DEV Community: Joshua Akan-Etuk

How to Send Email Programmatically (with Node.js)

Joshua Akan-Etuk — Mon, 12 Aug 2024 14:12:31 +0000

Sometimes you want to send emails at scale: cold leads, hiring managers, transactions. Instead of handwriting each email in Gmail (or any other email client) you can programmatically send emails using Node.js. There are many ways to send emails, but in this tutorial we will use nodemailer . It is suggested to have a Gmail account and send via app password, but it is not required. It is super simple.

Install Nodemailer

First, create a folder/repository on a computer and install nodemailer. Nodemailer is a popular Node.js module that greatly simplifies the process of sending emails from your Node.js applications.

npm install nodemailer

Set Up Your Email Configuration

Create a file, say email.js, and configure the SMTP settings for your email service provider (like Gmail, Outlook, etc.). When using Gmail, you'll need to create an app password.

const nodemailer = require('nodemailer');

// Create a transporter
let transporter = nodemailer.createTransport({
    service: 'gmail',
    auth: {
        user: 'your-email@gmail.com',
        pass: 'your-email-password'
    }
});

// Define the email options
let mailOptions = {
    from: 'your-email@gmail.com',
    to: 'recipient-email@example.com',
    subject: 'Hello from Node.js',
    text: 'This is a test email sent from Node.js!',
    html: '<b>This is a test email sent from Node.js!</b>' // Optional: to send HTML content
};

// Send the email
transporter.sendMail(mailOptions, (error, info) => {
    if (error) {
        return console.log(error);
    }
    console.log('Email sent: ' + info.response);
});

and run the script with:

node ./email.js

Sending emails with code is made simple with packages like nodemailer and can an easy way to scale sending email.

How to Use "Send Later" in iOS 18 Developer Preview

Joshua Akan-Etuk — Tue, 11 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The introduction of iOS 18 brings an array of new features. Among these, the "Send Later" feature in the Message app stands out, providing users the ability to schedule messages to be sent at a later time. This feature is particularly useful for managing communication across different time zones or sending a message you don't want to respond to immediately. In this article, we will guide you through the steps to use "Send Later" in the iOS 18 Developer Preview. Note: the feature only works with iMessage recipents.

Enabling the Developer Preview:

Before you can use "Send Later," you need to have the iOS 18 Developer Preview installed on your device. Ensure you are enrolled in the Apple Developer Program, then follow these steps:

Backup Your Device:

Before installing any beta software, it's crucial to back up your device using iCloud or your computer. Download the Beta Profile: Visit the Apple Developer website, sign in, and download the iOS 18 beta profile to your device.

Install the Beta:

Go to Settings > General > Software Update > Beta Updates, and you should see the iOS 18 developer beta available for download.

Once you have iOS 18 installed, follow these steps to use the "Send Later" feature in the Messages app:

Step 1: Compose Your Message

Open the Messages app on your iOS device. Tap the compose button (a square with a pencil icon) to start a new message or open a conversation (with an iMessage user). Enter your message as you usually would.

Step 2: Schedule the message

After composing your message, tap the plus button and menu will appear with several options. Hit "More" and then you will see "Send Later."

Step 3: Set the Sending Time

The screen will return to the conversation with a default time filled to send. Click to change the time to whatever you desire. Tap the message box to close the datetime picker.

Step 4: Confirm and Save

Ensure all details are correct and then tap the send arrow per usual. Your message will now be scheduled and stored in the conversation until the specified time.

Managing Scheduled Messages:

You can review, edit, alter time or cancel scheduled messages before they are sent.

Edit Scheduled Message:

Tap and hold on the message you want to edit, make your changes, and then hit the check to confirm changes.

Alter Scheduled Message Time:

Under "Send Later" in a conversation, tap edit above a conversation you want and hit "Edit Time". Modify the time with the inline datetime picker and tap out of the picker to confirm time.

Cancel Scheduled Message:

Under "Send Later" in a conversation, tap edit above a conversation you want and hit "Delete Message". It will not confirm a delete and your message will be deleted.

The "Send Later" feature in iOS 18 is a powerful tool for managing your text communications more effectively or just deferring conversations until you are ready.

