Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Release 8.0 -- Customizing Email Notifications for Cisco Unified MeetingPlace

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Revision as of 20:07, 16 February 2011

Main page: Cisco Unified MeetingPlace, Release 8.0

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• About Email Notification Templates and Language Property Files
• How to Customize Email Notifications

About Email Notification Templates and Language Property Files

Email notification templates specify which information to include in the email notifications. The templates also determine the order and formatting used to present the specified information.

Although email notification templates are editable, they are designed to be language-independent by containing tags instead of actual email message content. Each tag is translated by the Cisco Unified MeetingPlace mail system into the text defined in editable language property files. A unique language property file is available for each language you install and enable on the Cisco Unified MeetingPlace server.

Topics in this section include:

• How the Mail System Works
• Example of Editing an Email Notification Template and a Language Property File
• Notification Items

How the Mail System Works

The Cisco Unified MeetingPlace mail system uses the following process to send email notifications to users:

1. The mail system selects the appropriate template, depending on the type of email notification that is required. The templates are listed in Table: Email Notification Templates.
2. The mail system identifies the tags in the template
   1. Plain text in the template is left as plain text in the email notification.
   2. A dollar sign ($) indicates the beginning of a tag that is replaced by the definition in the language property file. For example:

      $notify_to_join_meeting

   3. A space or the end of a line indicates the end of a tag.
3. The mail system checks which language property file to use, depending on the Language configured in the user profile of the email recipient.
4. The mail system creates the email notification by translating the tags in the template to the matching tag definitions in the language property file:
   1. An equal (=) sign indicates the beginning of a tag definition. For example:

      notify_to_join_meeting = To join the meeting

   2. The end of a line indicates the end of a tag definition.
   3. For each match, the mail system replaces the tag with the content defined in the language property file.
   4. If there is no match, the tag is included in the email notification, including the dollar sign ($).
   5. Tag definitions can contain tags that are defined by other system components, such as the system scheduler. For example:

      notify_details=The meeting details are:

      notify_id=ID: $cisco_MTGID

   The scheduler component typically defines tags that appear on the scheduling page of the web user portal, such as the name of the meeting owner, meeting subject, and start time.

5. The mail system sends the completed email notification to the SMTP server.

Related Topics

• How to Customize Email Notifications
• About Email Notification Templates and Language Property Files

Example of Editing an Email Notification Template and a Language Property File

This example shows how to do the following:

1. Add a new tag, called $custom_greeting, to an email notification template.
2. Define the tag in a language property file.

Note: If you enable multiple languages on your system, you must define new tags in all language property files.

This sample shows the placement of the new tag at the beginning of an email notification template:

$custom_greeting

$notify_meeting_subject $notify_meeting_name

$notify_date_time $notify_when

$notify_dur $notify_duration

$notify_frequency $notify_recur_pattern

This sample shows the definition of the new tag in the U.S. English language property file:

##############################################

## English (USA) language property file ##

##############################################

## ALL TEMPLATES

notify_title=Cisco Unified MeetingPlace meeting notification

$custom_greeting=Good day. You have been invited to the following meeting:

notify_details=The meeting details are:

notify_mtg_id=Meeting ID:

notify_meeting_id=$cisco_MTGID

notify_id=ID: $cisco_MTGID

Related Topics

• About Email Notification Templates and Language Property Files
• How to Customize Email Notifications

Notification Items

The following table provides a list of notification items and tags that are commonly used by Cisco Unified MeetingPlace for Outlook and SMTP notifications.

Related Topics

• How to Customize Email Notifications
• About Email Notification Templates and Language Property Files

How to Customize Email Notifications

• Editing Templates for Email Notifications
• Editing Language Property Files
• Downloading a Language Property File
• Uploading a Language Property File

Editing Templates for Email Notifications

Before You Begin

• If you plan to modify any language property files while editing email notification templates, we recommend that you first save a copy of the existing language property files, in case you want to return to the previous versions. See the Downloading a Language Property File.
• Tags are case-sensitive.
• As you edit the email notification templates, keep track of whether you add any tags that begin with $cisco_, because these changes will not take effect until after a system restart.
• See the Example of Editing an Email Notification Template and a Language Property File.

Restrictions

• You cannot customize email notification templates for a single user. Template changes affect all system-generated email notifications.
• Email notification graphics cannot be modified or replaced. Also, new graphics cannot be added to email notifications.
• The HTML editor has these restrictions:
  • Only Internet Explorer enables you to view and edit the HTML output. All supported browsers enable you to view and edit the HTML source.
  • Only Internet Explorer provides the HTML-formatting toolbar.
  • In the HTML-formatting toolbar, use the Background Color button to modify the background color of text. To instead modify the background color of table cells or the entire page, use an external HTML editor, or manually edit the HTML source by selecting the View HTML Source button (<>).
• The HTML templates display only the size and location of each graphic. The actual graphics cannot be previewed through the Administration Center and are displayed only in actual email notifications.
• (Microsoft Outlook front-end integration) Only one email notification template, plain-text NotifySchedule, is used for the Microsoft Outlook calendar notifications.
• (Microsoft Outlook back-end integration) HTML-formatted Microsoft Outlook calendar notifications will not include any graphics.
• If you upgrade your system from an earlier release, the system compares the email template version information of the previous installation with the current installation. If the email template version information is the same, the system does not overwrite the customized email templates.

