4.1.24. Send Mail Node

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The Send Mail Node is used to send e-mails with data and files about the modeFRONTIER project. The files indicated in the Input File Nodes, Transfer File Nodes and Support File Nodes connected to this node will be sent in attachment to the mail. The Send Mail Node identifies a text file that you feed as a Mail Template to provide it with some data about the modeFRONTIER project and uses this file to compound the mail body. In such a manner, the mail body is dynamically generated at run-time, inserting into some fixed structure the values of one or more variables (input, output, buffer, or transfer variables). Through the template mail editor you can then specify the desired format for the mail, and the rules for inserting the values into its body.

Node Configuration

Figure 4.49. The Send Mail Node Properties Dialog

Configuring a Send Mail node requires setting several parameters (ask to your e-mail Service Provider for information):

Name: the name that will be used throughout modeFRONTIER to identify the node. The name must be unique within the set of node names, and must follow the guidelines for node names.
Description: the node description will appear as tooltip when the mouse stops over the node in the Work Flow canvas.
From: the sender e-mail address (mandatory). Sometimes the SMTP Server is not reachable from an IP and/or a sender e-mail address which is not recognized by the SMTP Server. Ask to your e-mail Service Provider if you have this kind of problems.
To: the receiver e-mail address (mandatory). More than one receiver can be specified adding commas to divide the addresses.
Subject: a subject line that should pertain clearly to the email body (optional).
SMTP Address: a subject line that should pertain clearly to the email body (optional).
Security Protocol: the cryptographic protocol, which should provide secure communications with the SMTP Server.
SMTP Port: the port used by the SMTP Service for the communications with the clients.
SMTP Username: the username of the user's e-mail account (optional but reccomended).
SMTP Password: the password of the user's e-mail account (optional but reccomended).
Max Mail Number: maximum number of mails sended by this node during a Job session: if a mail sent make the Job session to exceed this parameter, this mail and all the others that will follow later will not be sent and a warning will be generated.
Min Mail Interval: minimum number of seconds between 2 mails sended by this node: if a mail sent exceeded this parameter, the mail will not be sent and a warning will be generated.
Max Mail Size: maximum mail size (with the attachments included) expressed in KB sended by this node: if a mail sent exceeded this parameter, the mail will not be sent and a warning will be generated.
Zip Attachment Files: if checked, all the files in attachment to this mail will be zipped in a single attachment file.
Request Notification: if checked, a flag for requesting a receiver notification when the mail is delivered is set in the mail header.
High Priority Message: if checked, a flag indicating an high priority mail is set in the mail header.
Timeout with SMTP Server: if differs from 0, the timeout of the connection with the SMTP server will be set by modeFRONTIER to the number of seconds indicated here.

The next step is then to specify the format for the mail template. To do this you need to first select the variables that you desire to drop in the input file (in the Data Input Connector section of the configuration panel). Then you must click on the Edit Mail Template button to open the template editor.

The first time you specify a file format for a given mail node, a file chooser dialog will pop-up, allowing you to select a text file to be used as a template.

Figure 4.50. The File Chooser Dialog

When you select the file you can also specify the encoding to be used to open the file. Once you select the desired file, and the proper encoding, the input file template will appear in a text editor (a Template Input Editor). At this stage you can also specify the convention to be used for terminating lines within the script, and you can specify the encoding used for saving the template file, that it used also for the whole mail encoding.

If everything works correctly, the mail is been sent to the SMTP Server and the exit value for the node is zero. If the mail exceeded the Send Mail limits (Max MailNumber, Min Mail Interval, Max Mail Size, Timeout), only a warning will be generated. Otherwise, one of the following values is returned:

912	The job has been killed
920	The job was set-up incorrectly, and it was not possible to start it
1001	The mail has not be sent (general error)

Input Connections

The Send Mail node input can be connected to one or more nodes. The connectable nodes are different for each connector. The process input connector can only be connected to the process output connector of nodes that belong to one of the following types:

For each node belonging to one of the first seven node types (i.e., for each application node) that you connect, you must also indicate for which values of the application exit value you want the Process Flow to be routed through this node (see Section 4.2.7, "Conditional Expression Legal Syntax"). Only when the application exit value matches the condition this node will be processed.

The data input connector can be connected only to nodes that belong to one of the following types:

For each node belonging to one of the last four node types (i.e., for each node representing a design variable) that you connect, you must also indicate which parameter you want to set with the value. This requires specifying the parameter name.

Output Connections

The Send Mail node output can be connected to one or more nodes, different for each connector. The process output connector can only be connected to the process input connector of nodes that belong to one of the following types:

For each connected node, you also need to specify for which values of the exit value you want the Process Flow to be routed through the connected node (see Section 4.2.7, "Conditional Expression Legal Syntax"). Only those output branches for which the exit value matches the corresponding condition will be transversed. If no condition matches the exit value, it is assumed that the design is failed, and the Work Flow execution is interrupted. Note: all conditions must be mutually exclusive (i.e., there can be no exit value for which two or more conditions hold true).

The data output connector cannot be connected to other nodes.

Logic Log Messages

The following error messages can be associated with a Pro/ENGINEER node:

260	MISSING SENDMAIL FROM ADDRESS	No valid mail sender address has been defined
261	MISSING SENDMAIL TO ADDRESS	No valid receiver/receivers address/addresses have been defined
262	MISSING SENDMAIL SMTP ADDRESS	No valid SMTP Server Address has been defined
263	MISSING SENDMAIL TEMPLATE RULE	Some of the variables that enter into the node are not inserted into the file
264	MISSING SENDMAIL TEMPLATE FILE	No mail template file has been defined
265	SENDMAIL NODE NOT REACHEABLE	The Process Flow cannot be routed through the Send Mail node because an appropriate input connection is missing
266	NO EXIT PATH FOR SENDMAIL NODE	The Process Flow cannot be routed past the Send Mail node because an appropriate output connection is missing
202	INVALID EXIT CONDITION(S)	The conditions for the output nodes that support the Process Flow routing are not mutually exclusive

Warnings

Once a connection between the SMTP Server and modeFRONTIER^TM is estabilished, this connection can be closed only due to errors in the communication or SMTP server internal errors, so the process kill commands can't be able to close the sending mail process and modeFRONTIER^TM may seem freezed until the mail delivery is not completed: at the end of the job, the mail may have been sent even if the error code is 912.