"Email from on high"

[bob9145]

My conclusion is that Alpha's built in email automation does not work on the WAS. It only works through a desktop app or on the developer. This is because the script and the genie filters are not present on the WAS.

The work around I found was to install the developer on the server and creating the automation as follows.

I created a generic database and created the automation script using the genie. I than modified the addrecord code from the demo script for my divine purposes.

I added the common table from my published web app. to the generic database. Works like a charm. This technique would also give you all the functionality of the desktop on the server.

I understand that this can all be done through an a5w page with email_receive but I haven't mastered that yet.

Here is a licensing questioned. If I wanted to deploy this for a customer could I do the desktop portion licensed as a desktop application? This seems to make sense.

The program would essentially be a hybrid, but the licensed desktop app would reside on the server.

Bob

[Steve Wood]

Re: "Email from on high"

My conclusion is that Alpha's built in email automation does not work on the WAS.

Seems like I have heard that before.

Take a moment to describe what you want to accomplish, big picture. Think about how Facebook, etc. handle "data entry by email". An email is sent to a user triggered by some event, the user is NOT allowed to respond to the email. Instead they click a link embedded in that email. That link opens a browser page and code on that browser page can do ANYTHING, such as adding a record. E.g., the a link as follows could add a record to the user table:

mydomain.com/index.a5w?action=add&user=fred&city=Chicago (although I would not make the URL so obvious, and you need to include code to ensure it only performs the action once).

This is how nearly every online service handle data exchange, no one uses the body of the email sent to an address to do anything like this. Email is completely unreliable for this purpose.

With the URL method the user is instantly informed as to the outcome. The browser page either says Success or Failure, depending on how you code it. With an Email method, the user has no idea if it worked or not, or if they do, it is at some later date.

[bob9145]

Re: "Email from on high"

Steve,

I get all that and eventually I will move to a more consistent and sophisticated method. My purpose is more akin to a tweet. I am just using email/SMS, and a database like bumpers and flippers in a pin ball game.

I made the post because I never did get a definitive answer on what was on the WAS concerning email and wanted to share my results. Besides my posts and those who contributed, there isn't much out there in the help or on the wiki concerning receiving email from a web app.

Is there a way to run scripts from the WAS that are not triggered by the user in a browser window in Alpha? I could go to the database side and write stuff in say an a sql trigger but I don't understand how I can get code to run on the WAS independently of the browser without the assistance of a desktop app.

I know you described accomplishing this through an a5w page that was all code, but I don't quite understand that. I appreciate your input.

Happy New Year
Bob
PS: You'll know it worked when you get the confirmation email/text