MailerContrib < System < BACCHUS Wiki

---+!! Mailer Contrib
<a href="http://wikiring.com"><img src="%ATTACHURL%/logo.gif" style="float:right" /></a>

Allows users to "subscribe" to regularly scheduled emails containing either:
   * A report on changes to all topics that have changed within a particular Foswiki web.
   * A report on changes to a specific topic or set of topics the user can define flexibly.
   * The entire content of a specific topic or set of topics. This is referred to as "news mode."
   * The companion plugin (Foswiki:Extensions.SubscribePlugin) lets you trivially add a "Subscribe to changes" button to topics

<!--

   PLEASE DO NOT EDIT THIS TOPIC

   It is automatically generated from the subversion repository, and any changes
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%TOC%

---++ How it works

!MailerContrib generates and sends out emails based on analysis of
   1 users' subscriptions listed in the <nop>%NOTIFYTOPIC% topic in each web, and
   1 changes within the respective webs.

The mailer collates the changes so that each subscriber only receives one email notification for all changes in all webs in the wiki. Furthermore, users can elect to receive just summaries of changes, or the entire content of topics that have changed.

Each web can optionally contain a topic called <nop>%NOTIFYTOPIC%.
<!-- Included by %SYSTEMWEB%.WebNotifyHelp -->
%STARTINCLUDE%
Users subscribe to email notifications using their [[%SYSTEMWEB%.WikiName][WikiName]] or an alternative email address, and can specify the webs/topics they wish to track. Whole groups of users can also be subscribed for notification.

The general format of a subscription is:

_three spaces_ =*= _subscriber_ [ =:= _topics_ ]

Where _subscriber_ can be a [[%SYSTEMWEB%.WikiName][WikiName]], an email address, or a group name. If _subscriber_ contains any characters that are not legal in an email address, then it must be enclosed in 'single' or "double" quotes. %X% *Note:* The guest user %USERSWEB%.WikiGuest does not have an email address mapped to it, and will never receive email regardless of the configuraion of that user.

_topics_ is an optional space-separated list of topics:
   * ... *without* a _Web._ prefix
   * ...that exist in this web.
Users may further customize the specific content they will receive using the following controls:
   * *Using wild-card character in topic names* - You can use =*= in a topic name, where it is treated as a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildcard_character][wildcard character]]. A =*= will match zero or more other characters - so, for example, =Fred*= will match all topic names starting with =Fred=, =*Fred= will match all topic names _ending_ with =Fred=, and =*= will match _all_ topic names.
   * *Unsubscribing to specific topics* - Each topic may optionally be preceded by a '+' or '-' sign. The '+' sign means "subscribe to this topic". The '-' sign means "unsubscribe" or "don't send notifications regarding this particular topic". This allows users to elect to filter out certain topics. Topic filters ('-') take precedence over topic includes ('+') i.e. if you unsubscribe from a topic it will cancel out any subscriptions to that topic.
   * *Including child-topics in subscription* - Each topic may optionally be followed by an integer in parentheses, indicating the depth of the tree of children below that topic. Changes in all these children will be detected and reported along with changes to the topic itself. _Note_ This uses the Foswiki "Topic parent" feature.
   * *Subscribing to entire topic ("news mode")* - Each topic may optionally be immediately followed by an exclamation mark ! and/or a question mark ? with no intervening spaces, indicating that the topic (and children if there is a tree depth specifier as well) should be mailed out as *complete topics* instead of change summaries. ! causes the full topic to be mailed every time _even if there have been no changes_, and ? will mail the full topic only if there have been changes. One can limit the content of the subscribed topic to send out by inserting =%<nop>STARTPUBLISH%= and =%<nop>STOPPUBLISH%= markers within the topic.

