Updated rdoc / guides / release notes related to ActiveJob / ActionMailer

actionmailer/CHANGELOG.md

-*   Added #deliver_later in addition to #deliver, which will enqueue a job to render and
-    deliver the mail instead of delivering it right at that moment. The job is enqueued 
-    using the new Active Job framework in Rails, and will use whatever queue is configured for Rails.
-    
+*   Added #deliver_later, #deliver_now and deprecate #deliver in favour of
+    #deliver_now. #deliver_later will enqueue a job to render and deliver
+    the mail instead of delivering it right at that moment. The job is enqueued
+    using the new Active Job framework in Rails, and will use whatever queue is
+    configured for Rails.
+
     *DHH/Abdelkader Boudih/Cristian Bica*
 
 *   Make ActionMailer::Previews methods class methods. Previously they were

actionmailer/README.rdoc

@@ -65,12 +65,12 @@ In order to send mails, you simply call the method and then call +deliver+ on th
 
 Calling the method returns a Mail Message object:
 
-  message = Notifier.welcome("david@loudthinking.com")  # => Returns a Mail::Message object
-  message.deliver                                       # => delivers the email
+  message = Notifier.welcome("david@loudthinking.com")   # => Returns a Mail::Message object
+  message.deliver_now                                    # => delivers the email
 
 Or you can just chain the methods together like:
 
-  Notifier.welcome("david@loudthinking.com").deliver    # Creates the email and sends it immediately
+  Notifier.welcome("david@loudthinking.com").deliver_now # Creates the email and sends it immediately
 
 == Setting defaults
 

actionmailer/lib/action_mailer/base.rb

@@ -138,9 +138,20 @@ module ActionMailer
   # Once a mailer action and template are defined, you can deliver your message or create it and save it
   # for delivery later:
   #
-  #   Notifier.welcome(david).deliver # sends the email
-  #   mail = Notifier.welcome(david)  # => a Mail::Message object
-  #   mail.deliver                    # sends the email
+  #   Notifier.welcome(david).deliver_now # sends the email
+  #   mail = Notifier.welcome(david)      # => an ActionMailer::MessageDeliver object
+  #   mail.deliver_now                    # sends the email
+  #
+  # The <tt>ActionMailer::MessageDeliver</tt> class is a wrapper around a <tt>Mail::Message</tt> object. If
+  # you want direct access to the <tt>Mail::Message</tt> object you can call the <tt>message</tt> method on
+  # the <tt>ActionMailer::MessageDeliver</tt> object.
+  #
+  #   Notifier.welcome(david).message     # => a Mail::Message object
+  #
+  # ActionMailer is nicely integrated with ActiveJob so you can send emails in the background (example: outside
+  # of the request-response cycle, so the user doesn't have to wait on it):
+  #
+  #   Notifier.welcome(david).deliver_later # enqueue the email sending to ActiveJob
   #
   # You never instantiate your mailer class. Rather, you just call the method you defined on the class itself.
   #
@@ -322,8 +333,8 @@ module ActionMailer
   #   end
   #
   # Methods must return a <tt>Mail::Message</tt> object which can be generated by calling the mailer
-  # method without the additional <tt>deliver</tt>. The location of the mailer previews
-  # directory can be configured using the <tt>preview_path</tt> option which has a default
+  # method without the additional <tt>deliver_now</tt> / <tt>deliver_later</tt>. The location of the
+  # mailer previews directory can be configured using the <tt>preview_path</tt> option which has a default
   # of <tt>test/mailers/previews</tt>:
   #
   #   config.action_mailer.preview_path = "#{Rails.root}/lib/mailer_previews"

actionmailer/lib/action_mailer/delivery_job.rb

 require 'active_job'
 
 module ActionMailer
-  class DeliveryJob < ActiveJob::Base
+  class DeliveryJob < ActiveJob::Base #:nodoc:
     queue_as :mailers
 
