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Document Number: PD500-03-17-1_0-WP Orbis Software Limited © 2010
TaskCentre® v4.5
Send Message (SMTP) Tool
White Paper
Table of Contents
i
COPYRIGHT 1
TRADEMARKS 1
INTRODUCTION 2
Overview 2
FEATURES 2
GLOBAL CONFIGURATION 3
Address Book dialog 4
New Contact dialog 5
Address Properties dialog 5
TECHNICAL SUMMARY 5
Working with other Steps 5
Dependencies 6
Objects Consumed 7
Objects Exposed 7
CONFIGURATION 7
General 8
Main 9
Select From dialog 9
Select Recipients dialog 10
New One Off Recipient dialog 12
Options 12
Copyright & Trademarks
1
Copyright The copyright in this document is owned by Orbis Software 2010. All rights reserved.
This publication may not, in whole or part, be reproduced, transmitted, transcribed, stored in a retrieval
system or translated into any language in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of
Orbis Software Limited.
Head Office:
Orbis Software Limited (UK)
2 Nuffield Road
Nuffield Industrial Estate
Poole, Dorset
BH17 0RB
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0) 1202 241124
Fax: +44 (0) 1202 241125
Email: [email protected]
Trademarks Orbis Software Ltd owns the registered Trademark ‘TaskCentre’.
All other Trademarks used within this documentation are acknowledged as the property of their
respective owners.
The information provided in this publication may contain errors, omissions, or typographical errors or
may be out of date. Orbis Software may change, delete, or update any published information at any time
and without prior notice. The information published in this document is provided for informational
purposes only and is not binding on Orbis Software in any way except to the extent that it is specifically
indicated to be so.
Send Message (SMTP) Tool
2
Introduction
Overview
The ‘Send Message (SMTP)’ is an ‘Output’ Tool which is used to create a Task Step that sends
messages to any SMTP compliant mail server. The Step is capable of sending multiple messages in either
text or HTML formats, incorporating data from an Input and/or Format Step to any number of recipients.
If data being used from an Input Step includes a column containing e-mail addresses, then this may be
used as a ‘dynamic’ recipient address.
The Tool is configured globally with the name or IP address and port number of the SMTP Server to use,
and this is then transparent for all Steps created. An internal address book is provided so that common
SMTP addresses can be defined and re-used. MAPI address books such as those available from Microsoft
Mail, Microsoft Outlook and the Microsoft Exchange Server Global Address List (GAL) are also supported.
Commonly the message content would be a document generated by a Format type Step such as ‘Format
As Text’, ‘Format As HTML’ or ‘Run Crystal Report’ but it is also possible to attach the document to the
message and additionally create fixed or dynamic message content by inserting columns from the
recordset being used or Task variables or parameters by dragging and dropping them into the message
from the ‘Task Browser’ dialog.
There are extensive management facilities for handling file attachments (e.g. the contents of a database
query can be incorporated into the file attachment and the message body can be used for accompanying
notes/actions list). It is also possible to define the file contents per recordset row, or grouped by a
chosen field. In addition to this a file(s) may be attached from a Network fileserver; the path(s) of which
may be defined using a field from the recordset or a static address.
Features
Send Message (SMTP) Tool
3
Global Configuration Before the Send Message (SMTP) Step may be used a User with System Administrator rights must first
select an SMTP Server. This is achieved through a Global Configuration dialog which is displayed by
clicking on the Outputs node in the Task Manager and then double-clicking on the Send Message (SMTP)
icon in the Items List.
The dialog consists of the following:
o ‘Server Address’ (field) - A DNS Name or an IP Address may be entered for the SMTP Server.
o ‘Authentication’ (area) - This area contains the following for configuring a connection to the
SMTP server:
‘Enable Authentication’ (check box) - This option should be selected if authentication is
to be used to connect to the server and if checked provides the following options for
selection:
Windows Authentication (NTLM) - The currently logged in users details are used to
access the server.
Plain Text Authentication (LOGIN) - Specific user details may be entered in the
'Username', 'Password' and 'Domain' fields which become active when this option is
selected.
Figure 1. Send Message (SMTP) Global Configuration dialog – Main tab.
o ‘Authentication’ (area) - This area contains the following connection options for selection:
Abort send if Authentication not supported by host.
Abort send if Authentication Fails.
o ‘Connection Security’ (area) - This area contains the following connection options for
selection:
Send Message (SMTP) Tool
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Use Secure SMTP.
Require Secure SMTP.
o ‘Connection Details’ (area) - This area contains the following:
‘Port Number’ (field) - The connection port to be used may be entered. This defaults to
25.
Note: The TaskCentre SMTP port is configurable and may be changed from its default
setting of 25 should port clashes occur during configuration. Please refer to the
documentation on your mail server in order to co-ordinate any change from the default of
25 so that TaskCentre can communicate successfully with your mail server.
o ‘Message Formatting’ (area) - This area contains the following formatting options for
selection:
Send plain text using HTML – By default this option is not selected and therefore
assumes that there may be recipients of TaskCentre notifications who are unable to read
HTML mail. This means that plain text notifications can be constructed and hence not be
converted into HTML by the mail server.
Figure 2. Send Message (SMTP) Global Configuration dialog – Advanced tab.
Address Book dialog
The ‘Address Book’ dialog (Ref: Figure 3) contains the following:
Send Message (SMTP) Tool
5
Figure 3. Address Book dialog.
New Contact dialog
Figure 4. New Contact dialog.