Examples:
Subscribe Daisy to all changes to topics in this web.
<verbatim class="tml">
   * daisy.cutter@flowers.com
</verbatim>
Subscribe Daisy to all changes to topics that start with =Web=.
<verbatim class="tml">
   * daisy.cutter@flowers.com : Web*
</verbatim>
Subscribe Daisy to changes to topics starting with =Petal=, and their immediate children, =WeedKillers= and children to a depth of 3, and all topics that match start with =Pretty= and end with =Flowers= e.g. =PrettyPinkFlowers=.
<verbatim class="tml">
   * DaisyCutter: Petal* (1) WeedKillers (3) Pretty*Flowers
</verbatim>
Subscribe !StarTrekFan to changes to all topics that start with =Star= *except* those that end in =Wars=, =sInTheirEyes= or =shipTroopers=.
<verbatim class="tml">
   * StarTrekFan: Star* - *Wars - *sInTheirEyes - *shipTroopers
</verbatim>
Subscribe Daisy to the full content of =NewsLetter= whenever it has changed.
<verbatim class="tml">
   * daisy@flowers.com: NewsLetter?
</verbatim>
Subscribe buttercup to =NewsLetter= and its immediate children, even if it hasn't changed.
<verbatim class="tml">
   * buttercup@flowers.com: NewsLetter! (1)
</verbatim>
Subscribe !GardenGroup (which includes Petunia) to all changed topics under =AllNewsLetters= to a depth of 3. Then unsubscribe Petunia from the =ManureNewsLetter=, which she would normally get as a member of !GardenGroup:
<verbatim class="tml">
   * GardenGroup: AllNewsLetters? (3)
   * petunia@flowers.com: - ManureNewsLetter
</verbatim>
Subscribe =IT:admins= (a non-Foswiki group defined by an alternate user mapping) to all changes to Web* topics.
<verbatim class="tml">
   * 'IT:admins' : Web*
</verbatim>

A user may be listed many times in the <nop>%NOTIFYTOPIC% topic. Where a user has several lines in <nop>%NOTIFYTOPIC% that all match the same topic, they will only be notified about _changes_ in that topic _once_ (though they will still receive individual mails for news topics).

If a _group_ is listed for notification, the group will be recursively expanded to the email addresses of all members.

<blockquote class="foswikihelp"> *%X% Warning:* Because an email address is not linked to a user name, there is no way for Foswiki to check access controls for subscribers identified by email addresses. A subscriber identified by an email address alone will only be sent change notifications if the topic they are subscribed to is readable by guest users. You can limit which email addresses can be used in <nop>%NOTIFYTOPIC%, or even block use of emails altogther, using the ={MailerContrib}{EmailFilterIn}= setting in =configure=.</blockquote>

<blockquote class="foswikiHelp"> *%T% Tip:* List names in alphabetical order to make it easier to find the names.</blockquote>
%STOPINCLUDE%

In the future, it is intended that individual users will be able to control the frequency with which they are notified of topic changes, by changing a schedule specification in their home topic. However, at present, the notification schedule is controlled by the frequency of activation of the mailer.

Note that when using the "news mode" =!= or =?= specifiers the entire topic text is mailed out as HTML. The newsletter template is used to generate the content in this email, using whichever skin is selected in the topic being mailed.

In addition, the =%<nop>STARTPUBLISH%= and =%<nop>STOPPUBLISH%= markers used by Foswiki:Extensions.PublishPlugin to delimit the text to be published are respected in news mode.

---++ Foswiki/Contrib/MailerContrib code library
The second part of the module is a code library that provides the services for other applications to modify the subscription topics through a clean, well documented API. This allows (for example) plugin developers to add (for example) a "Register me for this newsletter" button to their pages. Developers should refer to [[%SCRIPTURL{view}%/%SYSTEMWEB%/PerlDoc?module=Foswiki::Contrib::MailerContrib::WebNotify][the documentation for the !WebNotify class]] as their starting point.

---++ Installation Instructions
You do not need to install anything in the browser to use this extension. The following instructions are for the administrator who installs the extension on the server.

Open configure, and open the "Extensions" section. Use "Find More Extensions" to get a list of available extensions. Select "Install".

If you have any problems, or if the extension isn't available in =configure=, then you can still install manually from the command-line. See http://foswiki.org/Support/ManuallyInstallingExtensions for more help.

   * To make sure the installation was successful, run the =mailnotify= script from the command line, with no parameters. In this case it will print out what it would have done to =STDOUT=.
*Additional settings*
   * You can change the regular expression that matches email addresses in <nop>%NOTIFYTOPIC% using the ={MailerContrib}{EmailFilterIn}= setting in =configure=. This allows you to limit the domains to which emails can be sent, or even block email addresses altogether.

