Notification Options in the Basic Scheduling Tool

The Notification tab in the Basic Scheduling tool provides the options to send a notification of the schedule status to specific email recipients.

Note:

  • Notification will not work unless a mail server is configured. If a mail server is not configured, notification will fail and an error message will be recorded in the schedule job log.
  • You can use parameters (amper variables) when specifying values for the Notification fields of a schedule. These parameters can be system variables, such as &YYMD, or any amper variable for which a value is returned by the WebFOCUS Reporting Server when the scheduled procedure is executed. To use the dot file extension separator after a variable, terminate the variable with the '|' character (for example, &YYMD|.htm). Similarly, to use the ampersand character itself, follow the ampersand with the '|' character (for example, Smith&|Jones). If a value for a parameter specified in a schedule is not returned by the WebFOCUS Reporting Server when the procedure executes, the schedule will fail with a "No report to distribute" error.
  • In the Allowed Email Addresses and Domains dialog box in the WebFOCUS ReportCaster Console, if the Restrict user input with this list check box has been selected, user input of email addresses is restricted to a list of allowed email domains and addresses. For more information, see WebFOCUS ReportCaster Configuration.
  • In the Allowed Email Addresses and Domains dialog box in the WebFOCUS ReportCaster Console, if the Restrict user input with this list check box has been selected, user input of email addresses is restricted to a list of allowed email domains and addresses. For more information, see WebFOCUS ReportCaster Configuration.

The notification options are:

  • Never.WebFOCUS ReportCaster will not send a notification of the schedule status under any circumstances. This is the default value.
  • Always. The specified users are always notified when the schedule runs.
  • On Error. The specified users are notified when errors are encountered while running the schedule.We recommend the use of the On Error notification option.

Setting On Error and Always Notification in the Basic Scheduling Tool

When you select the On Error or Always notification option, additional options become available.

The On Error and Always notification options are:

  • Reply Address. Type the email address of the sender. If report recipients reply to the report sender, then their messages are sent to this address. If your email system is unable to deliver a report, then the undeliverable report message is also returned to this address.
    Note:
    • If you are authenticating to the mail server with your user ID and password, then the reply address will be the email address associated with that user ID.
    • If the mail server is configured with authentication and the Reply Address is configured in the WebFOCUS ReportCaster Configuration tool, then the Reply Address field in the scheduling tools will be disabled. If a Reply Address is not configured, then the field is enabled to allow a Reply Address to be sent to the email server, however the actual Reply Address of the delivered email will be that of the authenticating account.
  • Subject. Type the text you want to display in the subject line of the email notification. There is a limit of 255 alphanumeric characters. By default, this field inherits the title of the schedule.
  • Brief Message To. Type the email address where you want a full notification sent. There is no syntax error checking for this field.
    Tip: Use the Brief Message To option when you are sending notification to devices that have limited memory, such as pagers and cell phones. If you want to notify multiple recipients, you can use group mail lists defined on your mail server provided that you append an at sign (@) followed by a valid domain.
  • Full Message To. Type the email address to which you want a full notification sent. There is no syntax error checking for this field.