Mail funtionality thru livesite components

What I want to achieve is this:

Whan a user enter information in a form and clicks on submit, it should trigger an email component (Written in Java using JavaMail 1.3 API) which reads that information from the fields and sends a mail.

There are multiple ways in which It can be acheved. What accroding to you is the best approach?

Any Ideas Shannon???

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shanon

What I want to achieve is this:

Whan a user enter information in a form and clicks on submit, it should trigger an email component (Written in Java using JavaMail 1.3 API) which reads that information from the fields and sends a mail.

There are multiple ways in which It can be acheved. What accroding to you is the best approach?

Any Ideas Shannon???

I'd say that the best approach would involve the $AJAX_URL token. There's no mailer built into the application out-of-the-box, although it's a good idea on it.

I'm trying to write up something on the $AJAX_URL-based approach, but if you look at the 2.2.1 AJAX File Explorer component that's in the LiveSite folder, that can get you started. I'm not sure when or if I'll be able to get that piece done, so let me know if you have other questions about this.

What approach were you thinking?

Aryan

I was thinking at more simpler level... I was planning to wirte a teamsite custom servlet to which this form would be submitted as soon as the user clicks on the submit button. This servlet would pick the values up to send the mail. But this approach has a practical limitation. This approach will not work on the production runtime as there shall be no teamsite over there.
We are integrating LiveSite with BEA. So another approach could be to write a small application with one servlet and deploy on the same BEA server which runs the production runtime.
The third approach could be to write a servlet and modify the web.xml of the livesite production appliocation so that the servlet is recognized by it. But I am not sure whether that would be OK with Interwoven.

I primarily did not think about AJAX-related as I have *no* idea about how it works Smiley Happy

What do you feel about the above approaches?

Also, can please you share some knowledge on AJAX in general and AJAX File Explorer component in particular?

tec_iwov

i'm not clear on what you want to do but you can send the mail via an external implmentation that handles your submit.

there is a class we provide com.interwoven.livesite.common.net.SMPTClient
the provides basic mail functionality, it's a wrapper around the java mail api.

The contructor takes the smpt host name. then it has various send functions.

i'm trying to see where i can post the javadoc for it. if you use eclipse you can see the function signatures.

Aryan

Thanks a lot. It would be great if you can post the Javadocs on Devnet.

Aryan

I was thinking at more simpler level... I was planning to wirte a teamsite custom servlet to which this form would be submitted as soon as the user clicks on the submit button. This servlet would pick the values up to send the mail. But this approach has a practical limitation. This approach will not work on the production runtime as there shall be no teamsite over there.

We are integrating LiveSite with BEA. So another approach could be to write a small application with one servlet and deploy on the same BEA server which runs the production runtime.
The third approach could be to write a servlet and modify the web.xml of the livesite production appliocation so that the servlet is recognized by it. But I am not sure whether that would be OK with Interwoven.
I primarily did not think about AJAX-related as I have *no* idea about how it works

What do you feel about the above approaches?

Also, can please you share some knowledge on AJAX in general and AJAX File Explorer component in particular?

Any ideas shannon??? What do you think about the approaches? I came to know that there is a java class in livesite.jar that gives the mail functionlity. That seems to be interesting...

wscott

You don't need to write a servlet or use AJAX -- although that will work, it's a lot simpler to just use an external component. You can create a component with a form which sends mail when it processes the form.

Within BEA, I believe you can access part of the Java mail API through JNDI. It's been a couple of years so I don't remember the details. But email settings are part of the server config so they should be in the documentation somewhere.

Aryan

Thankx Will. Are you talking about the external component that ships with LiveSite (com.interwoven.livesite.common.net.SMPTClient)?

wscott

No, I mean an external component that you could write yourself. This is a Java class that extends BaseExternal and implements ExternalIfc. There should be examples of how to do this in the LiveSite documentation. It's pretty easy -- you basically specify what class to use within your component XML, and a method on that class gets called, and all of the form parameters and component parameters are passed into it. You could then take those parameters, compose them into an email message, and send it with the Java mail API as discussed above.

This is preferred over servlets because it is tied to a component and is therefore easier to customize on a per-page basis.

Aryan

Hello Will,

That sounds good but I have a question here.

How do I make the external component act on the click of the submit button. I always thought external components get invoked during the component load time...

TestReport.rptdesign

Aryan

Hello Will,

That sounds good but I have a question here.

How do I make the external component act on the click of the submit button. I always thought external components get invoked during the component load time...

SOS - Please do let me know how I can go about this. On click of the submit button I need to send a mail. This is very urgent.

wscott

If a component renders an HTML form, don't put any attributes on the form tag (no action="/whatever" or method="POST" or any of that). LiveSite will insert attributes into the form such that when it is submitted, it will return to the current page, and the component that rendered the form will be executed and given the form parameters. Typically, the component will render itself differently when receiving such parameters, like showing a success message or re-displaying the form with an error message.

tec_iwov

externals handle both intial conponent load and form handling. Any fields in the form will be passed as parameters, overriding the parameters set in the content xml. there is a sample component under Business/Finance from the ootb components called stock checker that is an example of this.

Aryan

This is superb. Also, Is it possible to Show a thankyou page or some thing of that sort? Once the action in the form has successfully completed?

shanon

This is superb. Also, Is it possible to Show a thankyou page or some thing of that sort? Once the action in the form has successfully completed?

Just have the external java object return a different XML document that contains whatever message you want to display. Then have your XSL take that into account so that it renders a different view.

For example, the standard XSL output is the mail form right? Well, add an attribute to the External XML that means "the mail was sent successfully" and/or "the mail send failed.".

This is the snip that would be generated by your external class.

&amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;gt;Default view:&amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;External&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;/External&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;gt;After form is submitted and external sends mail successfully:&amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;External&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;gt;  &amp;amp;amp;lt;MailStatus&amp;amp;amp;gt;success&amp;amp;amp;lt;/MailStatus&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;/External&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;gt;After form is submitted and external fails to send mail:&amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;External&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;gt;  &amp;amp;amp;lt;MailStatus&amp;amp;amp;gt;error&amp;amp;amp;lt;/MailStatus&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;gt;  &amp;amp;amp;lt;ErrorMessage&amp;amp;amp;gt;The SMTP server could not be contacted.&amp;amp;amp;lt;/ErrorMessage&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;/External&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;gt;

Now just make your XSL take that into account to render the appropriate view.

HTH,
Shanon

tec_iwov

external functionality is used for both rendering and handling form submits the form fields will be passed as parameters to the externals, overriding any matching parameters defined in the component xml. you can take a look at the ootb components business/finance/stock checker component

Aryan

Please forgive me If I am asking very basic questions again and again.

I am in a fix.

I did check the stock cheker component. But I failed to understand it as it does not have any documentation and neither does it have comments its code.

Could you please eloborate the funtionality of this component the way it implements form validations and submit.

This is urgent.

Thanks in advance.

IwovHeather

Please forgive me If I am asking very basic questions again and again.

I am in a fix.

I did check the stock cheker component. But I failed to understand it as it does not have any documentation and neither does it have comments its code.

Could you please eloborate the funtionality of this component the way it implements form validations and submit.

This is urgent.

Thanks in advance.

Hi Aryan,

If you have urgent questions, or you need step by step assistance with your implementation, I strongly recommend using the Interwoven Support resources. The forums are a great place to receive help and help others, but for urgent issues or issues when you will need more than a little guidance, I'd recommend that you investigate training resources and support resources (https://support.interwoven.com/contact_pub.asp) in addition to DevNet.

Thanks,

Heather

Aryan

Will/Shannon,

Based on the form parameter value that I obtain can I redirect control to another page using a component?

The objective is this:

There are certain mandatory fields in the form failing to enter which error messages should be popped up. If the user has entered the right values, then a mail is sent and an acknowledgement page is shown.

I have two questions:
1. How can I implement the "mandatory fields" and "Error message stuff"? - I guess external call the in the component data xml can handle that. - Does it recieve tghe form parameters as a part of the "params" hashtable?

2. How can I redirect to an acknowledgement page if the submit was successful? - I have no idea how to do this...

Hope I am being clear...

Please advice.

wscott

1. How can I implement the "mandatory fields" and "Error message stuff"? - I guess external call the in the component data xml can handle that. - Does it recieve tghe form parameters as a part of the "params" hashtable?

It does receive the parameters in the "params" hashtable. Have your component external class output appropriate error messages in the XML and set up your XSL to display them if they are present.

2. How can I redirect to an acknowledgement page if the submit was successful? - I have no idea how to do this...

In the current version of LiveSite, a component external class cannot forward or redirect to a different page. (This is coming in the next release as a special FormController class you can implement.) Your best bet is to have the mail component itself show the success message instead of the input form after sending the mail.

Here's how we typically set up external components that have forms: the first request renders the form, and then the subsequent request processes the form, and renders either the form again (with error messages) or a success message.

sanoboy

If a component renders an HTML form, don't put any attributes on the form tag (no action="/whatever" or method="POST" or any of that). LiveSite will insert attributes into the form such that when it is submitted, it will return to the current page, and the component that rendered the form will be executed and given the form parameters. Typically, the component will render itself differently when receiving such parameters, like showing a success message or re-displaying the form with an error message.

if in the component, there is no form but only a general image, and when i click this image(onClick), i want the external class in content xml to process something and then display something in current page, is it possible only use external component?

what i consider is that: it is actually is ajax, write a js to pass a parameter to servlet onClick, then get respond xml, at last using innerHTML to display in current page.
but how i implement it, do i need to write a servlet as usual in web.xml? where should i put the java class, in webapps tomcat as usual? i am a little confuse in livesite

vpatel

if in the component, there is no form but only a general image, and when i click this image(onClick), i want the external class in content xml to process something and then display something in current page, is it possible only use external component?

what i consider is that: it is actually is ajax, write a js to pass a parameter to servlet onClick, then get respond xml, at last using innerHTML to display in current page.
but how i implement it, do i need to write a servlet as usual in web.xml? where should i put the java class, in webapps tomcat as usual? i am a little confuse in livesite

Based on a lot of you recent questions here in the forums it seems like things are way over what you are prepared for. You may want to explore some training and / or hire some professional help. Anyway, to answer your question: look at the SP Dev guide and you'll get the answers you are looking for.

Look at Java Externals / Controllers and LiveSite toolkit sections in SP Dev guide. Also read up on $AJAX_URL token. Also look at the information on how a HTML form is submitted -- I know you don't have a form but you'll be able to get some idea to piece a solution together for your need.

sanoboy

Based on a lot of you recent questions here in the forums it seems like things are way over what you are prepared for. You may want to explore some training and / or hire some professional help. Anyway, to answer your question: look at the SP Dev guide and you'll get the answers you are looking for.

Look at Java Externals / Controllers and LiveSite toolkit sections in SP Dev guide. Also read up on $AJAX_URL token. Also look at the information on how a HTML form is submitted -- I know you don't have a form but you'll be able to get some idea to piece a solution together for your need.

yes, livesite already provide ajax workframe although i havn't research the encapsulation. Remember use $AJAX_URL as request url, and define a external class under content xml, other things is similar with general. send request and process response.