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Email Automation

Description

Alpha Anywhere provides three utilities that combine to provide opportunities for email automation.

The types of automated email applications that you can create are illustrated by these examples.

  • Request a report from a remote PC via email

  • Add a record to a table on a remote PC via email

  • Play an Xbasic script on a remote PC via email

  • Filter incoming messages based on content

Request a Report Via Email

Create an action with the Email Action Editor that responds to email messages requesting a report by emailing the report back to the sender's address.

  1. Open the Email Reader.

  2. Open the Email Action Editor.

  3. Click the '+' icon to display the Edit Email Action dialog box. This dialog captures three pieces of information: the expression that the triggering event in an incoming email, the action to take, and (in this case) the script to play.

    images/Email_App_Add_Email_Action_Dialog.gif

  4. You can directly enter the expression or click the 'xy' button to display the Expression Builder, which can display a list of email fields and previously used field values.

    images/Email_Create_Action_Expression.gif

  5. The Alpha Anywhere Email Reader looks for messages with "report request" in the subject field. When it finds a message, it responds by playing the "ReportRequest" script.

    images/Email_App_Report_Request_Action.gif

  6. When the Email Reader receives an email that looks like this.

    images/Email_App_Send_Report_Request_Message.gif

  7. the ReportRequest script sends the requested report to the sender's email address. 

    ON ERROR GOTO ERROR
DIM tInbox as P
tInbox = table.open(cTable, FILE_RO_SHARED)
tInbox.fetch_goto(nRecno)
DIM body as C
DIM subject as C
DIM report_to_send as C
DIM from as C
DIM filter as C
DIM filter2 as C
DIM order as C
DIM fn as C
subject = tInbox.subject
from = tInbox.from_email
body = tInbox.body
' find the report name
report_to_send = get_field_from_body("report name:*", body)
IF report_to_send = ""
    ' no report specified...done
    END
END IF
' retrieve the filter if there is one specified in the body, i.e.
' filter: state $ "CA"
filter = get_field_from_body("filter:*", body)
order = get_field_from_body("order:*", body)
IF body <> ""
    DIM cReportTable as C
    cReportTable = a5_op_name_short_to_long(report_to_send, "REPORT")
    cReportTable = word(cReportTable, 2, "@", 99999)
    filter2 = process_filter_Fields(body, cReportTable )
    IF filter2 <> ""
        filter = a5_Combine_filters(filter, filter2)
    END IF
END IF
' report.send(report_to_send, "PDF", "", "","a5", from, "Here is the report you requested", "Attached is the report you requested")
fn = file.temp_path_get()+remspecial(word(report_to_Send, 1, "@") )+".PDF"
report.SaveAs(report_to_send,"PDF", filter, order, fn)
wait_until(file.exists(fn), 1, 10)
email_send(from, "Here is the report you requested", "Attached is the report you requested", fn)
file.remove(fn)
tInbox.close()
ON ERROR GOTO 0
GOTO DONE
ERROR:
trace.Writeln(error_text_get() )
DONE:
FUNCTION process_filter_fields as C ( body as C, report_table as C )
DIM cResult as C
DIM i as N
DIM word_i as C
DIM field_name as C
DIM value as C
DIM expr as C
DIM t as P
IF file.filename_parse(report_table, "E") = ".ddd"
    report_table = file.filename_parse(report_table, "DPN")+".dbf"
END IF
IF file.exists(report_table)
    t = table.open(report_table, FILE_RO_SHARED)
ELSE
    EXIT FUNCTION
END IF
FOR i = 1 TO line_count(body)
    'get field name
    word_i = word(body, i, crlf() )
    ' get the field/value pairs
    IF (word_i <> "") .AND. (":" $ word_i) then
        field_name = alltrim(word(word_i, 1, ":") )
        value = alltrim(word(word_i, 2, ":", 99999) )
        IF (field_name <> "") .AND. (value <> "") then
            DIM datatype as C
            IF eval_valid(field_name, report_table)
                datatype = eval("t." + field_name + ".type_get()")
                IF datatype = "C"
                    expr = field_name + " = " + quote(value)
                ELSE IF datatype = "D"
                    expr = field_name + " = {"+value+"}"
                ELSE IF datatype = "L"
                    expr = field_name + " = " + iif(value = "True" .OR. value = ".T.", ".T.", ".F.")
                ELSE
                    expr = field_name + " = " +value
                END IF
                cResult = a5_combine_filters(cResult, expr)
            END IF
        END IF
    END IF
NEXT i
t.close()
process_filter_fields = cResult
END FUNCTION

Add a Record via Email

Create an action with the Email Action Editor that responds to an email message by extracting data from the email and adding a record to a table.