-    def perform(mailer, mail_method, delivery_method, *args)
+    def perform(mailer, mail_method, delivery_method, *args) #:nodoc#
       mailer.constantize.public_send(mail_method, *args).send(delivery_method)
     end
   end

actionmailer/lib/action_mailer/message_delivery.rb

 require 'delegate'
 
 module ActionMailer
+
+  # The ActionMailer::MessageDeliver class is used by ActionMailer::Base when
+  # creating a new mailer. MessageDeliver is a wrapper (Delegator subclass)
+  # around a lazy created Mail::Message. You can get direct access to the
+  # Mail::Message, deliver the email or schedule the email to be sent through ActiveJob.
+  #
+  #   Notifier.welcome(david)               # an ActionMailer::MessageDeliver object
+  #   Notifier.welcome(david).deliver_now   # sends the email
+  #   Notifier.welcome(david).deliver_later # enqueue the deliver email job to ActiveJob
+  #   Notifier.welcome(david).message       # a Mail::Message object
   class MessageDelivery < Delegator
-    def initialize(mailer, mail_method, *args)
+    def initialize(mailer, mail_method, *args) #:nodoc:
       @mailer = mailer
       @mail_method = mail_method
       @args = args
     end
 
-    def __getobj__
+    def __getobj__ #:nodoc:
       @obj ||= @mailer.send(:new, @mail_method, *@args).message
     end
 
-    def __setobj__(obj)
+    def __setobj__(obj) #:nodoc:
       @obj = obj
     end
 
-    def message #:nodoc:
+    # Returns the Mail::Message object
+    def message
       __getobj__
     end
 
+    # Enqueues the message to be delivered through ActiveJob. When the
+    # ActiveJob job runs it will send the email using #deliver_now!. That
+    # means that the message will be sent bypassing checking perform_deliveries
+    # and raise_delivery_errors, so use with caution.
+    #
+    # ==== Examples
+    #
+    #   Notifier.welcome(david).deliver_later
+    #   Notifier.welcome(david).deliver_later(in: 1.hour)
+    #   Notifier.welcome(david).deliver_later(at: 10.hours.from_now)
+    #
+    # ==== Options
+    # * <tt>in</tt>  - Enqueue the message to be delivered with a delay
+    # * <tt>at</tt>  - Enqueue the message to be delivered at (after) a specific date / time
     def deliver_later!(options={})
       enqueue_delivery :deliver_now!, options
     end
 
+    # Enqueues the message to be delivered through ActiveJob. When the
+    # ActiveJob job runs it will send the email using #deliver_now.
+    #
+    # ==== Examples
+    #
+    #   Notifier.welcome(david).deliver_later
+    #   Notifier.welcome(david).deliver_later(in: 1.hour)
+    #   Notifier.welcome(david).deliver_later(at: 10.hours.from_now)
+    #
+    # ==== Options
+    # * <tt>in</tt>  - Enqueue the message to be delivered with a delay
+    # * <tt>at</tt>  - Enqueue the message to be delivered at (after) a specific date / time
     def deliver_later(options={})
       enqueue_delivery :deliver_now, options
     end
 
+    # Delivers a message. The message will be sent bypassing checking perform_deliveries
+    # and raise_delivery_errors, so use with caution.
+    #
+    #   Notifier.welcome(david).deliver_now!
+    #
     def deliver_now!
       message.deliver!
     end
 
+    # Delivers a message:
+    #
+    #   Notifier.welcome(david).deliver_now
+    #
     def deliver_now
       message.deliver
     end
 
-    def deliver!
-      ActiveSupport::Deprecation.warn "#deliver! is deprecated and will be removed on Rails 5. " \
-        "Use #deliver_now! to deliver immediately or #deliver_later! to deliver through ActiveJob"
+    def deliver! #:nodoc:
+      ActiveSupport::Deprecation.warn "#deliver! is deprecated and will be removed in Rails 5. " \
+        "Use #deliver_now! to deliver immediately or #deliver_later! to deliver through ActiveJob."
       deliver_now!
     end
 
