Migrating from Rich Mail to Agile Platform's built-in emails

Jaime Vasconcelos

Question

Hi Community,

Did you ever think of stop using the Rich Mail extension and move on to Agile Platform’s built-in emails?
We believe we have good reasons for you to do so.

1. Compose Emails as if they were Web Screens

Compose your emails in Service Studio as part of your application simply by using widgets, in the same way you do for designing Web Screens.
Add widgets not only for static content but also for dynamic content which is generated at runtime, therefore, allowing you to design custom-made email content.
As a simple example, personalize your emails by starting them with “Dear <name of the recipient>,” using an expression that is evaluated at runtime.

2. Send Emails with… Send Email

Design the logic for sending emails in Action flows or Process flows using the Send Email tool.
This tool is provided with properties to set the email content and also message header fields: From, To, CC, BCC, and Subject.
Take advantage of setting expressions in the message header fields and, for example, send the same email to different recipients (‘To’ property) while iterating through a recipients list.

3. Avoid Waiting Time and Timeouts with Asynchronous Sending

Agile Platform orchestrates the process of sending emails for it to be asynchronous and avoid waiting time or timeouts.
This is achieved in the following way:

Emails are generated by the Send Email and added to a sending queue;
Another process in the Agile Platform server, the OutSystems Scheduler Service, regularly checks the queue for pending emails and effectively sends them.

Now, there’s a slight difference between sending emails with Send Email in Action flows and in Process flows:

In Action Flows: emails are generated synchronously, therefore, you should use Send Email in Action flows when sending few emails to avoid waiting time;

In Process Flows: emails are generated asynchronously because processes are executed independently of the application, therefore, you should use Send Email in Process flows when sending many (bulk) emails.

4. Send Emails with Attached Files

Emails in the Agile Platform can also be sent with attached files by simply using the Attach File tool.
You just have to get the files in the preparation of your email (like the preparation of a Web Screen) and attach them using the Attach File tool.

5. Retry Mechanism

The Agile Platform automatically retries sending failed emails for a period of days: this period can be configured by you.

6. Logging

To keep track of sent emails, the Agile Platform logs all emails and provides you with a specific page in Service Center to examine that information.

7. Extend Functionality: use the Emails API

If you are thinking about extending email functionality, or adapting it to your specific needs, simply make use of the Email API provided by the Agile Platform.
For example, design your own email report screens integrated in your application or add specific functionality for recovering failed emails.

You can learn more about built-in emails here, in Service Studio’s online help.

Your sincerely,

Jaime Vasconcelos

03 Jan 2012

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