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.

For the full list of Email action Properties, see Email Action Properties.

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
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. How can I find this? In the Full Repository, expand the Email Accounts and double-click on Outbound emailer.	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} and ${Function}.	// Send the message followed by a timestamp `MyEmailer has run successsfully at ${now()}`
is HTML	Treat the Message as HTML. Treat the Message as plain text. The default setting is plain text. This accepts JEP expressions in the format ${Connector.AttributeName} and ${Function}.
Message	The content of the email. This can be text or JEP expressions.	// Sends the content of the attribute MyMessage from the in pipe `${in.MyMessage}`
Email Account Available in PhixFlow 12.1+	Optionally, select an outgoing Email Account. Any emails generated will have their outbound email account selected in the following priority order: email account on the email's generator > default email account for the current application > default email account for the system.

All fields can be either literal values or expressions encapsulated within ${} syntax, for example ${in.MyValue}. ${} is used to wrap PhixScript.

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

To send an email with attachments, use the Attachments section in the Properties to select an existing File Table or create a new one. This file table must contain the attachments to be sent.

Once a file table has been selected, a filter field displays where a filter can be set to find all applicable files from that file table and include them as attachments on the sent email.

Sending Images

Inline images can be sent within emails. For example, an input field (e.g. HTML component) can have images added to it and this can be sent as an email body using a Email action.

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 Open URL action can be used to open an email client where the user can send an email.

Worked Examples

Here are worked examples using the Retail 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

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 these example, we'll be working on the Save button on the Shop Staff Form, and creating a button on the Shop Orders screen.

Example 1: Send One Email For One Record

In this example, we'll modify the Actionflow on the Save button of 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.

On the Shop Staff Form screen, open the Actionflow on the Save button
Create a new Gateway 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 input node and Save action
How?
- Ensure that staffID is mapped into the Gateway action from the input
Click 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
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
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
Hover over the Save NEW Staff action on the canvas and select, out
Click onto any blank canvas space and choose the
icon
1. Enter a suitable name for the node and select Create Action
Map across the staffID attribute from the table to the Email action
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
Then map these attributes into the Email action

Checkpoint

Email Action Setup

Click on the Email Action to open its Properties and pin the tab
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 Full Repository, expand Email Accounts
1. Double-click on Outbound emailer and copy the login email

Paste this into the From field on your pinned

Email properties, and enter the following:

To: enter your email address
1. This way you can see if the Actionflow is working

Subject:

New Employee: ${in.first_name} ${in.last_name}

is HTML: Toggle on

Message:

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.departmentName}

Contract Type: ${in.employmentType}

Please ensure ${in.first_name} ${in.last_name} completes their full induction training and all training sign offs are completed by ${toString(dateAdd(in.startDate,_WEEK_OF_YEAR, 2), "dd MM yyyy")}.

Leave all other fields blank

Apply and Close

Checkpoint

Testing

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.

In an Actionflow, to send one email for multiple records, an additional Phase will be required.

Setup the Views and Calculate Action

On the Shop Orders screen, use the palette to create a button that will initiate the Actionflow
Right-click on the button and Add Actionflow
On the Actionflow canvas, configure an Input of On Click
Add a View Action and set the Primary Table to the Orders data
Filter on the View Action to only retrieve the incomplete orders
1. How?
  Add a Filter with the filter conditions:
  1. Status not equals Completed
  Add Output Attributes:
  1. orderID
  2. status
  For more help on using View actions, see View Action Configuration.
2. Remember to save the View Action properties which will display with a * if unsaved
Connect the input to this View Action
Add a Calculate Action from the toolbar
1. This Calculate Action will be to used to change the order status
Connect the View Action to the Calculate Action
Map across the attributes orderID and status

Checkpoint
Add another View Action from the toolbar to the canvas and set the Primary Table to the Order Lines data
Hover over the Calculate Action and choose Add Lookup, and give the lookup a suitable name, e.g. ORD, then click on the View action you just created
Click on the View action node and set the Output Attributes:
1. lineStatus
2. orderID
3. orderLineID
4. orderLineNumber
Filter 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
1. How?
  Add a Filter with two filter conditions:
  1. Where ALL of the following are true:
    lineStatus not equals Closed
    The field should be interpreted as an Literal value
    orderID equals orderID
    The field should be interpreted as an Expression
  Checkpoint
Click on the lookup connector to configure the Request (Incoming) Mappings:
1. Map across orderID
Configure the Return (Outgoing) Mappings:
1. lineStatus
2. orderID
Click on the Calculate Action and using the function countElements, add two Output Attributes:
1. add an Output Attribute that will be used to modify the order's Status. The expression should count the records coming from the lookup. Where this is more than zero, return the order's status. Where this is zero, return 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 will be used to modify the order's Completion Date. The expression should count the records coming from the lookup and where this is more than zero, return NULL but where this is zero, return today's date
  How?
  Add an Output Attribute for the status:
  StatusOutputAttribute
  
  if( countElements(ORD) > 0, in.status, //flag record as Completed if all order lines Closed "Completed" )
  Add an Output Attribute for the completion date:
  CompletionDateOutputAttribute
  
  if( countElements(ORD) > 0, _NULL, //return today's date for complete orders now() )
Add a Save Action to the canvas that saves data back to the Orders dataset
Connect the Calculate action to this Save action, and map across:
1. The StatusOutputAttribute onto the status in the data
2. The CompletionDateOutputAttribute onto the completionDate in the data
3. The orderID from the Orders View onto the orderID in the data
4. Change the Type to Update in the Save Action Properties

Checkpoint

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, the emailing phase will include a lookup to the Orders data, specifically to the data that was saved as part of the first phase of the Actionflow.

Add a Start Phase to the canvas and create an additional phase to send the email in
Connect the Save action to the Start Phase action
Open the Emailing Phase and configure an Input of On Phase Start
Add a Calculate Action that will be used to count records coming from a lookup
Connect the input to the Calculate Action
Add a View Action with the Orders data as the Primary Table
1. Filter on the View Action to only retrieve Orders with a Completion Date of today
  1. How?
    Add a Filter with the filter condition:
    CompletionDate equals today()
Hover over the Calculate Action and choose Add Lookup, then click on the View action you made above
On the Output Attributes section of the View action, drag and drop the attributes completionDate and orderID
Click on the lookup connector to map the Return (Outgoing) Mappings:
1. completionDate
2. orderID
Click on the Calculate Action and using the function countElements, add an Output Attribute that simply counts the records coming from the lookup connector
How?
Add an Output Attribute:
1. Type: Integer
2. Expression:
  countElements(lu)
Add a Email Action to the canvas and connect the Calculate Action to this
1. Map across the above Output Attribute from the Calculate action to the Email action
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:
```
Order Completion Check
```
4. is HTML: Toggle off
5. Message:
```
Overnight order processing run finished at ${toString(now(),"dd MM yyyy, HH:mm:ss")}.

${in.YourOutputAttribute} order(s) now completed.
```
  1. Ensure you modify the above code with the name of your Output Attribute
  2. Leave all other fields blank
6. Apply and Close

Checkpoint

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.

On the Shop Orders screen, use the filters to find an Open or Processing order
Choose an Order and change all of its Order Lines to Closed and Save each change
Click on the button you created on the screen to initiate the Actionflow

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