PHPmailer doesn't work taking email recipient from MySQL

Question

my PHPmailer work in localhost with this script. But, it doesn't work when I upload it to my web hosting. It seems doesn't get recipient email from my database.

if I use this : $mail->addAddress('$email');

this works in localhostm but not in web hosting. it shows error : no recipient.

But, if I use this : $mail->addAddress($email);

then it shows error : SMTP connect() failed.

my code:

    <?php
include 'dbconnect.php';
require 'PHPMailer/PHPMailerAutoload.php';

$mail = new PHPMailer;

$npsn = $_POST['npsn'];
$error = false;
                // basic npsn validation
        if (empty($npsn)) {
            echo "<script>alert('Anda belum memasukkan NPSN Sekolah Anda!'); window.location = 'lupapassword.php'</script>";    
        } else if (!preg_match("/^[0-9]+$/",$npsn)) {
            echo "<script>alert('NPSN hanya boleh diisi Angka saja!'); window.location = 'lupapassword.php'</script>";  
        }else if (strlen($npsn) < 8) {          
            echo "<script>alert('NPSN harus 8 Angka!'); window.location = 'lupapassword.php'</script>"; 
        }else {
            // check npsn exist or not
            $query = "SELECT npsn FROM users WHERE npsn='$npsn'";
            $result = mysql_query($query);
            $count = mysql_num_rows($result);
            if($count<1){               
            echo "<script>alert('Maaf, NPSN Sekolah Anda tidak ditemukan!'); window.location = 'lupapassword.php'</script>";                            
        }else {
            // check email exist or not
            $query2 = "SELECT email_sekolah FROM users WHERE npsn='$npsn'";
            $result2 = mysql_query($query2);
            $count2 = mysql_num_rows($result2);
            if($count2<1){              
            echo "<script>alert('Maaf, sebelumnya anda belum mengisi email sekolah pada data sekolah. Password tidak bisa dikirimkan. Silahkan hubungi admin!'); window.location = 'lupapassword.php'</script>";    
                }
        }
        // if there's no error, continue to signup
        if( !$error ) {         
            $query = "SELECT * from users WHERE npsn=$npsn";
            $hasil = mysql_query($query);
            $data  = mysql_fetch_array($hasil);
            $email = $data['email'];    
            $password = $data['password'];

// Konfigurasi SMTP
            $mail->isSMTP();
            $mail->Host = 'smtp.gmail.com';
            $mail->SMTPAuth = true;
            $mail->Username = 'myemail@gmail.com';
            $mail->Password = 'mypass';
            $mail->SMTPSecure = 'tls';
            $mail->Port = 587;
            $mail->setFrom('myemail@gmail.com', 'Irmanto');
            $mail->addReplyTo('myemail@gmail.com', 'Irmanto');
// Subjek email
$mail->Subject = 'Password Member Area';

// Mengatur format email ke HTML
$mail->isHTML(true);

// Konten/isi email
$mailContent = "<p>my message</p>";

$mail->Body = $mailContent;

// Menambahkan penerima

$mail->addAddress($email);

// Kirim email
if(!$mail->send()){
    echo 'Maaf, Password tidak bisa dikirim. </br>Silahkan hubungi admin!';                 
    echo '</br></br>Error: ' . $mail->ErrorInfo;
}else{
    echo "<script>alert('Password telah dikirim ke $email!'); window.location = 'index.php'</script>";  
}
}
}

Answer 1

This is nothing to do with MySQL, nor PHPMailer. It's a basic PHP syntax error. This:

$mail->addAddress('$email');

Won't work because you're single quoting , so the var won't be interpolated, and you'll end up adding a useless or empty address - which is why you get an error saying no recipient. Just do this instead:

$mail->addAddress($email);

This then leads you to the "SMTP connect() failed" error, which is something that has been answered on here hundreds of times , and techniques to diagnose the problem are thoroughly documented in the troubleshooting guide . You've not provided enough information to diagnose your exact problem, because you've not read the docs the error points you to that show you how to do so.