What is an Email Action?

The Email action can be used to send one or multiple emails. If 100 records are pushed into the Actionflow then 100 emails will be sent, unless a phase is used to send a single email. 

Creating Email Actions

1. Click and drag the 

   Insert excerpt
   _action_email _action_email nopanel true

    icon from the toolbar onto the canvas
2. Enter a name for the Email action, then select Create Action
3. In the Email action  Properties on the right, populate the following details:

Verifying Emails

It is possible to check an email has successfully been sent using the Email tab at the top of the system console. System Console → Email Tab. See System Console

Attachments

Currently unsupported in Actionflows. To send an email with an attachment, see Sending Emails.

Built-in Error Handling

Basic validation is performed to ensure that email addresses are well-formed. If they are not this will cause the Actionflow to fail immediately. Other errors, such as email addresses for accounts that don’t exist, won’t cause a failure of the Actionflow but they will result in an unsuccessful email send.

Opening an Email Client

The 

Worked Examples

Here are worked examples using the Shop Data (available from the Learning Centre).

In this example, we are using:  

• A Shop Staff Form screen containing blank input fields, set up to create a new staff member  - this screen was created using the Edit Form template
• A Shop Orders screen containing a grid of the Shop Orders data, Order Status filters buttons and a card container of the Shop Order Lines data  - this screen was created using the Multi-Tile template

GIF/SCREENSHOT OF FINISHED RESULT   

Example 1: Send One Email For One Record

In this example, we'll modify the Actionflow on the Save button for when a new staff member is createdof the Shop Staff Form. We'll configure this Actionflow to send an email to the Team Leader (i.e. you) with a reminder to complete a full induction.

1. On the Shop New Staff Form screen, open the Actionflow on the Save button

2. Create a new 

   Insert excerpt
   _action_gateway _action_gateway nopanel true

    action to ensure an email is only sent when a new employee is saved but not when an existing employee is saved, and insert this between the 

   Insert excerpt
   _input _input nopanel true

    node and 

   Insert excerpt
   _action_save _action_save nopanel true

    action

   Expand
   title How?
   Ensure that staffID is mapped into the Gateway action from the input

3. Create an additional Save action, with the same setup as the existing Save action
4. Map the Gateway action to both Save actions 
   1. You should now have a Gateway action, followed by two Save actions
5. Hover over the Save action on the canvas that you will use for new employees (i.e. that will save and send an email) and select, out

6. 
   

7. Click onto any blank canvas space and choose the 

   Insert excerpt_actionClick on the Save action on the canvas and rename this to: Save NEW Staff
   1. Ensure Auto Save Attributes is toggled on and change the Type to Insert
8. Create an additional Save action and name it: Save EXISTING Staff
   1. Ensure Auto Save Attributes is toggled on and change the Type to Update
9. Hover over the Gateway action
   1. Map the SaveOnly connector to the Save EXISTING Staff action
   2. Map the SaveAndEmail connector to the Save NEW Staff action 
   3. You should now have a Gateway action, followed by two Save actions, with the attribute staffID mapped to both
10. Hover over the Save NEW Staff action on the canvas and select, out

11. Click onto any blank canvas space and choose the 

    Insert excerpt
    _action_email _action_email name icon nopanel true

     icon
    1. Enter a suitable name for the node and select Create Action
12. Click on the Email Action to open its Properties and pin the tab
13. For the From field, we need to use the email address specified as the login email in your Outbound Emailer; to find this, in the  Insert excerpt_repository_repositorynamefullnopaneltrue, expand  Insert excerpt_emailConfiguration_emailConfigurationnameaccountsnopaneltrueDouble-click on  Insert excerpt_emailConfiguration_emailConfigurationnameiconnopaneltrue Outbound emailer and copy the login email Paste this into the From field on your pinned Map across the staffID attribute from the table to the Email action
14. Click on the input connection point, under Connections, and map in the following attributes:
    1. departmentID
    2. departmentName
    3. employmentType
    4. first_name
    5. last_name
    6. startDate

15. Then map these attributes into the Email action

    Expand
    title Checkpoint
    Image Added

    
    

Email Action Setup

1. Click on the Email Action to open its Properties and pin the tab
2. For the From field, we need to use the email address specified as the login email in your Outbound Emailer; to find this, in the 

   Insert excerpt
   _action_emailrepository _action_emailrepository name full nopanel true

    properties, and enter the following:
3. To: enter your email address
   1. This way you can see if the Actionflow is working

Subject:

Code Block
language js theme Emacs
New Employee: ${in.firstName} ${in.lastName}

is HTML: Toggle on , expand 

Insert excerpt
_emailConfiguration _emailConfiguration name accounts nopanel true

