Real Email

Reduce bounced emails and errors by validating emails against MX records.

Requirements

• An API Key from Heroku

  • Add from: https://elements.heroku.com/addons/realemail

• Ruby v2.x or greater

Installation

# In your Gemfile
gem 'real_email', git: 'https://github.com/mbuckbee/Real-Email-Gem.git'

Usage

Input Parameter Descriptions

Index	Name	Example	Description
0	email	string	The email address
1	fix_typos	boolean	Automatically attempt to fix typos in the address

Making a Request

$ > require 'real_email'
=> true

# Note: the 'Controller' here is not a reference to Rails controllers
# but an internal structure, won't interfere with your Rails app and will 
# work fine in a standalone ruby app or another framework

$ > re = RealEmail::APIController.new
=> #<RealEmail::APIController:0x007fb6b4314440>

$ > result = re.lookup("support@expeditedaddons.com", false)
=> #<RealEmail::Result:0x007fb6b5d2c990 @valid=true, @domain_error=false, @domain="expeditedaddons.com", @is_freemail=false, @syntax_error=false, @email="support@expeditedaddons.com", @is_disposable=false, @typos_fixed=nil>

Using Results

$ > result.valid
=> true

$ > result.domain_error
=> false

$ > result.domain
=> "expeditedaddons.com"

$ > result.is_freemail
=> false

$ > result.syntax_error
=> false

$ > result.email
=> "support@expeditedaddons.com"

$ > result.is_disposable
=> false

$ > result.typos_fixed
=> nil

Result Attribute Descriptions

Attribute	Type	Description
valid	boolean	If the email address passes all tests for syntax, domain validity, disposability and free email
domain_error	boolean	If the domain of the email address is valid and functional
domain	string	The domain evaluated for validity
is_freemail	boolean	If the evaluated email is from a free email service
syntax_error	boolean	If the email address had a syntax error (missing @ symbol, etc.)
email	string	The email that was evaluated
is_disposable	boolean	If the email is from a disposable email service.
typos_fixed	boolean	True if typos have been fixed

Live Interactive Testing

Doublecheck results, use a Live Proxy and check your API Key with the interactive documentation at:

http://docs.realemailexp.apiary.io/

You will need your REALEMAIL_API_KEY from the setup screen where you've provisioned the Real Email add-on.

Troubleshooting

As a sanity check it is sometimes useful to bypass your app stack and check the endpoint, your API Key and parameters directly.

Test with your browser

# Modify the following to use your actual API Key
'https://realemail.expeditedaddons.com/?api_key=REPLACE_WITH_YOUR_REALEMAIL_API_KEY&email=email%40example.org&fix_typos=false'

A successful call will return your requested data with a HTTP result code of 200 and be in JSON format. We recommend the JSON Formatter extension as a useful tool.

In Development

The Real Email gem relies upon the environment variable ENV['REALEMAIL_API_KEY'] being present and correctly configured to authenticate to the service. You will need to have this variable present in your local environment for the gem to work correctly.

If you're using Heroku, please read their Guide to Heroku Local which has instructions on easily copying your config values to your development environment.

DOTENV

https://github.com/bkeepers/dotenv

If you're trying to use Real Email in your local development or test environment with the dotenv gem be sure that you are loading the dotenv-rails gem with the rails-now requirement.

# Example Gemfile excerpt

gem 'dotenv-rails', :require => 'dotenv/rails-now'
gem 'iptoearth'

FOREMAN

https://github.com/ddollar/foreman

If you're having issues with configuring dotenv, you might want to try foreman which will also autoload .env files in your local environment.

Test in the Rails console

Launch rails c in your development project directory and at the prompt enter ENV[REALEMAIL_API_KEY] which, if you've configured your development environment correctly should display your API Key.

Issues and Security Concerns

Please email support@expeditedaddons.com

License

The Real Email gem is licensed under the MIT license.

Additional Add-ons

If you found Real Email useful, please check out our other similarly structured services and gems.

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