Use the dmemail utility

This topic explains how to use the dmemail utility for processing and sending notification emails.

About dmemail

The dmemail utility is a command that processes queued notification events held in the Dimensions CM database and turns them into actual emails. It is responsible for expanding the email templates with the mail content and sends the resulting email to end users.

You can run dmemail in the following ways:

  • Direct from a command prompt.

  • Automated using an existing customer scheduling system, such as cron.

  • Automated using the Dimensions Listener.

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Security

You need to run dmemail from a user account that is part of the Dimensions CM ADMIN group.

When dmemail is scheduled using the Dimensions Listener, it runs as the same user as the dmpool process, which is specified in this file:

Windows %installdir%\dfs\listener.dat
UNIX $installdir/dfs/listener.dat

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Command-line syntax

The command-line syntax for the dmemail utility is:

dmemail [config-file]

if config-file is omitted, it defaults to:

Windows %installdir%\dfs\email_config.dat
UNIX $installdir/dfs/email_config.dat

Other parameters can be specified as part of the command line or entered in the configuration file. For details, see Dmemail configuration parameters.

Guidelines:

  • Subsequent parameters, when entered on the command line, are used as key-value pairs. To use the default configuration file name and have parameters, use "-" as parameter 1.

  • Parameters entered on the command line take precedence over the options specified in the configuration file.

  • If you need spaces in the parameters, use double quotation marks.

  • The parameter names are not case-sensitive, and values of Y/y and N/n are equivalent.

Examples:

dmemail

dmemail -?

dmemail - debug=y logging=n "hello = greetings tim"

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Parameters in the dm.cfg file

The following entries are required in the dm.cfg server configuration file.

Symbol Description
DM_TMP Dimensions CM temporary file folder. This is used as default for working files, if other (email-specific) options are not specified.
DM_MAILS Symbol used by existing Dimensions CM email system to interface with an Operating System mail command. For details about general administration, see Administration.
DM_MAILS_HTTP

Custom version of the above symbol for use with HTML email. Some mail commands have special options to enable HTML mail.

For example, the Dimensions CM- supplied program pcmsmail needs to be given the -i option, specified in this symbol.

Example of the last two symbols:

DM_MAILS        %DM_PROG%pcmsmail.exe -h "mail-server.com" -f "PCMS" -file "%%s" -s "%%s" -t "%%s"

DM_MAILS_HTTP   %DM_MAILS% -i

DM_EMAIL_AUTOSTART_TIMES

This symbol is used to control the automatic startup and running of the dmemail application. It specifies the scheduled times that dmemail is required to start processing content.

DM_EMAIL_AUTOSTART_TIMES <spec> <spec> <spec> ........
<spec> : XX:YY | +XX:YY
XX:YY  : process e-mails at exactly XX:YY on the local 24 hour clock. (eg 03:00 will run a 3am local time)
+XX:YY : process e-mails every XX:YY hours/minutes, repeatedly. (eg. 01:00 will run every hour)

DM_EMAIL_AUTOSTART_DIR

Working files and a log of activity is recorded in this directory when dmpool is managing the dmemail process.

Default: DM_TMP.
DM_EMAIL_MSG_LEVEL

A severity level indicating the level of event that generates a record in the log.

0 generates the most information. Higher values restrict the messages to more severe events. To see information only about serious errors, set this symbol to 4.

DM_EMAIL_TEMPLATE_DIR

This overrides the default location of the email templates, if required. If not specified, the default location is:

Windows %installdir%\email_templates
UNIX $installdir/email_templates

For details, see Administration.

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See also: