What add_action reference should I be using or should I use do_action?

Question

I am working on some automated emails. I am fairly new to add_action and do_action. I am having a tough time understanding it. The site in question has number goals set up that people reach over time. I want to send them an email when they hit the goal. The code below will send that email when the post is updated but that won't work. I put it there just to make sure the email sends out. I don't know what add_action I should use. What reference should I be looking for to do this?

function emailNotificationSuccess($post_id) {

  if( ( $_POST['post_status'] == 'publish' ) && ( $goalsupport === $totalsupport ) ) {

   $post = get_post($post_id);
   $author = get_userdata($post->post_author);
   $totalsupport = countSupportForAll($post->ID);
   $goalsupport = get_post_meta( $post->ID, 'sj_campaign_goal', true );
   $supporter_email = get_post_meta( $post_id, 'sj_campaign_email', true );
   $message = "Hi ".$author->display_name.",


Congrats! You have reached your goal!

Your , ".$post->post_title." is a success!

".get_permalink( $post_id )."


   ";
   wp_mail($supporter_email, "You just reached your goal!", $message);

  } 
} 
add_action('post_updated', 'emailNotificationSuccess');

Answer 1

Your problem is with the conditional, not with the used action (I think).

This line is probably not verifying in any situation:

if( ( $_POST['post_status'] == 'publish' ) && ( $goalsupport === $totalsupport ) ) {

I can not now what $goalsupport and $goalsupport are, both variables are undefined in your code, so I'm going to remove them. Change that line with this one:

if( get_post_status( $post_id ) == 'publish' ) {

So, the code should be:

function emailNotificationSuccess($post_id) {

  if( get_post_status( $post_id ) == 'publish' ) {

   $post = get_post($post_id);
   $author = get_userdata($post->post_author);
   $totalsupport = countSupportForAll($post->ID);
   $goalsupport = get_post_meta( $post->ID, 'sj_campaign_goal', true );
   $supporter_email = get_post_meta( $post_id, 'sj_campaign_email', true );
   $message = "Hi ".$author->display_name.",


Congrats! You have reached your goal!

Your , ".$post->post_title." is a success!

".get_permalink( $post_id )."


   ";
   wp_mail($supporter_email, "You just reached your goal!", $message);

  } 
} 
add_action('post_updated', 'emailNotificationSuccess');