Customizing email sent from workflows

I have a situation where I would like to send an email from a workflow to inform specific users that they need to run OpenDeploy (Intranet, Extranet, or Internet). I am able to send email from workflows, but they have a bunch of extra "stuff" in them. I don't need to send all the information, but would like to be able to just send a simple email that says something like "Please deploy Internet". After doing some research on iwsend_mail.ipl, it looks like it is all hard coded (which I could change), but it would change for every email that uses iwsend_mail.ipl. I was thinking about creating 3 more ipl files that have the information hard coded for each enviornment, but I don't know if that is possible. It is harder for me to get my UNIX admins to create and modify the files then it is to ask on the Developers network. Any suggestions?

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Migrateduser

It's really quite simple to create custom email scripts to run from workflows. But you do need to create these scripts on your TeamSite server. Most of us have the access to do so, so if you can't write a script yourself and you can't get someone else to do it for you, you're screwed. It's unclear why you'd not have the ability to create an email script but you do have the ability to modify iwsend_mail.ipl.

Dave Smith
Sr. Software Engineer
Nike, Inc.
(503) 671-4238
DavidH.Smith@nike.com

ttriemst

sorry, I don't think I explained it well enough. In order to be able to create scripts, I need to have someone from my UNIX team create the file, and then modify the properties so that I can modify it. But trying to get someone from the UNIX team to do this is like pulling teeth. I get the who, what, why, when, etc... Its all politics. Back to the subject, thanks for you input, I just wanted to know if that is easy to do before I go to the UNIX team. Thanks

Migrateduser

It is very easy to do. I use the Mail::Mailer module to do all of my custom emails (I have about 25 various emails I have created so far) and it's a breeze to create a new one. I can help with a sample of my code if you get to that point. Email me and I'll send you the details.

Dave Smith
Sr. Software Engineer
Nike, Inc.
(503) 671-4238
DavidH.Smith@nike.com

rollo

The way I do it is to have one ipl (per workflow) which takes an argument to choose what to put in the subject, body, etc. But if you were crafty about it, you could have a single 'all purpose' ipl which would send whatever you wanted to whoever, by setting workflow or task variables and then using the names of those variables as parameters to the script. It'd still mean the hassle of getting your script approved, and you'd have to plan it well, but at least you'd only have to do it once.

Migrateduser

For all my 25 different emails, I only have one perl script to handle them all. It's all about passing it the parameters that tell it what to send to whom. There are many ways to do it.

As a caveat to this, once I started using Template Based Email, I devised a way to also use my 25 different sets of email text into that method - so I can still send my custom text in the more attractive Template Based look and feel. The drawback to Template Based Email is that you can't send different emails to different people at the same time without a wrapper and some customization to the iw_solution_email.ipl script.

Dave Smith
Sr. Software Engineer
Nike, Inc.
(503) 671-4238
DavidH.Smith@nike.com

Edited by Smitty77 on 06/09/03 01:46 PM (server time).