How to Create a Basic API with Python

Joshua Akan-Etuk — Mon, 22 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000

You are starting to get into Python and you want to start tinkering with web apps, but you don't know where to start. Or maybe you are trying to remember how to create and deploy an API using Python. This guide will show you how to create an API with Python using FastAPI. There are many ways to deploy an API using Python like Flask and Django, but in this guide we will use FastAPI.

Install FastAPI:

First, make sure you have FastAPI and Uvicorn installed. You can install them via pip:

pip install fastapi uvicorn

Create your API:

Create a Python file named main.py and add this code:

from fastapi import FastAPI

app = FastAPI()

@app.get("/")
def read_root():
    return {"message": "Hello, World!"}

@app.get("/") allows users to request the top-level of the hosting entity and it will return Hello World. In order to see what it will look like we have to run the server.

Run the server:

Run the server using Uvicorn. In your terminal execute this command:

uvicorn main:app --reload

This allows you to host the server on localhost:8000 and saves to the file will automatically restart the server.

Use Params:

Params allow for specific information from resources to be queried from users. There are multiple way of doing this, I will show you the url way. Add this code to your main.py:

@app.get("/items/{item_id}")
def read_item(item_id: int):
    return {"item_id": item_id}

Now queries to your server like localhost:8000/items/23 will return item_id: 23 from the server.

That's it! You've created a basic API with FastAPI. From here, you can expand your API by adding more routes, integrating databases, adding authentication, etc., depending on you want.

How To Use Open AI API with Node.js

Joshua Akan-Etuk — Thu, 08 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000

ChatGPT has become one of the most popular web applications of all-time. The firm, OpenAI, that created ChatGPT actually has an API that allow access to the same models that ChatGPT uses and more. This article will demonstrate quickstart usage for OpenAI's API for Node.js.

This requires a credit card, but you are provided $5 credits before you are change

First you'll need to create an API account via OpenAI's platform. It's free to create.
Create an API key and save it securely somewhere as it is required to make requests to OpenAI.
Create a Nodejs project. Run npm init if you like.
Install the openai package:

npm install openai@^4.0.0

yarn install openai@^4.0.0

Create a index.js and paste the following code (sourced from OpenAI docs):

import OpenAI from "openai";

const openai = new OpenAI({
  organization: 'YOUR_ORG_ID',
});

You are now ready to make other requests!

Create Shopify Themes with Figma

Joshua Akan-Etuk — Thu, 08 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Shopify seems to be all of the rage these days since everyone is creating small businesses. Creating Shopify themes can be extremely lucative. I created a tutorial series on YouTube on building themes and the attached video will walkthrough building a theme for Shopify in Figma. The video is a bit old, but should still hold up.

How To Use Google Calendar API with Python

Joshua Akan-Etuk — Wed, 17 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Trying to setup the Google Calendar API with Python can be a bit of a challenge if using the documentation Google has for their quickstart. In this article, we will walkthrough how to use the Google Calendar API with Python.

There are two ways of using the Google Calendar API: OAuth2 and a service account. OAuth2 allows you to make requests to the API on behalf of users and service accounts allows you to make your own data (very easily I might add). I personally prefer service accounts for tinkering with personal data and if you will building out a service for users, you'll need OAuth2. This article will show you how to get started with both methods, but successfully fully setting up the OAuth2 flow is outside of the scope of this article.

Firstly, you'll need to setup a Google Platform project. You can create a new project or use an existing project to enable the API for that project.

Go to the "OAuth Consent Screen" and select "External" and create.

Make the "App name" whatever you like, select the "User support email" dropdown and pick a valid email and add the Developer contact information. Hit Next.

Click "Add or Remove Scopes" and add "/auth/calendar" (You can change to specific scope if you want here). Click update, then save and continue.

When using OAuth2, you'll need to add Test users manually to make requests on their behalf. If using service accounts you can skip. Click Save and Continue. Feel free to go back to dashboard. Click "Credentials".

Click "Create Credentials."

Using OAuth2

Hit create.

Download the json in a safe spot. Add the json downloaded to your project somewhere. Be sure not to check this into Git and if you need to use the data in a production environment, use .env variables.

