Making the EmailLink Admin Console Easier to Use

October 03, 2017 by Erik W in Maintenance

As I manage my EmailLink instance, I can see a list of users being managed. That's all well and good, but I really want to see this location within Content Manager. This should be a link! Same thing for all the other features. I wish I could navigate directly to the objects.

By changing one line of code I can fix this up....

First I launched Notepad++ and then opened the "EmailLink\pages\users.cshtml" file. I located the line where it outputs the table and wrapped the column within an anchor tag.

I found this code on line 43:

<td>@userProfile.PrimarySmtpAddress</td>

I changed it to this:

<td><a target="_new" href="http://wg1/HPEContentManager?uri=@userProfile.Uri&t=location&lang=ln_englishus&mbd=true">@userProfile.PrimarySmtpAddress</a></td>

Then I saved the file and reloaded my EmailLInk admin console. The column turned into a link that, when clicked, launched a new window directly to the location.

So then I repeated the process for the requisite CheckIn Style template file, so that I get the exact same behavior when looking at the check-in styles themselves.

Wouldn't it be cool if I could click "Duplicate for New User" as an administrator? :)

Kicking off a workflow from an online form submission

October 03, 2017 by Erik W in Configuration

I should be drinking the kool-aid, right? Meaning, I should be using the features of the product suite to my advantage. I started to go down the route of trying to figure out how to effectively track when someone "Requests More Information" from my website. I surely don't want to use 4 different products to manage that process. Why can't I take the form submission from squarespace and have it kick-off a workflow within Content Manager?

Once my email link server was configured it took all of about 5 minutes to get this setup.

Here's the workflow I want to kick-off....

First I went into squarespace and created a submission form. It sends me an email with the contents of the form. That email looks like the image below.

Next I went into Content Manager and created myself a new check-in style. I'm doing this via the webclient, but the process is the same for the thick client.

I then gave the check-in style a name and chose my "Request for Information" record type.

Then I gave it a default workflow template for my process

I then clicked into the processing section and checked the first two check boxes: Automatically create server-side email capture folders and Keep email in the mail system. By keeping it in there I'm hoping my conversations can be automatically related and captured down the road.

Now after I click save, it shows me my new check-in style

If I go back to my gmail inbox I can now see this folder available

Next I create a new filter for my inbox, so that all incoming form submissions are automatically labeled into this folder.

I know the sender and receiver of the messages I care about, so I define those on the filter like shown below.

In the other options dialog I indicate the new label name and then click save

Now I go visit my website and complete the form...

Now if I check my workflows worklist, I can see my workflow has been kicked-off & assigned automatically!

The things we can accomplish with the newest versions are pretty cool. I can see lots of useful ways to leverage these features. Keep in mind that once the form data is within Content Manager, I can apply scripts, code, and add-ons to do anything necessary (like harvest the form data, initiate an integration, etc).

The integration with gmail is secure. It works. And it's free (if you have both G Suite and Content Manager). You just need to configure it. :)

Monitor Event Server via Powershell and notify on failures

October 02, 2017 by Erik W in Maintenance

Someone posted an interesting question over on the forum: how to monitor event processing without getting directly onto the server. The OP was searching for a way to do it via C#, but even that is unnecessary. It's possible to do this directly from powershell. Even better, you can schedule your powershell script and have it do something when there's a problem.

Here's a cut-down version of a powershell script I provide to my customers. In the example below I have it writing to the event log when there are failures and to the information log with the current counters.

$dbid = "CM"
$wrksrv = "WG1"
 
#determine where in the event logs this information will go, create if doesn't exist
$eventLogDisplayName = "HPE Content Manager Event Processor"
$eventLogSourceName = "HPE Content Manager Event Processor"
$logFileExists = Get-EventLog -ComputerName $wrksrv -list | Where-Object {$_.logdisplayname -eq $eventLogDisplayName} 
if (! $logFileExists) {
    New-EventLog -ComputerName $wrksrv -LogName $eventLogDisplayName -Source $eventLogSourceName
}
 
#import CM namespace, create threaded database connection 
Add-Type -Path "C:\Program Files\Hewlett Packard Enterprise\Content Manager\HP.HPTRIM.SDK.dll"
[HP.HPTRIM.SDK.Database]::AllowAccessFromMultipleThreads = $true
$db = New-Object HP.HPTRIM.SDK.Database
$db.Id = $dbid
$db.WorkgroupServerName = $wrksrv
$db.Connect
 
#create an event monitor with refresh interval -- not should not really be any less than the interval defined in the event processing properties
$monitor = New-Object HP.HPTRIM.SDK.EventMonitor -ArgumentList $db, 500
#store list of what is processing and then tell it we want stats
$processors = $monitor.GetAvailableProcessors()
foreach ( $p in $processors ) {
    $monitor.EnableCounters($p)
}
#start gathering stats
$guid = $monitor.Initialise()
#give the event processor some time to process
Start-Sleep -Seconds 1
if ( $monitor.IsAlive() ) {
    foreach ( $p in $processors ) {
        #look for failure results
        $counters = $monitor.GetResults($p)
        $failed = $counters.FailedEvents()
        $queued = $counters.QueuedEvents()
        $processed = $counters.ProcessedEvents()
        if ( $failed -gt 0 ) {
            Write-EventLog -ComputerName $wrksrv -LogName $eventLogDisplayName -Source $eventLogSourceName -EntryType Error -EventId 1 -Message "Detected $($failed) Failed Events"
        }
        if ( $processed -gt 0 ) {
            Write-EventLog -ComputerName $wrksrv -LogName $eventLogDisplayName -Source $eventLogSourceName -EntryType Information -EventId 1 -Message "Detected $($processed) Processed Events"
        }
 
    }
}
               

As a CM administrator, I can install Server Manager on my local Windows 10 workstation. When I'm in the Server Manager I can use standard windows servers features (instead of custom or third party products) to manage the environment.

The highlighted entry is the one created by the powershell script