Overview

Emails are sent using a File Exporter which This page is for application designers who want to send notifications via email.

Contents

Overview

To send email notifications to application users, configure a File Exporter. This allows you to email information about data in PhixFlow and optionally to add a file as an attachment.

Email Accounts Setup

In order to send an email from emails, PhixFlow you must setup have an Email Account from which to send the emails from.

emails. Email accounts are configured for the whole PhixFlow instance rather than in an application. This means you need administrator privileges to create an account.

Step 1  Create an Email Account

If there is no PhixFlow email account, ask your PhixFlow administrator to create one. If you are using a PhixFlow hosted instance, email support@phixflow.com. Also ask for permission to edit the account.

Step 2  Configure the Email Account

1. In the repository, go to Full Repository → Email Accounts
2. If you have an account setup double click on it and the following screen will open:
3. . 
4. Double-click the account name to open its properties.Image Modified
5. Make a note of the Login name as you will need to know it when testing.
6. If do not have an email account that can be used to send notifications:
   1. Contact your IT Team to setup an account that can be used to send notifications
   2. Or
   3. If you are using a PhixFlow hosted instance contact support to set this up for you.
   4. Now, enter the details as detailed in Email Account.

Testing the Account

To the email account you wish to use:

1. Enter your email address in the Test To: box.
2. From the more menu at the top of the properties, click Configure the email account as required; see Email Account properties for details of the options. Set
   • Outbound: tick
   • Enabled: tick
3. Save your changes.

Step 3  Test the Email Account

1. Reopen the email account.
2. In Test To enter your email address.
   If the Test To option is not visible, make sure Outbound is ticked.
3. In the properties toolbar, click

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   _more_options _more_options nopanel true

    and select 

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   _emailConfiguration _emailConfiguration nopanel true

   .
4. You should now receive an email from the Login address setup on your Email Account. For PhixFlow sends an email to the address specified in Test to.
5. Check your email. There should be an email address from the emal account's Login address, for example notifications@phixflow.com.

Sending an Email

You may want to add an attachment to an email. 

In this example, we will send an email with an attachment  attachment that contains a list of processed employees for a particular day. This data is available from the downloads section of our

Step 1  Create an Analysis Model to Generate the Attachment

1. Create an analysis model or open the one that will contain contains the required data; see Analysis Models and Exporting to a File.
2. Add to the model a table which that contains the data you wish to export as an attachment.Note in this example I have created a second table, Send Email, that is used only to send the email and will not affect the imported of data. want to export. Hover your mouse pointer over the table and in the popup toolbar, click 

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   . This means the data remains unaffected when you run the analysis model.
3. Add a second table called Send Email. This separates the data from generating the email, which gives you more control over the different tasks.
   
   
4. From the Toolbar analysis model toolbar drag in a 

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   _file_exporter _file_exporter nopanel true

    onto the canvas.
5. Connect the Table table Employees to the File Exporterfile exporter. This pipe will be used to invoke the File Exporterrun the file exporter when you run analysis.
6. Connect the Table to the File Exporter table Employees to the file exporter a second time. This will be used later to count the records.In the pipe properties which openPhixFlow opens the pipe properties.
7. To configure the second pipe to count the records, set:
   • Name
   ,
   • : recs.
   • Type
   ,
   • : select Look-up.
   • Save your changes.
     Your
   setup
   • model should look
   lie the following:
   • like this.
     Image Modified
   Click

Step 2  Configure the File Exporter

1. In the analysis model, click on the 

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   _file_exporter _file_exporter nopanel true

    to open its properties:.
2. In Basic Settings, set:
   • Name
   , indicative
   • : to indicate the purpose of the email
   being sent
   • .
   • Enabled
   ,
   • : ticked. 
   This enables the file to be exported and email to be sent. Typically this is only
   • 
     Leave this unticked during testing to avoid generating lots of data and emails then tick it when you are ready for the file to be exported and emails to be sent. 
     