1. Double-click on 

   Insert excerpt
   _emailConfiguration _emailConfiguration name icon nopanel true

    Outbound emailer and copy the login email 
4. Paste this into the From field on your pinned 

   Insert excerpt
   _

   toggle

   action_

   on

   email _

   toggle

   action_

   on

   email nopanel true

    Message properties, and enter the following:
   1. To: enter your email address
      1. This way you can see if the Actionflow is working

   2. Subject:

      Code Block
      language js theme Emacs
      HereNew areEmployee: ${in.firstNamefirst_name} ${in.lastName}'s details: ID Number: ${in.staffID} Start Date: ${in.startDate}  toString(_fromDate,last_name}

      
      

   3. is HTML: Toggle on 

      Insert excerpt
      _toggle_on _toggle_on nopanel true

       

   4. Message:

      Code Block
      language js theme Emacs
      Hello ${_user.name}, You have a new team member! Here are ${in.first_name} ${in.last_name}'s details: ID Number: ${in.staffID} Start Date: ${toString(in.startDate, "dd MMMM yyyy")} Department: ${in.departmentID} ${in.departmentIDdepartmentNamedepartmentName} Contract Type: ${in.employmentType} Please ensure ${in.firstNamefirst_name} ${in.lastNamelast_name} completes their full induction training and all training sign offs are completed by dateAdd(${by ${toString(dateAdd(in.startDate},_WEEK_OF_YEAR, 2), "dd MM yyyy")}.

      
      

      1. Leave all other fields blank

   5. Insert excerpt
      _finish _finish nopanel true

Example 2: Send One Email For Multiple Records

1. 1. Expand
      title Checkpoint
      Image Added

      
      

Testing

1. To test the Actionflow:
   1. Create a new staff member using the Staff Form and if you provided your own email in the To field, you will receive the email you set up above
   2.  Update an existing staff member and after saving, you should not receive an email 

Example 2: Send One Email For Multiple Records

In this example, we'll configure a button to run a processing check of all order lines for all incomplete orders. This will check for any incomplete orders where all order lines are marked as 'Closed'. Where an order's order lines are all closed, the order will be updated to Completed and an email will be sent detailing how many orders have been updated to completed that day.

To send one email for multiple records, an additional phase will be required.

Setup the Views and Calculate Action

closed, the order will be updated to Completed and an email will be sent detailing how many orders have been updated to Completed that day.

In an Actionflow, to send one email for multiple records, an additional

Setup the Views and Calculate Action

1. On the Shop Orders screen, use the palette to create a button that will initiate the Actionflow
2. Right-click on the button and 

   Insert excerpt
   _actionflow_add _actionflow_add nopanel true

    
3. On the Actionflow canvas, configure an Input of On Click

4. Add a

   Insert excerpt
   _action_view _action_view nopanel true

    Action and set the Primary Table to the Orders data

5. Filter on the View Action to only retrieve the incomplete orders

   1. 
      

      Expand
      title How?
      Add a Filter with the filter conditions: Status not equals Completed  Add Output Attributes: OrderID Status For more help on using View actions, see 1.15 View Action Configuration.

      
      

6. Connect the input to this View Action

7. Add a

   Insert excerpt
   _action_viewcalculate _action_viewcalculate nopanel true

    Action and set the Primary Table to the Orders dataFilter on  Action from the toolbar

   1. This Calculate Action will be to used to change the order status

8. Connect the View Action to only retrieve the incomplete orders Calculate Action
   

   Expand
   title

   How?

   Add a Filter with the filter conditions:

   1. Status not equals Completed 

   Add Output Attributes:

   1. OrderID
   2. Status

9. Connect the input to this View Action

10. Add a

    Checkpoint

    Image Added

11. Add another

    Insert excerpt
    _action_calculateview _action_calculateview nopanel true

     Action from the toolbar

    1. This Calculate Action will be to used in a lookup

    Connect

    to the canvas and set the Primary Table to the Order Lines data

12. Filter on the View Action to the Calculate ActionAdd another Insert excerpt_action_view_action_viewnopaneltrue Action from the toolbar to the canvas and set the Primary Table to the Order Lines dataFilter on the View Action to only retrieve Open order lines, and where the orderID from the Orders data equals the orderID from the Order Lines data

    Expand
    title How?
    Add a Filter with two filter conditions: Where ALL of the following are true: LineStatus not equals Closed OrderID equals OrderID

13. Hover over the Calculate Action and choose Add Lookup, then click on the lookup connector

14. Configure the Incoming Mappings:only retrieve Open order lines, and where the orderID from the Orders data equals the orderID from the Order Lines data

    1. 
       