-    def deliver
-      ActiveSupport::Deprecation.warn "#deliver is deprecated and will be removed on Rails 5. " \
-        "Use #deliver_now to deliver immediately or #deliver_later to deliver through ActiveJob"
+    def deliver #:nodoc:
+      ActiveSupport::Deprecation.warn "#deliver is deprecated and will be removed in Rails 5. " \
+        "Use #deliver_now to deliver immediately or #deliver_later to deliver through ActiveJob."
       deliver_now
     end
 
     private
-    def enqueue_delivery(delivery_method, options={})
-      args = @mailer.name, @mail_method.to_s, delivery_method.to_s, *@args
-      enqueue_method = :enqueue
-      if options[:at]
-        enqueue_method = :enqueue_at
-        args.unshift options[:at]
-      elsif options[:in]
-        enqueue_method = :enqueue_in
-        args.unshift options[:in]
+
+      def enqueue_delivery(delivery_method, options={})
+        args = @mailer.name, @mail_method.to_s, delivery_method.to_s, *@args
+        enqueue_method = :enqueue
+        if options[:at]
+          enqueue_method = :enqueue_at
+          args.unshift options[:at]
+        elsif options[:in]
+          enqueue_method = :enqueue_in
+          args.unshift options[:in]
+        end
+        ActionMailer::DeliveryJob.send enqueue_method, *args
       end
-      ActionMailer::DeliveryJob.send enqueue_method, *args
-    end
   end
 end

actionmailer/lib/action_mailer/test_helper.rb

@@ -6,9 +6,9 @@ module TestHelper
     #
     #   def test_emails
     #     assert_emails 0
-    #     ContactMailer.welcome.deliver
+    #     ContactMailer.welcome.deliver_now
     #     assert_emails 1
-    #     ContactMailer.welcome.deliver
+    #     ContactMailer.welcome.deliver_now
     #     assert_emails 2
     #   end
     #
@@ -17,12 +17,12 @@ module TestHelper
     #
     #   def test_emails_again
     #     assert_emails 1 do
-    #       ContactMailer.welcome.deliver
+    #       ContactMailer.welcome.deliver_now
     #     end
     #
     #     assert_emails 2 do
-    #       ContactMailer.welcome.deliver
-    #       ContactMailer.welcome.deliver
+    #       ContactMailer.welcome.deliver_now
+    #       ContactMailer.welcome.deliver_now
     #     end
     #   end
     def assert_emails(number)
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ def assert_emails(number)
     #
     #   def test_emails
     #     assert_no_emails
-    #     ContactMailer.welcome.deliver
+    #     ContactMailer.welcome.deliver_now
     #     assert_emails 1
     #   end
     #

guides/source/4_2_release_notes.md

@@ -311,6 +311,9 @@ Please refer to the [Changelog][action-mailer] for detailed changes.
 *   Deprecated `*_path` helpers in mailers. Always use `*_url` helpers instead.
     ([Pull Request](https://github.com/rails/rails/pull/15840))
 
+*   Deprecated `deliver` / `deliver!` in favour of `deliver_now` / `deliver_now!`.
+    ([Pull Request](https://github.com/rails/rails/pull/16582))
+
 ### Notable changes
 
 *   Introduced `deliver_later` which enqueues a job on the application's queue

guides/source/action_mailer_basics.md

@@ -159,7 +159,10 @@ $ bin/rake db:migrate
 Now that we have a user model to play with, we will just edit the
 `app/controllers/users_controller.rb` make it instruct the `UserMailer` to deliver
 an email to the newly created user by editing the create action and inserting a
-call to `UserMailer.welcome_email` right after the user is successfully saved:
+call to `UserMailer.welcome_email` right after the user is successfully saved.
+
+Action Mailer is nicely integrated with Active Job so you can send emails outside
+of the request-response cycle, so the user doesn't have to wait on it:
 
 ```ruby
 class UsersController < ApplicationController
@@ -171,7 +174,7 @@ class UsersController < ApplicationController
     respond_to do |format|
       if @user.save
         # Tell the UserMailer to send a welcome email after save
-        UserMailer.welcome_email(@user).deliver
+        UserMailer.welcome_email(@user).deliver_later
 
         format.html { redirect_to(@user, notice: 'User was successfully created.') }
         format.json { render json: @user, status: :created, location: @user }
@@ -184,8 +187,29 @@ class UsersController < ApplicationController
 end
 ```
 
