What's new in 3.0 ?

• Now works with FileMaker Server 11's new JDBC engine

• Added "Test connection" option for checking the connection to the data source
• Added ability to move sources up and down in list view
• Added ability to make a source active or inactive from the list view
• Added "Notes" field to add comments about a certain source
• Added "From (name)" and "To (name)" fields, e.g. "from"="sjobs@apple.com" and "From (name)"="Steve Jobs"
• Added ability to send e-mail notifications when AutoSender encounters certain types of errors

Download the beta:
For Mac OS X
For Windows

For all feedback, please use the discussion forum on our support site.

AutoSender is still the easiest way to automatically send e-mail from your FileMaker solutions, with integrated support for multi-part messages with both HTML and plain text alternatives, and the possibility to include enclosures from a local network path, or an FTP or HTTP path.

What's new in 2.5.5:

fixed a bug that was introduced in 2.5.2 when sending plain text mail with attachments

Download the latest version here.

]]> http://blog.myfmbutler.com/?feed=rss2&p=270 0 http://blog.myfmbutler.com/?p=262 http://blog.myfmbutler.com/?p=262#comments Thu, 18 Sep 2008 08:10:30 +0000 info http://blog.myfmbutler.com/?p=262 The following example will show you how to integrate text messaging using a service by Clickatell - there are quite a number of companies that offer e-mail to SMS, but Clickatell offers very good rates and is active around the globe, so we thought it was a good choice.

myFMbutler AutoSender allows you to integrate messaging in your FileMaker solutions. Because it sends e-mail, it can also be used with third party services like e-mail to fax or e-mail to SMS text messaging.

What you need

a (free) account with Clickatell (once you have registered and been activated you will receive 10 free credits with which to test the service - after that you can get started for about 25 USD or less than 20 EUR for 400 credits)

How to implement

1° Once your Clickatell account has been activated, log in to your account. Under 'Manage my products', Choose Add SMTP Connection. Once you have done that, you will receive an API ID that we'll need later.

2° If you haven't already done so, download and install AutoSender on your FileMaker Server machine - the best procedure is to follow the instructions in the Quick Install PDF.

3° Upload the example file (JDBC if you have Server Advanced - or XML if you have FMS9) to the server and bring it online - if you check the status of the file, you should see that it's being shared via either JDBC or XML.

4° In the AutoSender Config application, create a new connection as shown below, either JDBC or XML:

5° Enter your SMTP server information under the 'SMTP server' tab

6° Enter the field names in the 'Field' tab

7° In AutoSender Config Preferences, check whether the AutoSender daemon/service is running. If it is not, start it now.

8° Open the file from a client machine and enter your Clickatell account details: account name, password and API id.

9° Go to the "SMS entry" layout. Enter you e-mail address in the "Mail from" field and a mobile test number in the "SMS addressee" field (country code + number).

10° Click the "Send" button - you should get the text message on your mobile in a matter of seconds (depending on mobile network conditions).

]]> http://blog.myfmbutler.com/?feed=rss2&p=262 0 http://blog.myfmbutler.com/?p=213 http://blog.myfmbutler.com/?p=213#comments Tue, 08 Jul 2008 07:58:11 +0000 info http://blog.myfmbutler.com/?p=213 We just released AutoSender 2.5, a new version of our innovative tool that runs on FileMaker Server, and allows you to automatically send mail messages from your FileMaker solutions.

What's new in version 2.5 ?

AutoSender 2.5 still requires either FileMaker Server 9 (XML) or FileMaker Server Advanced 7/8/9 (JDBC).

AutoSender 2.5 is a free upgrade for users of 2.0.

Download AutoSender 2.5 here.
More information is available on the AutoSender product page.

FileMaker Server 9.0v2 contains a bug where database sessions can't be closed properly (including disconnects) while an ODBC or JDBC session is active.

If you are using JDBC with AutoSender to connect to your mail sources, you may experience this problem.

As a workaround on 9.0v2, stop the AutoSender service/daemon first, before closing the files. Or upgrade to 9.0v3 to solve the problem altogether.

In today's example, we'll take a closer look at how we can combine the power of FileMaker Server 9 script scheduling with AutoSender for automatically sending mail messages from FileMaker Server at scheduled intervals.

Scenario
We start with a contacts database that contains at least email address and birthday information. What we want to do is to make sure that every morning birthday messages for that day are sent out automatically.
To do this, we'll set up the database for use with AutoSender, and run a daily schedule on FileMaker Server that will find the records you need.

It is recommended that you already have AutoSender running on your FileMaker Server (download the demo here) before continuing with this example. AutoSender requires FileMaker Server 9 or FileMaker Server 7/8 Advanced.

1. Download the Example file

Download here

The example file consists of a "contacts" and an "emails" table.
The script "find_birthdays_for_today" will create a mail record in the emails table, based on the contact information.
In this script, make changes to the 'from' e-mail address you will be using:

2. Bring the file online on your server

3. Setup the AutoSender configuration

3.1 Create a new mail source in the AutoSender Config application
In order to ensure that messages from the emails table get sent out automatically, we need to add a configuration to AutoSender.
Depending on whether you are going to use XML or JDBC to connect to the database, enter the data as shown below:

3.2 Enter your SMTP server information

3.3 Enter field information for the Birthday Example database

3.4 Save your changes to activate the new mail source

4. Create a schedule to search for today's birthdays

4.1 Create a ScriptMaker script schedule on FileMaker Server

4.2 Select the Birthday Example database, and select the user "fmsscript" (no password) to login

4.3 Select the script "find_birthdays_for_today" - this script will find those people whose birthday it is today and based on that found set, loop through the records to create email messages

4.4 Make the script run daily

That's it !

This technique could also be used for e.g. sending statements to customers automatically, sending reports of out-of-stock items, sending out reminders for to do's from your GTD database, etc.

Existing users of AutoSender 1.x can upgrade to 2.0 for EUR 49,- or about USD 70,-. All AutoSender purchases after October 1st, 2007 are entitled to a free of charge upgrade.

More details are available on the AutoSender product page.

AutoSender is a tool that runs on the FileMaker Server, and allows you to automatically send mail messages from your FileMaker solutions.

So what's new in AutoSender 2?

Download AutoSender 2 public beta for Mac
Download AutoSender 2 public beta for Windows
(requires FileMaker Server 9 or FileMaker Server 7/8/9 Advanced)

If you are a current user of AutoSender 1.x, make sure to read the included upgrade notes before installing.
Existing users of AutoSender 1.x will be able to upgrade to 2.0 for EUR 49,- or about USD 70,-. All AutoSender purchases after October 1st, 2007 are entitled to a free of charge upgrade.

Until the end of December 2007, special pricing is available for AutoSender 1.7 (with free upgrade to 2.0).