Using Service Account

Click "Service Account" and choose the name. The account id is generated from the name. Add an account description if you would like. Grant Google Console permissions if you like and then continue.

Grant users access if you would like and hit done. Go to credentials and click on the Service Account.

Go to "Keys" and create new key. Select JSON and create. Add the json downloaded to your project somewhere. Be sure not to check this into Git and if you need to use the data in a production environment, use .env variables.

Copy the email, and head over to Google Calendar to add access to the calendars you want to retrieve data from.

Now you can go into your Python project!

Install the required libraries.

pip install google-auth google-auth-oauthlib google-auth-httplib2 google-api-python-client

Using OAuth2

Create a .py file and add this code:

from google_auth_oauthlib.flow import InstalledAppFlow
from googleapiclient.discovery import build

SCOPES = ['https://www.googleapis.com/auth/calendar']

flow = InstalledAppFlow.from_client_secrets_file(
    'path/to/client_secrets.json', SCOPES)
credentials = flow.run_local_server(port=0)

service = build('calendar', 'v3', credentials=credentials)

# Now, you can use 'service' to make API calls.
now = datetime.datetime.utcnow().isoformat() + "Z" # 'Z' indicates UTC time
print("Getting the upcoming 10 events")
events_result = (
    service.events()
    .list(
        calendarId="primary",
        timeMin=now,
        maxResults=10,
        singleEvents=True,
        orderBy="startTime",
    )
    .execute()
)
events = events_result.get("items", [])

if not events:
    print("No upcoming events found.")
    return

# Prints the start and name of the next 10 events
for event in events:
    start = event["start"].get("dateTime", event["start"].get("date"))
    print(start, event["summary"])

Using Service Account

Create a .py file and add this code:

from google.oauth2 import service_account
from googleapiclient.discovery import build

SCOPES = ['https://www.googleapis.com/auth/calendar']

credentials = service_account.Credentials.from_service_account_file(
    'path/to/service-account-key.json', scopes=SCOPES)

service = build('calendar', 'v3', credentials=credentials)

# Now, you can use 'service' to make API calls.
now = datetime.datetime.utcnow().isoformat() + "Z" # 'Z' indicates UTC time
print("Getting the upcoming 10 events")
events_result = (
    service.events()
    .list(
        calendarId="primary",
        timeMin=now,
        maxResults=10,
        singleEvents=True,
        orderBy="startTime",
    )
    .execute()
)
events = events_result.get("items", [])

if not events:
    print("No upcoming events found.")
    return

# Prints the start and name of the next 10 events
for event in events:
    start = event["start"].get("dateTime", event["start"].get("date"))
    print(start, event["summary"])

Now you are done and setup to start using the Google Calendar API with Python with other requests.

How To Use Google Calendar API with Node.js

Joshua Akan-Etuk — Wed, 10 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Trying to setup the Google Calendar API with Node.js can be a bit of a challenge if using the documentation Google has for their quickstart. In this article, we will walkthrough how to use the Google Calendar API with Node.js.

There are two ways of using the Google Calendar API: OAuth2 and a service account. OAuth2 allows you to make requests to the API on behalf of users and service accounts allows you to make your own data (very easily I might add). I personally prefer service accounts for tinkering with personal data and if you will building out a service for users, you'll need OAuth2. This article will show you how to get started with both methods, but successfully setting up the OAuth2 flow is outside of the scope of this article.

Firstly, you'll need to setup a Google Platform project. You can create a new project or use an existing project to enable the API for that project.

Go to the "OAuth Consent Screen" and select "External" and create.

Make the "App name" whatever you like, select the "User support email" dropdown and pick a valid email and add the Developer contact information. Hit Next.

Click "Add or Remove Scopes" and add "/auth/calendar" (You can change to specific scope if you want here). Click update, then save and continue.

Click "Create Credentials."

If OAuth2

Click "OAuth client ID" and choose the appropriate type (I recommend Web application). Choose the name and with Authorized redirect URIs (you can use Express for this) you can add http://localhost:3000. Hit create. Download the json in a safe spot. Add the json downloaded to your project somewhere. Be sure not to check this into Git and if you need to use the data in a production environment, use .env variables.