  1. Open the Email Reader.

  2. Open the Email Action Editor.

  3. Click the '+' icon to display the Add Email Action dialog box. This dialog captures three pieces of information: the expression that the triggering event in an incoming email, the action to take, and (in this case) the script to play.

    images/Email_App_Edit_Email_Action_Add_Record.gif

  4. The Alpha Anywhere Email reader looks for messages with "report request" in the subject field. When it finds a message, it responds by playing the "ReportRequest" script.

    images/Email_App_Add_Record_Action.gif

  5. When the Email Reader receives an email that looks like this.

    images/Email_App_Send_Add_Record_Message.gif

  6. the AddRecord script extracts the field data from the message body and appends a new record to the Customer table. 

    ' email action to add a record to a table based on contents of email
ON ERROR GOTO ERROR
DIM tInbox as P
' cTable & nRecno are defined automatically
tInbox = table.open(cTable, FILE_RO_SHARED)
tInbox.fetch_goto(nRecno)
DIM body as C
DIM subject as C
subject = tInbox.subject
body = tInbox.body
DIM t as P
DIM table_to_use as C
table_to_use = get_field_from_body("Table:*", body)
table_to_use = alltrim(table_to_use)
t = table.open(table_to_use, FILE_RW_SHARED)
t.enter_begin()
*for_each(x, add_record(t, x), body )
t.enter_end(.T.)
t.close()
tInbox.close()
GOTO DONE
ON ERROR GOTO 0
ERROR:
' log the error
trace.writeln(error_text_get() )
DONE:
FUNCTION add_record as V ( t as P, x as C )
' takes a string in the format fieldname: value and sets
' fieldname to the value specified.
' table must already be in change/enter mode
DIM cEvalField as C
DIM cField as C
DIM cValue as C
DIM field_type as C
cField = alltrim(word(x,1,":") )
cValue = alltrim(word(x,2,":", 99999) )
cEvalField = "t."+cField
IF eval_valid(cEvalField)
    field_type = eval(cEvalField+".type_get()")
    IF field_type = "C" .OR. field_type = "M"
        cEval = cEvalField + " = " +quote(cValue)
    ELSE IF field_type = "D"
        cEval = cEvalField + " = {" +cValue + "}"
    ELSE
        cEval = cEvalField + " = " +cValue
    END IF
    evaluate_template(cEval)
END IF
END FUNCTION

Play a Remote Xbasic Script

In this case the Email Reader examines the subject lines of incoming emails for the word "runme".

  1. The following image shows how the Edit Email Action dialog box configures this action.

    images/Email_App_Edit_Email_Action_Play_Script.gif

  2. When the Email Reader receives an email that looks like this.

    images/Email_App_Run_Script_Message.gif

  3. The runme script examines the message body for a password. If the password is acceptable, it treats the remainder of the message body as Xbasic code and executes it. 

    ON ERROR GOTO ERROR
DIM tInbox as P
DIM body as C
DIM password as C
tInbox = table.open(cTable, FILE_RO_SHARED)
tInbox.fetch_goto(nRecno)
body = tInbox.body
tInbox.close()
' look for the password string. It should be a comment in the body of
' the message which is interpreted as a script. i.e.: 'password: mypwd
password = filter_string_smatch(body, "'password:*", crlf() )
IF password = ""
    ' no password specified....
    END
END IF
' get the password
password = word(password, 2, ":", 9999)
password = alltrim(password)
IF (password <> "mypwd") then
    'incorrect password
    END
END IF
' if we get here, the password must be correct. Run the script
' the password does not need to be removed from the body, since
' it is actually just a comment
evaluate_template(body)
GOTO DONE
ON ERROR GOTO 0
ERROR:
trace.writeln(error_text_get() )
DONE:
END

Filter Messages Based on Content

In this case the Email Reader examines the subject lines of incoming emails for indications that the email is spam.

  1. The following image shows how the Edit Email Action dialog box configures this action. This is a trivial example, but it is possible to have this expression search for multiple words in multiple fields, including the message body. You can also have many different email actions working in together.

    images/Email_App_Edit_Email_Action_Move_Message.gif

  2. When the Email Reader receives an email that looks like this:

    images/Email_Spam_Message.gif

  3. The action moves the message to the Deleted folder. No additional configuration or programming is required.

See Also