   • File Name
   , is
   • : specify the name for the exported file
   will be given, it is an expression field
   • . The file extension
   should
   • must match the type of data being exported.
     • For
   simple file names simply encapsulate the desired
   • • a simple name, enter text in quotes,
   such as
   • • for example: "Employees.xlsx"
   .
   • • For
   dynamic file names use
   • • a dynamically generated name, enter an expression
   to generate a name, such as:
   
   • • that returnd a string; see Expressions and PhixScripts. For example: "Employees_"+today()+".xlsx"
   , which will provide the file name
   • • generates the name Employees_20220831.xlsx
   . The expression must return a string
   • • .
   • Output Directory
   , determines where the file will be placed inside
   • : enter an expression to specify where PhixFlow saves the file in the export directory on the server, unless Ignore Base Directory is ticked
   . More information on the settings can be found in File Exporter. This is also an expression
   • ; see File Exporter for details.
   • Export File as
   ,
   • : select the
   desired output
   • file type for the exported file.
     For this example we are using Excel Spreadsheet.
   • Overwrite existing file
    can be ticked if you always want
   • : optionally tick to overwrite files that have the same name
   . For example, if you only require one Stats.csv 
   • , 
     for example to have only one Employees.xlsx file on the server at any one time.
   • Header
    is ticked so the output file has column headers. Input MultiplierInput Multiplier, The input multiplier expression should evaluate
   • : optionally tick to include column headers in the output file.
3. In Input Multiplier set:
   • Input Multiplier: enter an expression that evaluates to a list of one or more values. For each value in the list, the internal variable, _inputMultiplier, will be set to that value
   . This We will
   • . See Internal Variables.
     For this example, we want to count the records
   using
   • in the recs pipe
   . To do this to be
   • , so enter:
     
   if
   •    if(countElements(recs) > 0, countElements(recs), 0)
4. In Send by Email set:
   • Email From
   , this should be
   • : enter the email address set in
   Email Accounts → Email Account
   • the email account → Login. For example, notifications@phixflow.com
   • Subject Expression
   , this is an expression field. For
   • : enter an expression to generate the subject line of the email, for example, "RE: Employee Records "+today()
   • Attach File,
   Ticked
   • tick to attach the
   records
   • exported file to the email.
   Leave
   • 
     Alternatively, leave this unticked if you
   do not want to send the attachment with the email
   • want the email to include a link to the exported file.
   • Message Expression
   , this is an expression field
   • : enter an expression to generate the message. For example, the following incorporates the value from the
   InputMultiplier
   • Input Multiplier to create a message that tells the recipient how many records were processed:
    
   • 
     "We have processed "+_inputMultiplier.1+" employee records today.".
   • → Recipient Expressions
   • → TO Expression,
   This is
   • enter an expression
   field
   • that contains the email addresses of the recipients. For example
   :
   • a single address like "info@phixflow.com".
     
5. Save you changes.
Save you
• 
  Here is a screenshot of the input multiplier and file exporter configurationImage Added
6. Save your changes to the file exporter and to the analysis model.

Step 3  Run Analysis

1. To run analysis on the table set to call that calls the file exporter. For example, in our example this is Send Email.

Here is an example screenshot of this configuration:

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1. , right-click and select 

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   _run_analysis _run_analysis nopanel true

    to test it works.
   In our example this table is called Send Email.

Step 4  Set up the Actionflow

1. From the application home screen click on Screens.
2. Open the screen from which you want to send the email or create a new screen; see Screens.
3. From the Serene Grey palette, drag in a Button to send the email. 
4. Right-click the button and select Add Actionflow. Give the actionflow a meaningful name, for example: Send Email Notification.
5. In the Actionflow that opens, click on Connection, and select On Click.
6. From the toolbar, drag an analysis node onto the canvas and give it a name.
7. In the toolbar click 

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   _tableOnly _tableOnly nopanel true

    → List. From the list of tables, drag the table that calls the file exporter onto the analysis node.
8. Save your changes to the actionflow.
9. To connect the On Click input to the analysis node, drag a line between the two; see Mappings and Connectors.
   Image Added
10. Save your changes.

The button is now configured to run an actionflow, which:

• runs an analysis on the model
• to generate a data file
• attach the file to an email
• and sends the email to the recipient.

