Developîng enterprise web applictions sometimes involves implementing email functionality within the application. There is often a need to send out automated emails from the application.
In a lot of cases, there is no SMTP server available to test this email communication. In the company I'm currently working for, SMTP servers are available on most non-production environments, however it's impossible to access them from a development PC. As most of the development occurs on those development PCs, the ability to test emails is vital, as the turnaround time needs to be a short as possible. (code to test).
In additionan to that, email functionality doesn't lend itself well for unit testing. Offcourse it is possible to mock your email service, but at some point you also want to verify (even on a local development pc) that your email is working.
In a lot of cases, there is no SMTP server available to test this email communication. In the company I'm currently working for, SMTP servers are available on most non-production environments, however it's impossible to access them from a development PC. As most of the development occurs on those development PCs, the ability to test emails is vital, as the turnaround time needs to be a short as possible. (code to test).
In additionan to that, email functionality doesn't lend itself well for unit testing. Offcourse it is possible to mock your email service, but at some point you also want to verify (even on a local development pc) that your email is working.