       Expand
       title How?
       Add a Filter with two filter conditions: Where ALL of the following are true: LineStatus not equals Closed OrderID equals OrderID

       
       

15. Hover over the Calculate Action and choose Add Lookup, and give the lookup a suitable name, e.g. lu, then click on the View action you just created

16. Click on the View action node and set the Output Attributes:
    1. LineStatus
    2. OrderID
    3. OrderLineID
    4. OrderLineNumber

       
       

       Expand
       title Checkpoint
       Image Added

       
       

17. Click on the lookup connector to configure the Incoming Mappings:
    1. Map across OrderID
18. Configure the Outgoing Mappings:
    1. LineStatus
    2. OrderID
    3. OrderLineID
    4. OrderLineNumber
19. Click on the Calculate Action and  and using the function countElements, add two Output Attributes:
    1. add an Output Attribute that counts the records coming from the lookup and where this is more than zero, returns the Order Status that is currently set but where this is zero, returns the string, "Completed"
       1. zero records means that all Order Lines are Closed
       2. the "Completed" string will be mapped to the Order Status

    2. add an Output Attribute that counts the records coming from the lookup and where this is more than zero, returns NULL but where this is zero, returns today's date 

       Expand
       title How?
       Add an Output Attribute for the status: Code Block theme Emacs if( countElements(lu) > 0, in.status, //flag record as Completed if all order lines Closed "Completed" )  Add an Output Attribute for the completion date: Code Block theme Emacs if( countElements(lu) > 0, _NULL, //return today's date for complete orders now() )

       
       

20. Add a

    Insert excerpt
    _action_save _action_save nopanel true

     Action to the canvas that saves data back to the Orders dataset, and map across:
    1. The Completion Date Output Attribute onto the CompletionDate in the data
    2. The Status Output Attribute onto the Status in the data
    3. The OrderID from the Orders View onto the OrderID in the data
    4. Toggle on Auto Save Attributes in the Save Action Properties

Setup the Email Phase

Create an additional phase in the Actionflow to send an email in. This is required to ensure only one email is sent regardless of the amount of records passing through the Actionflow.

As data cannot be passed between phases, this Actionflow will include a lookup to the Orders data, specifically to the data that was saved as part of the first phase of the Actionflow.

1. Add a 

   Insert excerpt
   _action_phase _action_phase name start nopanel true

    to the canvas and create an additional phase to send the email in
2. Open the Emailing Phase and configure an Input of On Phase Start
3. Add a 

   Insert excerpt
   _action_calculate _action_calculate nopanel true

    Action that will be used for a lookup
4. Connect the input to the Calculate Action
5. Add a

   Insert excerpt
   _action_view _action_view nopanel true

    Action with the Orders data as the Primary Table
6. Filter on the View Action to only retrieve Orders with a Completion Date of today 

   1. 
      

      Expand
      title How?
      Add a Filter with the filter condition: CompletionDate equals today()

      
      

7. Hover over the Calculate Action and choose Add Lookup, then click on the lookup connector
8. Configure the Outgoing Mappings:
   1. CompletionDate
   2. OrderID

9. Click on the Calculate Action and using the function countElements, add an Output Attribute that counts the records coming from the lookup connector 

   Expand
   title How?
   Add an Output Attribute: Type: Integer Expression:  Code Block theme Emacs countElements(lu)

   
   

10. Add a

    Insert excerpt
    _action_email _action_email nopanel true

     Action to the canvas and connect the Calculate Action to this
    1. Map across the above Output Attribute from the Calculate Action
11. Click on the Email Action to open its Properties, and enter the following:
    1. From: use the email address you used in Example 1
    2. To: enter your email address
       1. This way you can see if the Actionflow is working

    3. Subject:

       Code Block
       language js theme Emacs
       Order Completion Check

       
       

    4. is HTML: Toggle off 

       Insert excerpt
       _toggle_off _toggle_off nopanel true

        

    5. Message:

       Code Block
       language js theme Emacs
       Overnight order processing run finished at ${toString(now(),"dd MM yyyy")}. ${in.CountCompletedToday} order(s) now completed.

       
       

       1. Leave all other fields blank

    6. Insert excerpt
       _finish _finish nopanel true

Test the Actionflow

To test the Actionflow we need an Open or Processing order that has all of its order lines set to Status of Closed. 

1. On the Shop Orders screen, use the filers to find an Open or Processing order
2. Change all of its Order Lines to Closed and Save each change
   1. ZB THIS IS A ROUGH GIF, NOT FINAL 
   2. 
3. Click on the button you created on the screen to initiate the Actionflow