Specifying SMTP server for PHP mail()

[Epsilon]

I'm writing a script for use on a Windows web server and I can't get it to send mail. The host says you have to specify the SMTP server for the domain name, but in all the docs I've looked at I can't figure out the right syntax.

Here's my test script:

ini_set("SMTP","mail.domain.com");

if (mail("me@mydomain.com","This is a test","This is the body","From: user@domain.com\r\nContent-type: text/plain\r\n\r\n"))
{
print "Success";
}
else
{
print "Failed";
}

I've tried several things, but no luck. All the PHP documentation I can find talks about setting the SMTP server in php.ini, which makes perfect sense, but this is a virtual hosting account and I can't modify php.ini. There has to be some way to set it in the script.

Has anyone had luck using mail() on Windows?

[sde]

i've never done it that way .. i've always edited it in the php.ini , .. then i restart the web server.

[Epsilon]

Well, after a lot more reading and searching and trial and error I figured it out.

ini_set("SMTP","mail.domain.com");
ini_set("sendmail_from","user@domain.com");

if (mail("me@mydomain.com","This is a test","This is the body","From: user@domain.com\r\nContent-type: text/plain\r\n\r\n"))
{
print "Success";
}
else
{
print "Failed";
}

They require you to specify the SMTP server AND a valid From address for the domain, and the 'From:' setting in the header isn't good enough. You have to use ini_set() for both.

IMO as a programmer I think this is a load of BS. Basically the web host is forcing me to use ini_set() to override both of these settings during runtime of the script because they intentionally set them incorrectly in their php.ini file. Apparently they feel this gives them better security with regard to spammers. Maybe so, but I spent about 6 hours troubleshooting it and no one in their tech department could figure out what the problem was. I ended up stumbling upon the solution through trial and error.

Virtual hosting sucks, and Windows servers suck. And the two of them together are a catastrophe. Just my opinion.