Send Email actions

Send Email actions send an email message to a list of recipients using the SMTP protocol. Optionally, the action may be configured to generate an HTML report containing the text of the email. The name of the mail server and any connection details required should be set by a LiveCompare administrator in the Configuration - Email screen.

Action property Description
Attachment1 A String parameter or dataset that references a file that will be sent with the email as an attachment. The string must refer to a URL on the LiveCompare server, and it must not include a relative path.
Attachment2 A second String parameter or dataset that references a file that will be sent with the email as an attachment. The string must refer to a URL on the LiveCompare server, and it must not include a relative path.
Attachments A String List parameter or dataset containing the String properties whose referenced files will be sent with the email as attachments if the Zip parameter is set to ‘true’. For example, to send the files referenced by the String properties above, the Attachments String List should be set to contain Attachment1 and Attachment2. The attachments are sent in a ZIP file named Attachments.zip.
Bcc A String List parameter containing a list of addresses for the email’s ‘Bcc’ field (optional).
Block A Boolean parameter or dataset that determines whether the email will be sent. If this parameter is set to ‘false’, the Send Email action uses an external program to send the email. If this parameter is set to ‘true’, the email will not be sent.
Cc A String List parameter or dataset containing a list of addresses for the email’s ‘Cc’ field (optional).
Debug A Boolean parameter that determines whether debug information for the Send Email action will be written to LiveCompare’s debug log files. The default value is ‘false’.
Fixed

A Boolean parameter that indicates whether the Send Email action will generate fixed location reports. If this parameter is set to ‘true’, the action stores its report in the <Report Name> directory; this directory will be removed and then recreated each time the action is run. If the Fixed parameter is set to ‘false’, a new report will be generated in its own time-stamped directory each time the action is run.

Each fixed location report in a workspace should normally have a different value for its Report Name parameter. This will ensure that each workflow’s Report URL dataset points to the expected report.

From

A String parameter or dataset containing the sender’s email address. An Email Administrator must configure the email server to allow this address to send emails using an external program. Please check with your LiveCompare administrator to determine an appropriate email address to use, for example the account specified in the Configuration - Email screen’s ‘SMTPUsername’ field.

If this property is not set, the action uses the value specified in the Configuration - Email screen’s ‘EmailFromAddress’ field.

Html If this Boolean parameter is set to ‘true’, the text of the email message will be sent as HTML, allowing HTML tags to be embedded in the ‘Message’ text. The default value is ‘false’, which means that the email message will be sent as plain text.
Max Attachment Size An Integer parameter or dataset specifying the maximum total size (in KB) for the attachments that are to be sent. The default value is 1000, or approximately 1 MB. If the total size of the attachments to be sent exceeds this limit, the email will be sent without the attachments.
Message A String Multiline parameter containing the text of the email.
Report Name A String parameter that stores the name used for the generated email report. If the Fixed parameter is set to ‘false’, the generated report name includes a timestamp indicating when the report was created.
Report URL A String dataset that is set to contain the URL of the generated email report.
String1 A String parameter or dataset containing a URL or other string value to be included in the email.
Subject A String parameter or dataset containing the subject line for the email.
To A String List parameter or dataset containing a list of addresses for the email’s ‘To’ field.
Zip

A Boolean parameter that determines whether the email attachments will be stored in a single Zip archive. If this parameter is set to true, all the email attachments specified in the Attachments parameter will be sent in a single Zip archive named Attachments.zip. If the Zip parameter is set to ‘false’, each attachment will be included separately in the sent email. The default value is ‘true’. Note that the size limit specified in the Max Attachment Size parameter applies to all attachments.

If this property is missing (for example in workflow from an earlier release of LiveCompare), ‘true’ is used as the default value.

Mail server settings

To specify the mail server settings to be used by the Send Email action, log in to LiveCompare as an Administrator and navigate to the ‘Administration/Configuration/Email’ hierarchy folder. Complete the fields in the Configuration - Email screen as follows:

Field What to do
EmailFromAddress Enter the ‘From’ address that LiveCompare will use when sending emails from the apps Consumer interface.
SMTPIgnoreSSLCertificateErrors If the SMTPUseSSL field is set to ‘X’, set this field to ‘X’ to have LiveCompare ignore SSL certificate errors when sending emails. This setting should be used with caution.
SMTPServer Enter the IP address or DNS name of the mail server that will be used to send the email, then click ‘Add’. The server may need to be configured to allow emails from the LiveCompare server to be sent using SMTP.
SMTPPort Enter the SMTP port to be used for sending the email, then click ‘Add’. If this field is not set, 25 is used as the default value.
SMTPUsername Enter the username that LiveCompare will use to authenticate with the SMTP server when sending email, then click ‘Add’. Leave this field blank if no user-based authentication is required.
SMTPPassword Enter the password that LiveCompare will use to authenticate with the SMTP server when sending email, then click ‘Add’. Leave this field blank if no user-based authentication is required.
SMTPUseSSL If this field is set to "X", LiveCompare will attempt to connect to the SMTP server using SSL.

Example

Send Email action example.

Send Email actions support the use of the Define Action Parameters Wizard, which allows new input String properties to be created. These may be used to specify additional attachments, or to include variable values in the action’s Message or Subject properties.

String properties for the Send Email action may be referred to by enclosing them in % symbols. For example, the ‘Subject’ action property may be set to the following:

Email from %From%

When an email is sent, the value of the ‘From’ action property will be substituted into the ‘Subject’ field. This technique may be used for any new String parameters added to the action by the Define Action Parameters Wizard. Note that if you plan to substitute a URL into a text field, the URL should be enclosed in angled brackets as follows:

Emailing <%String1%>

To include a URL as a link, set the Send Email action’s HTML property to true, and enclose the URL in HTML tags as follows:

Emailing <br/> <a href="%String1%">%String1%</a> <br/>

To examine the details for a Send Email action, double-click the action node, or select ‘View Details’ from the node’s context menu.

  • If the ‘Block’ action property is set to ‘true’, the Details screen displays the text ‘Blocked. No email sent.’.
  • If the total attachment size exceeds the ‘Max Attachment Size’ value, the Details screen displays the text ‘Attachment skipped. Too big.’.

Block emails dynamically

Report branding