Essentially, we do not want to stop them using their own mail client
It is easy to set up outbound emails direct from Servoy - no problem
What we want to do is allow them to easily attach information which arrives into their mail client inbox to specific records inside the Servoy solution.
We are reviewing the use of a separate mail account which can be used to forward emails to which need to recorded inside the solution.
Then use a Headless Client to process anything coming into this specific inbox.
Trouble with this is that you need to alter the original email content so that it would have some identifying IDs inside this email in order to link it to appropriate areas (stuff like: who is the client, who is the person, what is the job number etc etc etc) which means relying on the user to make appropriate changes which is time consuming and prone to error.
However, it would be hopefully more reliable if we could identify the email in the email client then identify the area inside Servoy to attach it to and then have some integration process which picks up the necessary email details and then posts them into Servoy.
Anybody any thoughts or tips on whether this can be done or any techniques which exist for me to explore.
I have been looking at the same problem, and thinking as well that the way to handle it is to have an address to which the client forwards email if it is appropriate. This way, we are not in the business of evaluating incoming mail for spam, etc. and they can have their usual email client for business as well as sending and receiving jokes, love notes, mp3 files, etc.- and all of the relevant email can be stored in Servoy.
I have set up a primary email field for outgoing and incoming email, and another field that can hold any number of possible incoming email matches. So, for outgoing email our solution will use the former, and for incoming it will look for matches in either. If a match is found (by examining the headers- and this is the part that is sketchy for me) then the email is associated with the appropriate contact; if no match is found, it is marked as “contact unknown”, and then someone (at the client site) will figure out who it is and assign it. The email address can then be- if desired- added to the second email field, so that future incoming mail can be associated with them.
What seems tricky is pulling the data from the email headers. Presumably, the client’s address (the “from”) should be pretty easy to sus out, so we can assign the proper pk_client. Figuring out who they originally received the email from, so as to make a match with one of their contacts for the proper pk_contact… that’s another matter. Exactly what part of the header contains that info? Is it consistent between email apps, hosting providers, etc.?
within a few weeks i’m releasing my first beta (closed) email-module. The email-module can be used, to integrate into your own CRM or whatever system. The solution, is multicompany, multi-user, multi-language, pop3, imap, all right out of the box. Also all coloring of labels, backgrounds, fonts, etc… is done with stylesheets, so you can completly adjust it to your own look and feel.
The whole intention was, that customers can still use there own email-client (osx, outlook, whatever) en the email-module can stay in sync. (with pop3 or imap in combination with a company emailserver, like Exchange for example)
Inside the module there will be a complete meganism to archive your mails under your customers and/or contacts.
I have showed it to some people on Servoy World in Boston and they where really enthousiastic. (ask Edward! )
I have attached a screenshot.
Please let me know it you are interested in beta testing the module
We spent too much time in Boston drinking and not enough time reviewing your email client
Your work is very interesting but I could not guarantee being able to put in the required time to sign up for the beta-testing
Still, my guess is that all will go well - so good luck
Hi Jim,
I think that what I need is to be able to get past that primary link of person and be able to then link on to associated entities
One way that I see to do this is to first get the email into the primary link and then use the person as the springboard to those other related areas - using the person as the filter for related jobs etc.
That said, I have had another note backchannel where that sender has alluded to another methodology which I will review before moving forward.
Any further input that I have to this will be posted once resolved for my own purposes
hi harjo,
i am interested in your email module. i have to integrate an email function into my solutions and i think (hope) this can be an easy way for me to realize this. can you tell me more details?
regards
I’ll be interested to see what you come up with. Not sure if we are going after the same thing, but maybe…
Consider that the sender of the email was, previously, the recipient of an email from their contact. The sender is a client of ours (one of many in our ASP solution). When they send us the (forwarded) email, both their email address and that of their contact should appear somewhere in the headers. I am looking to extract both addresses; one to match our client, and one to match their contact.
Hi Harjo,
Not sure if you got my message, but please keep me in the loop re your beta.
I think most of your specific issues can be easily solved with our new MailPro-Plugin. You can add headers when sending mail (for example store an ID), you can copy a sent message from Servoy to the user’s Sent folder on an IMAP server etc. I would say with the plugin you have all the flexibility that is needed for your cases. Have a look: Servoy-Plugins.de - MailPro plugin