If the email template version information is different or if there is no version information from the previous installation, the system overwrites all custom email notification templates and replaces them with the standard email notification templates for the later release.

You can access the current email templates through System Configuration > Email Notifications > Email Notification Templates or go to /opt/cisco/meetingplace/var/mail/res/email_templates.

The system copies all of the previous notification templates to a backup directory: /opt/cisco/meetingplace/var.<version> /mail/res/email_templates, where <version> identifies the earlier Cisco Unified MeetingPlace release, for example, 8.0.0.40.

Procedure

1. Sign in to the Administration Center.
2. Select System Configuration > Email Notifications > Email Notification Templates.
3. Using Table: Basic and Advanced Master Template Editing Functionality, decide whether to use the basic editing page or the advanced editing page to edit the email notification master templates.

Table: Basic and Advanced Master Template Editing Functionality

Footnote 1: See the Restrictions for the HTML editor.

4. Select Edit Templates (Basic) or Edit Templates (Advanced).

5. Using Table: Email Notification Templates, select which template you want to modify.

Table: Email Notification Templates

The templates whose names begin with "SMTP" are for notifications that are sent to users whose profiles specify the email type as SMTP. The SMTP templates include more meeting details than the non-SMTP templates. This is because non-SMTP email notifications are used by integrated clients (such as Microsoft Outlook) which display some of the meeting details (such as the start time and duration) elsewhere in the client user interface.

For templates that have both SMTP and non-SMTP versions, you must modify both versions to keep them consistent with each other. Otherwise, users might receive different information about the same meeting, depending on the Email type and format setting in each user profile.

6. Select which format (HTML or text) you want to modify.

You must modify both the HTML and plain text formats to keep them consistent with each other. Otherwise, users might receive different information about the same meeting, depending on the Email type and format setting in each user profile.

7. Modify the template. See these topics:

• Editing Area of the Edit Templates (Basic) Page
• Editing Areas of the Edit Templates (Advanced) Page

8. To preview the template, select Preview.

9. Close the preview window when finished.

10. Select Save to save your template changes.

11. Repeat Step 5 through Step 10 for any other template versions (SMTP, non-SMTP) and formats (HTML, text) as required for consistency.

12. If you added any tags that begin with "$cisco_", then you need to restart the system to make those changes take effect:

Note: A system restart terminates all existing call connections. Proceed only during a scheduled maintenance period or during a period of extremely low usage.

1. Sign in to the CLI of the Application Server.
2. Enter mpx_sys restart.

Related Topics

• About Email Notification Templates and Language Property Files
• How to Customize Email Notifications
• Configuring Email Notification Retries in the Configuring Email Notifications for Cisco Unified MeetingPlace module
• Using the Command-Line Interface (CLI) on the Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Application Server module
• Integration Guide for Installing and Configuring Microsoft Outlook with Cisco Unified MeetingPlace http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/ps5664/ps5669/prod_installation_guides_list.html
• Integration Note for Installing and Configuring IBM Lotus Notes with Cisco Unified MeetingPlace http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/ps5664/ps5669/prod_installation_guides_list.html

Editing Language Property Files

Language property files define the text translations of tags used in email notification templates.

Before You Begin

• If you plan to edit a language property file through the Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Administration Center, we recommend that you first save a copy of the existing language property file, in case you want to return to the previous version. See the Downloading a Language Property File.
• Tags are case-sensitive.
• See the Example of Editing an Email Notification Template and a Language Property File.

Restrictions

• You cannot customize language property files or email notification templates for a single user. These changes affect all system-generated email notifications.

Procedure

1. Sign in to the Administration Center.
2. Select System Configuration > Email Notifications > Email Notification Templates > Edit Language Property Files.
3. Choose the language property file to edit.
4. Modify the language property file.
5. Select Save.

Related Topics

• About Email Notification Templates and Language Property Files

What To Do Next

Because the same tags are used in multiple templates, you should preview all templates after editing a language property file. See the Editing Templates for Email Notifications.

Downloading a Language Property File

This task is useful for saving a copy of a working language property file before you edit it, in case you decide to revert to the previous version. You can also download a language property file to your PC, modify it using a text editor such as WordPad, and then upload the language property file to Cisco Unified MeetingPlace.

Procedure

1. Sign in to the Administration Center.
2. Select System Configuration > Email Notifications > Email Notification Templates > Download Language Property File.
3. Choose the language property file to download.
4. Select Download.
5. Select Open or Save.

   If you are prompted with an Open With dialog box, choose a text editor, such as WordPad.

Related Topics

• About Email Notification Templates and Language Property Files
• Uploading a Language Property File

Uploading a Language Property File

Performing this task is useful if you edit the language property file and decide to revert to a previously downloaded language property file. You can also upload a language property file that you modified on your PC.

Before You Begin

• Uploaded language property files must have the exact same case-sensitive filename as an existing language property file on the system. For example, the U.S. English language property file name is Templates_en_US.properties.
• To see the valid filename of a language property file, complete Step 1 through Step 4 in the Downloading a Language Property File. The filename appears in the File Download window.

Procedure

1. Sign in to the Administration Center.
2. Select System Configuration > Email Notifications > Email Notification Templates > Upload Language Property File.
3. Select the language.
4. Select Browse, find the language property file, and select Open.
5. Select Upload.

Related Topics

• About Email Notification Templates and Language Property Files
• Downloading a Language Property File
• Example of Editing an Email Notification Template and a Language Property File