** John, My first choice would be to use a MidTier server. Maybe access to a different form that would push data to the desired form. Second option would be a webpage and link with web services.
If these are not options because of security concerns then a web page that generates an email is the way you want to go. As you noted, giving the formatting for the email often is not enough. Folks will enter wrong data or as you note use your original email as a reply. Also if some one outside understands the AR System, they could send a search through the email interface and extract data you may not want them to see. Finally publishing the email address could lead to unwanted spamming. Yes perl, jsp, asp, etc can be used to format the data the way you want and send the email through the firewall. The web page should format and send the email and not like to what ever mail process they use. This also offers a layer of abstraction so that the person doesn't need to know how to use the email template. The data they should input is controlled using menus, etc. Sounds like you've thought about it quite a bit and headed down a reasonable path. Dave Dave ------------------------- [email protected] (Wireless) ________________________________ From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) <[email protected]> To: [email protected] <[email protected]> Sent: Sun Jan 17 16:28:34 2010 Subject: Incoming email form for the masses Hello Listers, ASR 7.1 MS SQL 2005 Has anyone used something like and Abobe form or other universal means get an incoming email template for use by the “customer at large”. I am looking for a way to give my customers outside the firewall a template that they can not alter but can be used to provide all of the necessary information to generate a record in my schema. I’ve looked into the outlook form that can be built on top of an ARS Email Template but I must be able to provide this service for all customers whether they have MS Outlook or some other email tool. I saw an example of an Adobe Lifecycle form (pdf) that has fields to fill and a send button. I did not see it in action so I do not know what actually sends the data. On Adobe’s website it looks like you need to have a Lifecycle server set up to catch and parse the email. I don’t want to set up another server. The closest I’ve come to a solution is to have a javascript form on a webpage that does a sendmail using the correct ARS incoming template structure. That was created outside the firewall but not as far out as the “interwebs”. They are customers who work in a DMZ and we host it there. My full solution needs to be open to any incoming email. When someone needs a record opened they will use the special email form and populate the fields and send it. We tried to just give out the raw template but too many people would “clean it up” for us or their email would precede each line with > and that would break the formatting. Thanks for listening. --- John J. Reiser Senior Software Development Analyst Remedy Administrator/Developer Lockheed Martin - MS2 The star that burns twice as bright burns half as long. Pay close attention and be illuminated by its brilliance. - paraphrased by me _Platinum Sponsor: [email protected] ARSlist: "Where the Answers Are"_
