Search for	Example	Results
A single word	`cat`	Topics that contain the word "cat". You will also find its grammatical variations, such as "cats".
A phrase. You can specify that the search results contain a specific phrase.	`"cat food"` (quotation marks)	Topics that contain the literal phrase "cat food" and all its grammatical variations. Without the quotation marks, the query is equivalent to specifying an OR operator, which finds topics with one of the individual words instead of the phrase.

Search for	Operator	Example
Two or more words in the same topic	`AND` `and` `+` (plus symbol) `&` (ampersand)	`cat AND dog` `"cat food"+milk` `"cat food"&"dog food"`
Either word in a topic	`OR` `or` `\|` (pipe)	`cat OR dog` `cat \| dog`
Topics that do not contain a specific word or phrase	`NOT` `not` `!` (exclamation point)	`NOT cat` `! dog`
Topics that contain one string and do not contain another	`^` (caret)	`cat ^ mouse`
A combination of search types	`( )` parentheses	`cat + (dog \| mouse)` `cat \| dog + (! mouse)`

Service Manager

Administer > Status and notifications > Service Manager email solutions > HTML Email

HTML Email

The Service Manager HTML Email Solution enables Service Manager to send HTML email messages automatically or manually on demand. This email solution is based on HTML templates that can be customized and localized.

This document describes how to install this solution, how it works, how to customize HTML email notifications, and how to send on-demand notifications.

Audience

HTML Email is intended for the following audiences:

System administrators who manage notifications
System administrators who manage Service Manager email setup
Engineers who send HTML emails to notify users

Prerequisites

This solution requires the following prerequisites:

Service Manager9.61 (server runtime environment and applications)
SMTP for email notifications
Email configurations (See Email setup notes )

How the solution works

The Service Manager HTML Email Solution works as follows.

Components of the solution

The HTML Email Solution uses the following components:

Notification definitions (in the notifications table)
HTML templates (in the htmltemplates table)
JavaScript functions (in the htmlemailtemplate record in the ScriptLibrary)
The eventout table (available in the existing email notification mechanism)

HTML templates

HTML templates are records saved in the htmltemplates table. Each record defines the common HTML elements that are included in each email message and parameters that are to be replaced with specific values. Each htmltemplates record includes general information, HTML source with parameters, and expressions that are used to evaluate the parameters.

Each HTML template can have multiple language versions. These language versions are defined in separate htmltemplates records with the same name but different language codes, containing localized content.

For information about how the system chooses the language in a notification email, see Language for notification emails

Note To manage or create HTML templates, users must have either the SysAdmin or the HTMLTemplatesAdmin capability word.

Note The auditing feature is enabled by default for the htmltemplates table. When modifications are detected, an Audit Log entry is recorded for each changed field.

Notification definitions

HTML email notifications are also defined in notification records. However, instead of referencing a plain-text message or a predefined format, each HTML email notification record always references a message record with an msg class of HTMLTemp and an id of 1. This message record is only a wrapper. The actual message body and subject are generated by a jscall expression in the Arguments field that returns HTML text by evaluating the corresponding HTML template.

The Arguments expression for the message body calls the getMailBody function to obtain the body HTML code, and the Arguments expression for the message subject calls the getMailHeader function to obtain the subject HTML code. The template name and the record that triggers the notification are passed in as arguments.

Below is an example for notification ChM Change Approval:

The Message tab

Field	Value
Msg Class	HTMLTemplate
Msg No.	1
Arguments	jscall( "htmlemailtemplates.getMailBody", "ChM Change Approval Approved", $L.file, $L.file.save, requested.by in $L.file)
Condition	category in $L.file~="Subscription"
Notify Method	email
Recipient(s)	requested.by in $L.file

The Email/Mail Subject Line tab

Field	Value
Msg Class	HTMLTemplate
Msg No.	1
Arguments	jscall( "htmlemailtemplates.getMailHeader", "ChM Change Approval Approved", $L.file, $L.file.save, requested.by in $L.file)

ScriptLibrary record

Both the getMailBody and getMailHeader functions are defined in an htmlemailtemplates ScriptLibrary record.

getMailBody

The getMailBody function returns the HTML body for the email message that is sent for a specific record. This function takes the following arguments:

Argument	Required	Description
templateName	Yes	Specifies the name of the HTML template.
$RECORD	Yes	Specifies the record that triggers the email notification. This record contains data that is used to construct the email message. Example: $L.file
$RECORDOLD	Yes	Specifies the pre-update version of the record that triggers the email notification. Example: $L.file.save
recipient	No	This argument is reserved. The email message will always be sent to the recipient defined in the notification record.
lang	No	Specifies the language code of a specific language version of the HTML template. This argument is typically used if you always send this notification in a certain language. If this argument is not specified, Service Manager takes the recipient's default language when determining which language version of the HTML template to use. For each recipient, Service Manager detects: The language setting in the recipient's contact record. If this does not exist, then The language setting in the recipient's operator record. If this does not exist, then The system default language. If the recipient is a distribution group and all its members have the same default language, the common default language is used. If the members of that distribution have different default languages, the system default language is used. Example: de

Note The Arguments field in the notification record takes only RAD expressions. Therefore, the expression must use a jscall function to call the getMailBody function in the ScriptLibrary. A typical expression resembles the following:

jscall("HTMLTemplates.getMailBody", "SM Add", $L.file, $L.file.save)

getMailHeader

The getMailHeader function returns the subject for the email message that is sent for a specific record. This function takes the following arguments:

Argument	Required	Description
templateName	Yes	Specifies the name of the HTML template.
$RECORD	Yes	Specifies the record that triggers the email notification. This record contains data that is used to construct the email message. Example: $L.file
$RECORDOLD	Yes	Specifies the pre-update version of the record that triggers the email notification. This record contains data that is used to construct the email message. Example: $L.file.save
recipient	No	This argument is reserved. The email message will always be sent to the recipient defined in the notification record.
lang	No	Specifies the language code of a specific language version of the HTML template. This argument is typically used if you always send this notification in a certain language. If this argument is not specified, Service Manager takes the recipient's default language when determining which language version of the HTML template to use. For each recipient, Service Manager detects: The language setting in the recipient's contact record. If this does not exist, then The language setting in the recipient's operator record. If this does not exist, then The system default language. If the recipient is a distribution group and all its members have the same default language, the common default language is used. If the members of that distribution have different default languages, the system default language is used. Example: de

The Arguments field in the notification record takes only RAD expressions. Therefore, the expression must use a jscall function to call the getMailHeader function in the ScriptLibrary. A typical expression resembles the following:

jscall("HTMLTemplates.getMailHeader", "SM Add", $L.file, $L.file.save)