages before processing the queue again.

It is always good to check that you received your own message as a subscriber to your list. This should be in addition to any test messages that you sent.

For any of you actionscript coders out there that may be searching for this. I discovered through trial and error that functions cannot be defined inside switches ie the following will not work

The code assumes there is a button on the stage called myButton

var myVar:String = “test”

switch(myVar){

case “test”:

myButton.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_DOWN,doMyFunction); //this listener will be reported as null error #2007

function doMyFunction(event:MouseEvent){

trace (“function is working”);

}

}

You have to move the definintion of the function outside the switch like this:

var myVar:String = “test”

switch(myVar){

case “test”:

myButton.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_DOWN,doMyFunction); //this listener is OK

}

function doMyFunction(event:MouseEvent){

trace (“function is working”);

}

This is not the same as the if-then statement function and so can be a trap for those who begin using switch statements to be concise. Hope it helps.