<blockquote class="foswikiHelp">%H% If you plan to use the "run from the web" feature, you *must* run =configure= and save at least once after installing for the first time.</blockquote>

The mailer can be run from =cron= (or an equivalent off-line job scheduler), from the command-line, or from a web page. 

---+++ Running from the command-line
The mailer can be invoked from the command line by the =tools/mailnotify=
script.

The script is used as follows:%BR%
<code>perl -I _bin_ mailnotify [-q] [-nonews] [-nochanges] [ <i>web1 web2 ... webN</i> ]</code>
| _bin_ | path to the Foswiki =bin= directory, so that the script can find the rest of Foswiki |
| =-q= | Don't print progress information |
| =-nonews= | Skip the "news mode" (do not process subscriptions that include "!" or "?" following the topic) |
| =-nochanges= | Only run the news mode. (only process subscriptions that include "!" or "?" following the topic) |
| <code style="white-space:nowrap"><i>web1 web2 ... webN</i></code> | List of webs to process, separated by spaces or commas. The default is to process all webs. Wildcards (*) are supported. |

<blockquote class="foswikiHelp">%X% Be careful what user you use to run this script. It will write the
Foswiki log files, and if these log files are left in a state where they
can't be written to by the Foswiki server, you may break your site.</blockquote>

---+++ Setting up a cron job(s)
You need to set up a =cron= (or equivalent) job to run the =tools/mailnotify= script.

Setting up cron can be done in many ways. Below is an ultra-short overview which may be sufficient.

<blockquote class="foswikiHelp">
Crontab syntax is 5 numbers followed by the command

=A B C D E   command to be executed=
   * A is minutes (0-59)
   * B is hour (0-23)
   * C is day of month (1-31)
   * D is month (1-12)
   * E day of week (0-6) (Sunday=0)
An asterix '*' means any value

If you choose to setup the cron by editing the system-wide =/etc/crontab= file, the syntax is =A B C D E username command-to-be-executed=
</blockquote>

For example, assuming Foswiki was installed at =/usr/local/foswiki=, this cron entry:
<verbatim class="bash">
0 0 * * * cd /usr/local/foswiki && perl -I bin tools/mailnotify -q Public Private
</verbatim>
will generate change notifications for the =Public= and =Private= webs every night at midnight.
<verbatim class="bash">
0 0 * * * cd /usr/local/foswiki && perl -I bin tools/mailnotify -q -Sandbox
</verbatim>
will generate change notifications for all webs, except the =Sandbox= web.
<verbatim class="bash">
0 0 * * 0 cd /usr/local/foswiki && perl -I bin tools/mailnotify -nochanges
</verbatim>
will generate newsletters from *all* webs every week on midnight Saturday but will not process the non-newsletter subscriptions.
<verbatim class="bash">
0 0 * * * cd /usr/local/foswiki && perl -I bin tools/mailnotify -nonews
</verbatim>
will generate change notifications for all webs every night at midnight but will not process the newsletter subscriptions.

To learn more about cron and crontab, Google for =crontab=. 

<blockquote class="foswikiHelp">%X% *Note:* Multiple instances of the =mailnotify= script are not allowed to be executed simutaneously. If you need to run the script multiple times with different options, make sure the cron jobs are scheduled so a previous run has finished before the next starts. You can also write a small script that runs =mailnotify= in sequence as described in Foswiki:Support.DuplicateNotificationsFromMailerCon.

%X% *Note:* Even if you run separate =-nonews= and =-nochanges= cron jobs, the subscriptions using the "?" feature will only show the topics that changed since last time the =mailnotify= script was run even if it was run with =-nonews=. Separate newsletter jobs work best with the unconditional "!" mode.</blockquote>

---+++ Triggering mail notification from the browser
You can also the mailer from within the browser, using a REST handler. For example, to notify changes in all webs, link to =%SCRIPTURL{rest}%/MailerContribPlugin/notify=. The URL parameters =webs=, =nonews=, =nochanges=, and =excludewebs= correspond to the different command-line parameters.

Because there is a risk that a stupid person could lock up your server by
firing multiple notification requests at it, the REST handler is only
accessible to administrators.

