What is an Email Action?
Email actions send emails to specified addresses.
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
- Click and drag the Email icon from the toolbar onto the canvas
- Enter a name for the Email action, then select Create Action
- In the Email action
Properties on the right, populate the following details:
| Field | Description | Example Value |
|---|---|---|
| Name | Name given to the Email Node. This will be displayed on the Actionflow canvas. | MyEmailer |
| From | The email address the email will be sent from. This should match the email address specified as the login email in your Outbound Emailer, see Email Account. | notifications@phixflow.com |
| To | The email address(es) the email will be sent to. Multiple addresses must be comma separated, if an expression evaluates to a list of email addresses then this will be converted automatically to the correct format. | sale@phixflow.com |
| CC | The CC email addresses. Provided as a comma-separated list if multiple values are required. If an expression evaluates to a list then this will be converted automatically to the correct format. This is an optional field. | info@phixflow.com, marketing@phixflow.com |
| BCC | The BCC email addresses. Provided as a comma-separated list if multiple values are required. If an expression evaluates to a list then this will be converted automatically to the correct format. This is an optional field. | info@phixflow.com, marketing@phixflow.com |
| Subject | The email's subject. This accepts JEP expressions in the format ${Connector.AttributeName} | // Send the message followed by a timestamp MyEmailer has run successsfully_ + ${now()} |
| is HTML |
The default setting is plain text. This accepts JEP expressions in the format ${Connector.AttributeName} | |
| Message | The content of the email. This can be text or JEP expressions. | // Sends the content of the attribute MyMessage from // the in pipe ${in.MyMessage} |
All fields can be either literal values or expressions encapsulated within ${} syntax, for example ${in.MyValue}.
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 the email sending not succeeding.
Worked Example
Here's a worked example 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
If you are completing this chapter as part of the Actionflow course and using a training instance, the data and screens have already been pre-loaded into the Actionflow Intermediate Application. For this example, we'll be working on the Save button on the Shop Staff Form.
GIF/SCREENSHOT OF FINISHED RESULT
Example 1: Email Team Leader when New Employee Joins
In this example, we'll modify the Actionflow on the Save button for when a new staff member is created. We'll configure this Actionflow to send an email to the Team Leader (i.e. you) with a reminder to complete a full induction.
- On the Shop New Staff Form screen, open the Actionflow on the Save button
- Hover over the Save action on the canvas and select, out
Click onto any blank canvas space and choose the
icon- Enter a name of the node and select Create Action
- Click on the Email Action to open it's Properties and pin the tab
- For the From field, we need to use the email account linked to the system you are using; to find this, hover over the
icon in the top right corner of Phixflow - From the menu, choose
System, then 
Configuration - Find the System Email Address and copy this into the From field on your pinned Email properties, and enter the following:
- To: enter your email address
- This way you can see if the Actionflow is working
- Subject:
- Message:
- Leave all other fields blank
Apply and Close
- To: enter your email address
Example 2: Email Department Staff with New Order
In this example, we'll modify the Actionflow on the Save button for when a new order is created. We'll configure this Actionflow to lookup the Department for the items within the order and use that to lookup the Staff members working in those departments. With that information, an email will be send to each staff member with the details of the new order.