The ‘New Contact’ dialog (Ref: Figure 4) is used to specify a name and email address for a new contact
through the following:
Address Properties dialog
Clicking the ‘Edit...’ button, when contact details have been selected, will invoke the ‘Properties’ dialog
for the selected Address. This is essentially the same dialog as the ‘New Contact’ dialog, but is used to
amend the details.
Technical Summary
Working with other Steps
The other Steps that the Send Message (SMTP) Step will interact directly with, whether by exposing
information to it or consuming information from it are listed below.
Step Icon Name Step Type
Schedule Event Step
MS SQL Server Trigger Event Step
Send Message (SMTP) Tool
6
Oracle Trigger Event Step
SMTP Event Step
Workflow Job Submission Event Step
Format As Text Format Step
Format As HTML Format Step
Run Crystal Report Format Step
Merge MS Word Document Format Step
XML to Recordset Format Step
Create Workflow Job Format Step
Text Parser General Step
Decision General Step
Dependencies
The products, technologies, protocols or systems that are required for the Send Message (SMTP) Step to
work are listed below.
Send Message (SMTP) Tool
7
Objects Consumed
Objects that the Send Message (SMTP) Step consumes that are exposed by other Steps are listed below.
Objects Exposed
Objects that the Send Message (SMTP) Step exposes, that can be utilised by other Steps are listed below.
Configuration The Send Message (SMTP) Step is configured through the Send Message (SMTP) dialog which is the main
interface for creating a new Step. The dialog is displayed through the methods described below.
To create a new Step:
To open an existing Step:
The dialog contains the three tabbed panes described below through which a Send Message (SMTP) Step
may be created and configured.
Send Message (SMTP) Tool
8
General
Figure 5. Send Message (SMTP) – General tab.
The contents of the ‘General’ tab (Ref: Figure 5) are as follows:
Send Message (SMTP) Tool
9
Main
Figure 6. Send Message (SMTP) – Main tab + Browser dialog.
The ‘Main’ tab (Ref: Figure 6) allows the selection of message recipients and the message content to be
configured through the following:
o Message only – If this option is selected then the message will consist of the text entered in
the ‘Message’ text box area, including any columns, properties and variables incorporated within
the text that are current at the time the Task is run.
o Document output only – If this option is selected then text cannot be entered in the ‘Message’
text box area and the message will consist of the document or report from the chosen data
source in the ‘General’ tab.
Select From dialog
The ‘Select From’ dialog (Ref: Figure 7) is used to select the reply address of the e-mail. It contains an
‘OK’ and a ‘Cancel’ button. The ‘OK’ button will close the dialog and save any changes made. The
‘Cancel’ button will close the dialog without saving any changes.
The contents of the ‘Select From’ dialog are as follows:
Send Message (SMTP) Tool
10
Figure 7. Select From dialog.
Select Recipients dialog
The ‘Select Recipients’ dialog (Ref: Figure 8) is used to choose the recipient of the e-mail in either ‘To’,
‘Cc’ or ‘Bcc’ categories. The dialog contains an ‘OK’ and a ‘Cancel’ button. The functionality of these
buttons is the same as used elsewhere within TaskCentre®.
The contents of the ‘Select Recipients’ dialog are as follows:
o Used to add a one-off e-mail recipient to either the ‘To’, ‘Cc’ or ‘Bcc’ fields,
o Invokes the ‘New One Off Recipient’ dialog (Ref: Figure 9).
Figure 8. Select Recipients dialog.
Send Message (SMTP) Tool
11
Using Dynamic Recipients
Another alternative to selecting recipients from the address books is to use 'Dynamic Recipients'. This
allows the user to define the recipients by using email addresses from the data source. E.g. in an
Accounts or CRM system the customers email address will form part of the contact management details
and hence the email address data could come from there.
Send Message (SMTP) Tool
12
To use this method:
Right-clicking on a column in a field displays options to remove it and also to view the properties through
the ‘Dynamic Recipient’ dialog (Ref: Figure 9).
Note: If the recordset contains more than one record related to the recipient and you wish for all related
records to appear in one email then the email address field must be a primary sort key in the Input Step
Figure 9. Dynamic Recipient dialog.
New One Off Recipient dialog
The ‘New One Off Recipient’ dialog (Ref: Figure 10) is used to assign a new recipient name and e-mail
address to the Step. It contains an ‘OK’ and a ‘Cancel’ button. The functions of the ‘OK’ and ‘Cancel’
buttons are the same as used elsewhere within TaskCentre®. The contents of this dialog are as follows:
o ‘To’ (radio button) – Will add the new recipient to the ‘To->’ field
o ‘Cc’ (radio button) – Will add the new recipient to the ‘Cc->’ field
o ‘Bcc’ (radio button) – Will add the new recipient to the ‘Bcc->’ field
o ‘Name’ (field) – Used to add the new recipients name
o ‘Address’ (field) – Used to add the new recipients e-mail address
Figure 10. New One Off Recipient dialog.
Options
The ‘Options’ tab (Ref: Figure 11) of the Send Message (SMTP) dialog is used to configure the Step
behaviour if an error occurs when the Step is being processed.
Send Message (SMTP) Tool
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Figure 11 Send Message (SMTP) – Options tab.
The following options are provided for selection:
o Abort Step - If an error occurs then the Step is aborted.
o Continue - If an error occurs then the Step will continue.
o Abort Task - If the Step is aborted then the Task is aborted.
o Continue - If the Step is aborted then the Task will continue onto the next Step in the process
if one exists.