Attaching a Two-Way Email Template to an Alert

This feature is available only at sites that have licensed and installed both ReportCaster and Two-Way Email. Two-Way Email is only available with ReportCaster.

A Managed Reporting Administrator or Developer can attach a Two-Way Email template to a ReportCaster Alert. The user is alerted when certain predefined data conditions are met, and can use the attached template to respond to the alert to request a report for more detail, to redistribute a report or parts of it to other interested people, or to take other timely action.

For the procedure on attaching a Two-Way Email template to a ReportCaster Alert using the Alert Wizard, see the WebFOCUS Managed Reporting Developer’s Manual.

The following example illustrates the basic steps required to attach a template to an alert. It assumes that you are familiar with the Alert Wizard and the creation of Two-Way Email templates. Alert response enables many event-critical activities other than the simple one illustrated here, including drill-down reporting or data source maintenance.

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Example: Attaching a Two-Way Email Template to an Alert

In this example, the user is alerted when the total coffee sales for store code R1019 exceed $1,000,000. You create this alert test in Step 3.

The alert to the user takes the form of a report showing the exact amount of coffee sales for store code R1019. You create this alert event (report) in Step 4.

Attached to the report is a template that prompts the user for another store code. You create this template in Step 2.

The user types the store code of interest for comparison purposes, and receives a second report showing the coffee sales for the supplied store code. You create the second report in Step 1.

Create a Standard Report named Coffee Sales for Competitive Store. This is the comparison report the user receives after replying to and sending the template attached to the alert.
This report displays the coffee sales for a store code supplied by the user, who wants to compare that figure to the coffee sales for store code R1019.
```
TABLE FILE GGSALES
SUM DOLLARS
BY CATEGORY
BY STCD
WHERE CATEGORY EQ 'Coffee'
WHERE STCD EQ '&STCD'
END
```
Create a template for the preceding Standard Report. Use the instructions in
How to Create a Template With Parameters. The template prompts the user for a store code.
Perform the following when creating the template:
1. Accept the default subject name in the Subject Line field.
2. Select Require User Input.
3. In the Ending Message field, type:
```
Valid store codes are R1088, R1109, R1250.
```
4. In the Prompt field, type:
```
Enter a store code on line 1 of your reply.
```
Using the Alert Wizard, create an alert test as follows. An alert test defines the data condition that is monitored, such as in the following example when the total coffee sales for store code R1019 exceed $1,000,000.
```
TABLE FILE GGSALES
SUM DOLLARS
BY CATEGORY
BY STCD
WHERE CATEGORY EQ 'Coffee'
WHERE STCD EQ 'R1019'
WHERE TOTAL DOLLARS GT 1000000
ON TABLE HOLD
END
```

Using the Alert Wizard, create an alert event as follows. An alert event is the report that is distributed if the alert test is true.

TABLE FILE GGSALES
SUM DOLLARS
BY CATEGORY
BY STCD
WHERE CATEGORY EQ 'Coffee'
WHERE STCD EQ 'R1019'
WHERE TOTAL DOLLARS GT 1000000
END

Using the Alert Wizard, select Attach a Two-Way Email to this Alert.
Select the template named Coffee Sales for Competitive Store: TW, as shown in the following image, displaying the Alert Wizard, Two-Way window.
Using the Alert Wizard, name the new alert report Coffee Sales Alert. Schedule the alert for testing once a day.
For the Subject on the Distribution tab in the ReportCaster schedule, type Coffee Sales Alert.

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