MailboxReader Component Settings
The settings are stored in the MailboxReader.exe.config file, which is located in the Bin folder. This file is based on XML and therefore the same rules apply to it as to the Web.config file; please refer to WebApp Settings for more information. Create the file by copying the file "Bin\MailboxReaderSample.exe.config". You can use Windows Notepad to edit this file.
Database connection
The database connection can be defined in the following section:
<configuration> <connectionStrings> <add name="Alvao.Hd.MailboxReader.Properties.Settings.Db" connectionString="Data source=localhost;… /> </connectionStrings> </configuration>
Enter the database connection string in the connectionString attribute. The string format is the same as in the WebApp settings; please refer to Database connection for more information.
Sending of e-mails
Versions 7.1 and later of the MailboxReader component send all outgoing e-mail messages from ALVAO. Before you can send e-mail messages, you will need to set the SMTP server address in Management. To open the SMTP server settings, go to the Management – Sending messages menu.
E-mail messages are sent in batches, with the default sending interval set to 5 minutes. If an e-mail message cannot be sent for any reason, it will be saved and the attempt to send the message will be repeated in the specified period of time (10 minutes by default) until the message is sent successfully or until the maximum number of attempts is reached (432 attempts by default). Once the maximum number of failed attempts has been reached, the message will be stored in the database for diagnostic purposes.
The settings are stored in the database (the tProperty table):
Variable |
Default value |
Meaning |
MailSendIntervalSeconds |
300 |
Message sending interval – in seconds |
MailSendMaxAttempts |
432 |
Maximum number of attempts to send a message |
MailSendRetryIntervalMinutes |
10 |
Time between two attempts to send a failed e-mail message – in seconds |
Any changes of the interval between subsequent attempts to send an e-mail won't take effect until MailboxReader is restarted.
Mailboxes
If you want to use the MailboxReader component to load the content of a certain mailbox automatically to a certain Service Desk service (see Service Desk Services), you need to set up the connection to this mailbox first. The connection is set at a specific service under ALVAO WA – Management – Services – Edit – the Loading messages section. We recommend using IMAP for reading messages.
Rules for incoming messages
MailboxReader can preform various actions based on user-defined rules. Rules for incoming messages are set under ALVAO WA – Management – Service Desk – Rules for incoming messages.
Automatic replies
If during message loading MailboxReader finds a message evaluated as an auto-reply, this message is not considered a full-fledged message, which means that the following operations are not performed:
The following messages are considered automatic replies:
- messages containing the Auto-Submitted parameter with values auto-generated, auto-replied, or auto-notified in the header or
- messages containing one of the pre-defined strings in the subject.
Settings
If you wish to change the default settings of the pre-defined strings contained in the subject of automatic replies in your organization, edit the following SQL command and run it on the ALVAO database. update tProperty set sPropertyValue = N'Automatic reply*;Automatic reply*;Out of Office*;Out of Office*' where sProperty = 'AutoSubmittedEmails.Subjects’
Note: The example contains the default settings. Individual subject templates are separated with semicolons; an asterisk replaces any number of any characters.
The recognition of automatic replies is enabled by default. If you don't want to use this functionality, run the following SQL command on the ALVAO database: update tProperty set bPropertyValue = 0 where sProperty = 'AutoSubmittedEmails.Detect'
applicationSettings section
Other settings are saved in the following section:
<configuration> <applicationSettings> <Alvao.Hd.MailboxReader.Properties.Settings>
Variable |
Value |
SleepSeconds |
Time for which the MailboxReader is waiting if there are no new messages in the inbox. The time is provided in seconds. |
AutoAnswerTicketPerDayLimit |
MailboxReader will stop sending auto-replies to new requests to the requester, if the number of requests received from this requester within the last 24 hours exceeds the limit. |
Event Log
The Event Log can be set up in the following section:
<configuration> <system.diagnostics> <switches> <add name="GeneralTraceLevel" value="0" />
You can use the value attribute to set one of the following values:
Value |
Description |
0 |
Disabled – no logging |
1 |
Logging of errors |
2 |
Warning |
3 |
Information |
4 |
Chatty – logging all items. This value is set as default in the configuration file. |
The log will always record the selected level and all the levels below it. For example, if you set "2", the log will record all warnings and errors.
Diagnostics of Failed Messages
If an attempt to send an e-mail message fails, MailboxReader will output an error message containing all information on the failed message as well as the error message text. The error message will be logged if you set the Event Log to level 2 or higher. If you set the Event Log to level 1, MailboxReader will still log messages on general failure of the component (e.g. invalid database operation).
If the database contains messages for which the maximum number of attempts has been reached, the component will save the report on the number of failed messages once per day (Event Log level 1 and higher):
"The mail queue currently contains X emails that could not have been sent."
Failed messages are saved in the database (MailMessage table) which – in addition to the message itself (packed in the .eml format) – also contains information on the number of send attempts, the last error message (LastErrorMsg), and the last attempt time (LastAttemptTime).
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