triggering e-mail send using date held in database? ASP/VB

Report · Oct 03, 2006

Hi,

I use the Universal E-mail extension from WebAssist which is very useful.
I have a situation where I need to send an e-mail to a registered customer
when their order has been held in the database for 5 days (from a records'
datestamp created upon Insert).
My understanding is that, for this particular extension at least, something
has to trigger the e-mail send, such as page load, form submit, recordset
being empty etc. All of which are either actions made by a site user or
require a site user to access a particular page.

How would I automate the send e-mail based on the datestamp field, without
the user actually doing anything?

Reading that back sounds crazzzy because I can't understand how that would
be possible without user interaction. Is it possible?

Thanks
nath.

Report · Oct 03, 2006

Use SQL Server Agent to schedule a job to run at certain times. That job
can check for records that meet your criteria and send appropriate updates
(assuming your SMTP server is accessible from the database server).
You can also use Windows Scheduler to run a process at certain times, but I
don't know if it will run an ASP script; I've never tried. I'd assume it
can, but, still... :)

"tradmusic.com" <sales@NOSHPAMtradmusic.com> wrote in message
news:efu15k$cn2$1@forums.macromedia.com...
> How would I automate the send e-mail based on the datestamp field, without
> the user actually doing anything?

Report · Oct 04, 2006

Thank you for the information.
I have not heard of SQL Server Agent, so I'll have to investigate that a
little further.

It's not that I want the job to run at certain times, I want the job to run
when an order has been held in the database for 5 days, but has yet to
receive a quote. So it could be at any time really.
My system is basically; a customer submits an order, then receives a quote/s
to complete that order from other customers. If they have not received a
quote by 5 days, I want them to receive an e-mail informing them of this.

Also, considering that I'm using a shared SQL database, on a third-party's
server, do you think I might have trouble implementing such a feature? I
think they're pretty restrictive about what can/can't be done on their
systems.

I assume Windows Scheduler is a Windows feature? I'm not sure that would
work considering the database is held on a third-party server...would it?

Again, you have offered me help. If there's anything I can do to repay
this, please let me know.

Much appreciated
Nath.

"Lionstone" <HIDElionstone@HIDEhushmail.com> wrote in message
news:efu3a3$f5c$1@forums.macromedia.com...
> Use SQL Server Agent to schedule a job to run at certain times. That job
> can check for records that meet your criteria and send appropriate updates
> (assuming your SMTP server is accessible from the database server).
> You can also use Windows Scheduler to run a process at certain times, but
> I don't know if it will run an ASP script; I've never tried. I'd assume
> it can, but, still... :)
>
>
> "tradmusic.com" <sales@NOSHPAMtradmusic.com> wrote in message
> news:efu15k$cn2$1@forums.macromedia.com...
>> How would I automate the send e-mail based on the datestamp field,
>> without the user actually doing anything?
>
>

Report · Oct 04, 2006

You'll have nightmares doing this. I'd suggest you build a webpage that does
the required functionality. Then think of a way of pinging that page daily.
Or even do it manually. Or there are some sites out there that will ping
pages for you.

--
Jules
http://www.charon.co.uk/charoncart
Charon Cart 3
Shopping Cart Extension for Dreamweaver MX/MX 2004

Report · Oct 04, 2006

Hi Jules,

Yes, it was the lack of "action" required by the web site manager that
concerned me because I couldn't envisage how the e-mail would be triggered.
To me the idea doesn't seem practical. I'd either have to set something in
my calendar to make me visit an ASP page daily (unfeasible), or maybe look
at the option you suggest which is to use a site to ping a page for me. Do
you know a site that would be reliable for this?

Thanks
nath.

"Julian Roberts" <nospam@charon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:eg0lvl$jka$1@forums.macromedia.com...
> You'll have nightmares doing this. I'd suggest you build a webpage that
> does the required functionality. Then think of a way of pinging that page
> daily. Or even do it manually. Or there are some sites out there that will
> ping pages for you.
>
> --
> Jules
> http://www.charon.co.uk/charoncart
> Charon Cart 3
> Shopping Cart Extension for Dreamweaver MX/MX 2004
>
>
>

Report · Oct 04, 2006

"tradmusic.com" <sales@NOSHPAMtradmusic.com> wrote in message
news:eg0glk$d1i$1@forums.macromedia.com...
> It's not that I want the job to run at certain times, I want the job to
> run when an order has been held in the database for 5 days, but has yet to
> receive a quote. So it could be at any time really.

Well, you don't have a choice. :)
Data is just data, and it's just going to sit there. You have to trigger
something to look for orders that are at least 5 days old, etc, and to
trigger it, you'll either have to take some action, or place the job on a
schedule which runs at a set time each day (or every x hours).

If you're on a third party server, though, you probably do not have access
to the SQL Server Agent, nor to Windows Scheduler.