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Hyperlink in email

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    Hyperlink in email

    I posted the following message in the version 5 forum because that is the version I am currently using, but since I know that version 6 has some enhanced email capabilities, I thought it might be prudent to post here as well.

    Hello All,

    I think I might be going way out on a limb here, but what the heck, if you don't ask, you'll never know.

    I have a script that sends an email to the account representative assigned to a given account.

    When the user clicks on the menu item to send the email, I am pre-populating the To: field of the email with the account's primary representative's email address and I am also pre-populating the Subject: field of the email with the account name...so good, so far.

    Now heres what I would like to do...

    I would like to include in the text of the email either a hyperlink or a button that when clicked will cause the application in Alpha5 to automatically navigate to the customer account that was referenced in the subject of the email.

    Any takers?

    Thanks

    Louis

    #2
    RE: Hyperlink in email

    Louis:
    This is much simpler than you think. In fact, in the emails I send out I do have a link to my web site.
    There is nothing magical about it:
    1-Create a template to go out with the email and save it
    2-In that template, write the URL address, preferably on a separate line, it will be automatically underlined and colored dfferently. When the receipint clicks the link, it should open up (do not know about AOL).
    That's all there is to it
    No buttons though !! not to my knowledge.
    Gabe

    Comment


      #3
      RE: Hyperlink in email

      In the EMAIL_SEND() command there are many parameters, one of which is having HTML in the message. You should be able to create a short HTML string which includes the hyperlink and use that in this command.

      Comment


        #4
        RE: Hyperlink in email

        Thanks all, but...

        I don't want the hyperlink/button to open a browser and go to a website, I want it to maximize Alpha5 and navigate to a specific customer record.

        Am I missing something or is there a way to use your suggestions to accomplish this?

        Thanks,

        Louis

        Comment


          #5
          RE: Hyperlink in email

          I could be wrong, but I do not think it is possible to send a 'link' via email to open a program on somebody else's system. I even tried to email my desktop shortcut as an attachment and it does not work because it is missing a .dll file.

          I am assuming that your account reps have some version of Alpha running on their own system? Are they connecting to a file server within a network or over a vpn. How do they currently open their files? Where is the actual db located? What is on the acct reps pc for Alpha as far as version and runtime etc?

          Maybe with some of this information we can find another way for you to accomplish your end result. Perhaps you could create shortcuts on the various pc's that loads the db directly. You could create a start up form that queries the db based on their login.

          Good luck
          Cheryl
          Cheryl
          #1 Designs By Pagecrazy
          http://pagecrazy.com/

          Comment


            #6
            RE: Hyperlink in email

            Hey Cheryl,

            I have seen this functionality in another database (not Alpha5).

            I'm guessing that I could write a VB Script and that would maximize Alpha5 and navigate to the correct customer record, then attach that script to the email.

            One lilltle problem with that and one big problem.

            The little problem is that the users computer would probably warn them that opening a .vbs type of file could expose them to viruses.

            The big problem is that I don't know how to write a VB script.

            Any other ideas or suggestions would be most appreciated.

            Louis

            Comment


              #7
              RE: Hyperlink in email

              Thankfully, what you ask cannot be done. If it could, it would be an enormous security hole.
              Aaron Brown
              Alpha Software Development Team

              Comment


                #8
                RE: Hyperlink in email

                Louis:
                You can not do that with A5V5. However; with A5V6 You could use the Web App Server to put your app online, insert the link as indicated earlier, the user will access your database online. As to accessing one specific record on the application, I have to do some more thinking about that one, but I do not think it's feasible as such. The user would have to use some search parameters once on your web site, unless you create a specific page for each user !!
                Cheryl wrote: "I do not think it is possible to send a 'link' via email to open a program on somebody else's system"
                Actually, it's quite possible (file:/// instead of http)or by establishing a network, or using a third party program (did you forget Napster already ??!!)
                Gabe

                Comment


                  #9
                  RE: Hyperlink in email

                  Aaron,

                  Much like Alpha5 allows us to send keystrokes to "another program", isn't there a way to attach a small script to the email that when run would maximize Alpha5 and send some keystrokes to my app?

                  Thanks,

                  Louis

                  p.s. With regard to security, these emails would all be in-house and if an email was sent to an outside email address and the recipient tried to run the script, they would have no path to the database.

                  That being said, where is the security risk?

                  Louis

                  Comment


                    #10
                    RE: Hyperlink in email

                    Actually Gabe, using your web-based approach would allow you to specify the search parameters and go directly to a specific record. This is quite trivial to do in fact.

                    For example, on our own demo site, http://was.alphasoftware.com/web_applications_demo/default/CustomerFormEditable_2.A5W?cust_filter=customer%5Fid%3D%2200000052%22 will bring you to cuistomer 52 while http://was.alphasoftware.com/web_applications_demo/default/CustomerFormEditable_2.A5W?cust_filter=customer%5Fid%3D%2200000008%22 will bring you to customer 8.

                    -Lenny

                    Lenny Forziati
                    Vice President, Internet Products and Technical Services
                    Alpha Software Corporation

                    Comment


                      #11
                      RE: Hyperlink in email

                      Lenny:
                      Thanks for the enlightening.
                      That should make Louis happy and Aaron not so happy !! But I do not think Aaron should be too unhappy: if you send a link to a receipint that opens up a record, hey if that's what you want it's and you do not regard the info as critical, then be it!!
                      Gabe

                      Comment


                        #12
                        RE: Hyperlink in email

                        It's called "security through obscurity" and it's something crackers love, because it doesn't work. Just because they may not *know* the link, doesn't mean there isn't a way to discover it. While you may have everything inhouse, a security infrastructure has to be designed to work in the least secure environment.

                        Think about the danger, for example, if someone sent you an email that, when you clicked on the link ran "format C:" Or, even worse, since you can auto-redirect to a link, it just ran "format C:" when you opened the email?
                        Aaron Brown
                        Alpha Software Development Team

                        Comment


                          #13
                          RE: Hyperlink in email

                          Linking to WAS is completely different conceptually and from a security standpoint than being able to link to another program. One is simply opening a web link (which we all know can easily be done), the other is running another program on a user's machine, which could be devastating.
                          Aaron Brown
                          Alpha Software Development Team

                          Comment


                            #14
                            RE: Hyperlink in email

                            I agree with Aaron. If somebody could open any of my Alpha Five databases on my computer via a link, what would stop them from getting confidential information that I have stored in the db?

                            The web server is a completely different animal. Links in a web browser are to specific pages. As long as we know what we are doing we have all the security we need to lock down the access. We are controlling the access to the files in our code.
                            Cheryl
                            #1 Designs By Pagecrazy
                            http://pagecrazy.com/

                            Comment


                              #15
                              RE: Hyperlink in email

                              Aaron:
                              You read my mind!! I was about to send you a message asking what is the difference (from the security point of view) between accessing one record or accessing all records in an app !! I guess in your earlier posting you were addressing a concern about someone running an app on your computer as opposed to accesing the app through WAS. I agree, that would not be very wise,to say the least.
                              Thanks
                              Gabe

                              Comment

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