-The method `welcome_email` returns a `Mail::Message` object which can then just
-be told `deliver` to send itself out.
+NOTE: By default Active Job is configured to execute the job `:inline`. So you can
+use `deliver_later` now to send the emails and when you decide to start sending the
+email from a background job you'll just have to setup Active Job to use a queueing
+backend (Sidekiq, Resque, etc).
+
+If you want to send the emails right away (from a cronjob for example) just
+call `deliver_now`:
+
+```ruby
+class SendWeeklySummary
+  def run
+    User.find_each do |user|
+      UserMailer.weekly_summary(user).deliver_now
+    end
+  end
+end
+```
+
+The method `welcome_email` returns a `ActionMailer::MessageDelivery` object which
+can then just be told `deliver_now` or `deliver_later` to send itself out. The
+`ActionMailer::MessageDelivery` object is just a wrapper around a `Mail::Message`. If
+you want to inspect, alter or do anything else with the `Mail::Message` object you can
+access it with the `message` method on the `ActionMailer::MessageDelivery` object.
 
 ### Auto encoding header values
 

guides/source/active_job_basics.md

@@ -196,10 +196,10 @@ of the request-response cycle, so the user doesn't have to wait on it. Active Jo
 is integrated with Action Mailer so you can easily send emails async:
 
 ```ruby
-# Instead of the classic
-UserMailer.welcome(@user).deliver
+# If you want to send the email now use #deliver_now
+UserMailer.welcome(@user).deliver_now
 
-# use #deliver later to send the email async
+# If you want to send the email through ActiveJob use #deliver_later
 UserMailer.welcome(@user).deliver_later
 ```
 

guides/source/active_record_querying.md

@@ -276,7 +276,7 @@ This may appear straightforward:
 ```ruby
 # This is very inefficient when the users table has thousands of rows.
 User.all.each do |user|
-  NewsMailer.weekly(user).deliver
+  NewsMailer.weekly(user).deliver_now
 end
 ```
 
@@ -292,7 +292,7 @@ The `find_each` method retrieves a batch of records and then yields _each_ recor
 
 ```ruby
 User.find_each do |user|
-  NewsMailer.weekly(user).deliver
+  NewsMailer.weekly(user).deliver_now
 end
 ```
 
@@ -300,7 +300,7 @@ To add conditions to a `find_each` operation you can chain other Active Record m
 
 ```ruby
 User.where(weekly_subscriber: true).find_each do |user|
-  NewsMailer.weekly(user).deliver
+  NewsMailer.weekly(user).deliver_now
 end
 ```
 
@@ -316,7 +316,7 @@ The `:batch_size` option allows you to specify the number of records to be retri
 
 ```ruby
 User.find_each(batch_size: 5000) do |user|
-  NewsMailer.weekly(user).deliver
+  NewsMailer.weekly(user).deliver_now
 end
 ```
 
@@ -328,7 +328,7 @@ For example, to send newsletters only to users with the primary key starting fro
 
 ```ruby
 User.find_each(start: 2000, batch_size: 5000) do |user|
-  NewsMailer.weekly(user).deliver
+  NewsMailer.weekly(user).deliver_now
 end
 ```
 

guides/source/testing.md

@@ -949,7 +949,7 @@ class UserMailerTest < ActionMailer::TestCase
   test "invite" do
     # Send the email, then test that it got queued
     email = UserMailer.create_invite('me@example.com',
-                                     'friend@example.com', Time.now).deliver
+                                     'friend@example.com', Time.now).deliver_now
     assert_not ActionMailer::Base.deliveries.empty?
 
     # Test the body of the sent email contains what we expect it to