<!--
   * Set SHORTDESCRIPTION = Supports email notification of changes
%JQREQUIRE{"chili"}%
-->
---+++ Tailoring the email format
The changes emails sent to subscribers are based on a Foswiki template called =mailnotify=. This template must contain the following definitions. 
| =HTML:before= | Section of an HTML email before the changes |
| =HTML:middle= | Repeated in an HTML email for each change |
| =HTML:after= | Section of an HTML email after the changes |
| =PLAIN:before= | Section of a plain text email before the changes |
| =PLAIN:middle= | Repeated in a plain text email for each changes |
| =PLAIN:after= | Section of a plain text email after the changes |
| =DIFF:before= | Section of a plain text email before the changes |
| =DIFF:middle= | Repeated in a plain text email for each changes |
| =DIFF:after= | Section of a plain text email after the changes |
| =MailNotifyBody= | All the above are embedded in this. %<nop>HTML_TEXT% expands to the HTML obtained by expanding the =HTML:*= templates, %<nop>PLAIN_TEXT% from the =PLAIN:*= templates, and %<nop>DIFF_TEXT from the =DIFF:*= templates%. |
The default template sends multipart emails containing both HTML and plaintext versions.

<blockquote class="foswikiHelp"> %X% Avoid editing the distributed =mailnotify.tmpl= file, or you will regret it later when it gets overwritten when you upgrade Foswiki. Instead, you should either use a skin setting to choose the template file, or use the web part of the [[%SYSTEMWEB%.SkinTemplates#FindingTemplates][template search path rules]]. 
   
It is recommended to use the skin method, as it is easier to control, and requires less hacking around. Especially if you need to use the same tailoring for many (or all) webs.</blockquote>

   * Simple global tailoring used in all webs using your normal default skin
      * Make a copy of =templates/mailnotify.tmpl= called =templates/mailnotify.skiname.tmpl=. For example, =templates/mailnotify.pattern.tmpl=, and modify this copy to your need. If you use the !NatSkin simply use =templates/mailnotify.nat.tmpl= instead

   * Using a dummy skin name globally
      * In [[%USERSWEB%.SitePreferences]], define a setting =* Set SKIN = notifyskin,pattern= where the notifyskin is the dummy skin name and the pattern in this example is the real skin.
      * Create a =templates/mailnotify.notifyskin.tmpl= with your tailorings
   
   * Using a dummy skin name per web
      * In each web where you want a special mailnotify template, add the setting =* Set SKIN = notifywebname,pattern= where the notifywebname is the dummy skin name for this web and the pattern in this example is the real skin.
      * For each web where you need a special mailnotify template, create a =templates/mailnotify.notifywebname.tmpl= with your tailorings
   
   * Using the web path in the templates directory
      * For each web where you want a special mailnotify, create subdirectories in =templates= with the same names as the webs and place a =templates/mailnotify.tmpl= in these subdirectories with your tailorings

Newsletters are sent after formatting using the standard =view= template, using whichever skin is selected in the topic being mailed.

---+++ Using a topic defined email template

If you want to use a topic to define the notify email format this is possible with a small workaround. Before you go ahead and do this you need to consider the security implication. Making the email format available to any user from a browser means that spammers can abuse this to create messages where they can spoof the from address. Only use this method if your Foswiki installation is safely behind a firewall and your users can be trusted.

The method can best be shown with an example. In the following we...

   * Define a custom mailnotify template based on a skin setting in !WebNotify
   * Allow the users to define the email format in a topic called !WebNotifyCustomTemplate

Here are the steps:

First, we create a file =templates/mailnotify.customnotify.tmpl= which only contains these two lines

<verbatim class="tml">
%TMPL:INCLUDE{"mailnotify"}%
%TMPL:INCLUDE{"WebNotifyCustom"}%
</verbatim>

In the webs where you want the topic defined email format, we add the setting <verbatim class="tml">   * Set SKIN = customnotify,pattern</verbatim> (assuming pattern is the normal skin)

And we create a topic in the web called !WebNotifyCustomTemplate which contains the entire mailnotify template you want to use. Simply copy the content from =templates/mailnotify.tmpl= to this template and do the tailoring.

---+++ Info

Another great Foswiki extension from the <a style="text-decoration:none" href="http://wikiring.com"><img src="%ATTACHURLPATH%/wikiringlogo20x20.png" alt="" /> *WikiRing* </a> - working together to improve your wiki experience!

Many thanks to the following sponsors for supporting this work:
   * [[http://www.windriver.com][Wind River]]
   * [[http://wikigardens.com][WikiGardens]]

|  Author: | [[http://c-dot.co.uk][Crawford Currie]] |
|  Copyright &copy;: | 2004, Wind River Systems; 2009-2013 Foswiki Contributors |
|  License: | GPL |
|  Version: | v2.5.5 |
|  Release: | 27 Aug 2013 |
|  Change History: | |
|  2.5.5 (27 Aug 2013) | Foswiki:Tasks/Item12525: fix removal of subscriptions |
|  2.5.4 (25 Mar 2013) | Foswiki:Tasks/Item12447: correct support for character encodings |
|  2.5.3 (11 Sep 2012) | Foswiki:Tasks/Item12072: undocument non-existent =-user= parameter and update faulty examples |
|  | Foswiki:Tasks/Item11138: Empty subscription without trailing space after colon is treated as wildcard for all topics |
|  2.5.2 (2 Dec 2011) | Foswiki 1.1.4 Release:  Foswiki:Tasks/Item11138: Foswiki:Tasks/Item11131: Document behavior with group subscriptions, Resolve issue with trailing spaces impacting subscriptions |
|  2.5.1 (25 Jul 2011) | Foswiki:Tasks/Item10980: fix case where interaction with SubscribePlugin could potentially break cached CGI (fcgid/mod_perl) |
|  2.5.0 (5 Apr 2011) | Foswiki:Tasks/Item9459: add DIFF template for improved change presentation |
|  2.4.4 (5 Apr 2011) | Foswiki:Tasks/Item10545: Fix overriding rules |
|  2.4.3 (30 Sep 2010) | Foswikitask:Item6011: document =-user= parameter and update examples in order to make fully functional on versions of Foswiki through 1.0.10; other documentation cleanup  -- Foswiki:Main.WillNorris |
|  2.4.2 (31 Jul 2010) | Foswikitask:Item9415: Documentation updates |
|  2.4.1 (9 Jul 2010) | Foswikitask:Item9261: split of the plugin more completely to make configuration cleaner. No functional changes. |
|  2.4.0 (18 Dec 2009) | Foswikitask:Item2511: make a new tiny plugin module, to reduce load time for when the mailer isn't used in a request |
|  2.3.0 (8 Dec 2009) | Foswikitask:Item8316: Added REST handler, Foswikitask:Item2473: Foswikitask:Item2480: doc & dead code tidy-ups |
|  2.2.1 (4 Dec 2009) | Foswikitask:Item8354: Martin Rowe fixed a problem with STARTPUBLISH in newsletters corrupting the template |
|  2.2.0 (17 Oct 2009) | Foswikitask:Item1302: Removed the documentation of the -news mode which was actually never really implemented. Instead added two new -nonews and -nochanges modes which enables running mailnotify in newsletter mode with another schedule than the changes mode. If you upgrade and used the -news option with mailnotify things will work like you are used to as the -news option made no difference (old bug). |
|  2.1.0 (15 Oct 2009) | Foswikitask:Item2260: Make the feature that allows defining the email template based in either skin or web path. And improve the documentation so people can learn how to tailor the emails that the WebNotify feature sends. <br /> Foswikitask:Item1603: use quotes to protect topic names with odd characters in them |
|  2.0.2 (20 Sep 2009) | Small documentation update for Foswiki 1.0.7 release (RELEASE and adding parent) |
|  2.0.1 (23 Apr 2009) | Foswikitask:Item1501: Minor bug in logfile output fixed |
|  2.0.0 (03 Dec 2008) | Re-released for the Foswiki project |
|  8 Sep 2004 | 1.000 Initial (tm)wiki version |
|  Home: | http://foswiki.org/Extensions/%TOPIC% |
|  Support: | http://foswiki.org/Support/%TOPIC% |
This topic: System > Contribs > MailerContrib
Topic revision: revision 1 (raw view)
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