Step 5  Testing the Configuration

1. Run analysis on the table that drives the File Exporter that will send file exporter that sends the email.
2. Open the 

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3. In the Completed Tasks section, click on the Run Analysis Task you ran in the previous step.
4. In the Messages for this Completed Task completed task click on the Emails tab.
   If it is not visible you may need to click on the more menu to see the option depending on the size of your screen.
5.  In the Status column, one Check the Status column. It can take a few minutes for an email to be sent and sometimes longer if the attached file is large.
   One of the following common statuses will be set:
   • Ready, the email is produced
   • Incomplete, PhixFlow is trying to send the email.
     Test your email account is working correctly.
   • Sent, the email has been successfully sent.
6. It can take a few minutes for an email to be sent and sometimes longer if the attached file is large. 
7. If the status stays as Incomplete, test your Email Account setup above is working.
8. The Files tab shows any Check the Files tab for details of the files produced as part of this completed task.
   This is useful to see if the file exporter ran but the email portion has failed. 
9. If you email has not been received do not receive the email,
   • check your email client's Junk folder
   • check the log for
   any
   • errors.
   It is also worth while checking your Junk folder in your emails. 

Sending an Email Incorporating Table Data

Following the example above we will now setup an example where an email will be sent to any employee that has a missing telephone number:

The following example shows you how to configure PhixFlow to email employee with no telephone number in their record. To identify these employees, we run a lookup that only returns the employee records without a telephone number.

You can adapt the steps by using a lookup that provides the email addressees that you require.

1. Create an analysis model or open one that contains the required tablestable.
2. From the Toolbar toolbar, drag a 

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    onto the canvas.
3. Connect the Table which contains the desired data to the File Exporter. This will be used to invoke the File Exporter.Connect the Table which contains the desired data to the File Exporter, a table to the file exporter, and then connect them a second time.
4. In the pipe properties which that open, set:
   • Name
   ,
   • : recs.
   • Type
   ,
   • : select Look-up.
   • Filter
   , Set
   • : set the filter criteria for the lookup,
   we only want
   • to return
   the records we wish to interact with.
   • only the data you need.
     In this example, the filter allows only
   the records which have a missing telephone number
   • records where Telephone is null, as illustrated
   here
   • below:
    
   • Image Modified
5. Save your changes to the pipe.
   The setup analysis model is similar to our previous example but with the addition of a filter on the lookup pipe, as illustrated here:
   
6. The setup for the

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   is the same as the Sending an Email example above, with the following changes:
   We
   • Attach File: unticked as we do not want users to receive a file
   , make sure Attach File is unticked
   • .
   • Input Multiplier
   , The input multiplier expression should evaluate to a
   • : the expression evaluates to the list of records
   we want to interact with. We set PhixFlow to use the records
   • from the lookup pipe. In our example the lookup pipe is called mtn so we set the _inputMultiplier to: mtn
   • Send HTML
   ,
   • : tick
   this as we want
   • to send our contacts a HTML email.

   • Message Expression

   , With

   • : as Send HTML is ticked, the message box is treated as

   html

   • a HTML field. This means you can use HTML markup. In our example we want to send a personalised message to the user

   using

   • with their first name

   ,

   • and a link to login to PhixFlow

   : 

   • ; see Expressions and PhixScripts.

     Code Block
     firstline 1 title PhixFlow HTML Message linenumbers true
     do(

   • "<p>Hi " + mtn.FirstName + ",</p>"+

   • "<p>Please login to PhixFlow and update your number.</p>"+

   • "<a href='https://

   services.

   • phixflow.com/

   themes

   • PhixFlow/start.html?application=

   Anthony

   • MyApplication'>PhixFlow Login</a>" )

     
     

   • Save

     Your

     your changes.

   • Run analysis on the table set to call that calls the file exporter . For example, in to test it works. In our example this table is called Send Email Requests.

When you know the configuration works, connect the button to an actionflow as explained in the Sending an Email above.

Learn More

For more information on the file exporter and a full list of email options see, File Exporter.

• Excel Template: for how to control which values from which input pipes are written to an Excel file.
• File Exporter: for details of properties and email options
• Expressions and PhixScripts for help on how to write expressions.