If Service Account

Click "Service Account" and choose the name. The account id is generated from the name. Add an account description if you would like. Grant Google Console permissions if you like and then continue. Grant users access if you would like and hit done. Go to credentials and click on the Service Account. Go to "Keys" and create new key. Select JSON and create. Add the json downloaded to your project somewhere. Be sure not to check this into Git and if you need to use the data in a production environment, use .env variables.

Copy the email, and head over to Google Calendar to add access to the calendars you want to retrieve data from.

Now you can go into your Node project!

Install the googleapis library.

npm install googleapis

yarn install googleapis

If OAuth2

Make a /lib/gcal.js file and add this code:

const { google } = require('googleapis');
const { OAuth2 } = google.auth;

const CLIENT_ID = 'YOUR_CLIENT_ID';
const CLIENT_SECRET = 'YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET';
const REDIRECT_URI = 'YOUR_REDIRECT_URI';
const SCOPES = ['https://www.googleapis.com/auth/calendar'];

const oAuth2Client = new OAuth2(CLIENT_ID, CLIENT_SECRET, REDIRECT_URI);

// Generate a URL for users to authorize the application
const authUrl = oAuth2Client.generateAuthUrl({
  access_type: 'offline',
  scope: SCOPES,
});

// After the user grants access, Google will redirect to the specified redirect URI with a code
// Use this code to get access and refresh tokens
async function getToken(code) {
  const { tokens } = await oAuth2Client.getToken(code);
  oAuth2Client.setCredentials(tokens);
  console.log('Access Token:', tokens.access_token);
  console.log('Refresh Token:', tokens.refresh_token);
}

// Example: Once you have the tokens, you can use the oAuth2Client to make API calls
// Example: List events from a user's calendar
async function listEvents() {
  const calendar = google.calendar({ version: 'v3', auth: oAuth2Client });
  try {
    const response = await calendar.events.list({
      calendarId: 'primary', // or the specific calendar ID
      timeMin: new Date().toISOString(),
      maxResults: 10,
      singleEvents: true,
      orderBy: 'startTime',
    });
    const events = response.data.items;
    console.log('Events:', events);
  } catch (err) {
    console.error('Error fetching calendar events:', err);
  }
}

console.log(authUrl)

// Call getToken function when you receive the code after user authorization
// Call listEvents function to retrieve events from the calendar
// getToken('CODE_FROM_REDIRECT_URI').then((result) => listEvents())

The client ID, secret, and redirect URI will be in the downloaded JSON or back in the console. Once you have replaced the variables, run the code once, get the url printed in the console. After going through the flow you will get redirected and the browser will have something similar to &code="". Copy that and place in getToken() (listEvents() will only run if getToken is run before it with a valid code).

If Service Account

Make a /lib/gcal.js file and add this code:

const { google } = require('googleapis');
const key = require('./path-to-your-service-account-json-file.json'); // Import your service account key JSON file

// Define the scope for the calendar API
const SCOPES = ['https://www.googleapis.com/auth/calendar'];

// Create a new JWT client using the key file
const auth = new google.auth.JWT({
  email: key.client_email,
  key: key.private_key,
  scopes: SCOPES,
});

// Set up the Google Calendar API with the authenticated client
const calendar = google.calendar({ version: 'v3', auth });

// Example: List the user's calendar events
async function listEvents() {
  const calendar = google.calendar({ version: 'v3', auth: oAuth2Client });
  try {
    const response = await calendar.events.list({
      calendarId: 'primary', // or the specific calendar ID
      timeMin: new Date().toISOString(),
      maxResults: 10,
      singleEvents: true,
      orderBy: 'startTime',
    });
    const events = response.data.items;
    console.log('Events:', events);
  } catch (err) {
    console.error('Error fetching calendar events:', err);
  }
}

// Call the function to list events
listEvents();

Now you are done and setup to start using the Google Calendar API with NodeJS with other requests.

Hello World

Joshua Akan-Etuk — Wed, 03 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Hello

Hello, world!

npm run build

| I love tailwind

How to Start Coding!

Joshua Akan-Etuk — Tue, 22 Dec 2020 20:44:54 +0000