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Can't use modified SQL/SWQL variable as To mail address

Hi,

Currently I have a custom property in my environment to indicate which customer team a node belongs to. Since we also have mail addresses with basically the same name I thought I could use a Custom Variable as the To mail address but unfortunately it says it's not valid.

So we have the property: Customer_Team which has Results like: Team A, Team B, Team C, etc.

The mail addresses are like: TeamA@Companyname.com, TeamB@Companyname.com, TeamC@Companyname.com, etc.

In the alert action we want to set up a mail action the send out en Email the the Customer Team responsible for that node.

So I changed the variable to SELECT REPLACE ('${N=SwisEntity;M=CustomProperties.Customer_Team}' , ' ', '')+'@companyname.com' with SQL option which resulted in: ${SQL: SELECT REPLACE ('${N=SwisEntity;M=CustomProperties.Customer_Team}' , ' ', '')+'@companyname.com'}

I used "REPLACE" to get rid of the space in between the name.

In the message it can show me the email address fine but it seems that the Recipients "To" field returns an error that the email address is not valid.

Has anyone else also encountered this or maybe some ideas on how to make this work? (We try to avoid making an additional custom property)

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SteveK

So in my environment, I have it setup in a similar fashion. I just reviewed the data populated in our field and we are using standalone emails (distrubution lists) and if we are triggering to multiple addresses we are using a semicolon and a space (DL1@domain.com; DL2@domain.com)

Our to field on the email action is just the base property: ${N=SwisEntity;M=CustomProperties.Customer_Team} (using yours as an example), and it works pretty well. We do get the occassional ASCII error, but that seems to occur when someone is copying/pasting the email address into the field (single or multiple dls).

decust

We are kinda doing the same right now since we have some alert actions going to ServiceNow and some by mail (but both with different custom properties). So we thought about making so we're trying to find a way to fill in the field once from a drop down and making it easier for engineers that add the node.

In ServiceNow we have for example Team A, Team B, Team C. So I thought if I adjust the string I should be able to use 1 Custom Property for 2 actions.

We're trying to keep the amount of Custom Properties down.

The property would bring it to the right team in ServiceNow and the adjusted string would deliver it by mail to the right team (if it would work).

bobmarley

Did you try this? ${N=SwisEntity;M=CustomProperties.Customer_Team}@Companyname.com

SteveK

I haven't played around with the ServiceNow side of the equation. If the To field from the email action doesn't accept a SQL injection, what about trying the opposite and do the SQL injection to the ServiceNow side.

I'm with you on trying to keep the amount of properties down. Our nodes are a little heavy on that as the teams can select how they want their CPU, Memory, Volume, Down Status and Unknown Status alerts to be delivered (All are drop downs). We basically have a responsible team field (drop down) to select ownership and a text box for email (used for alerts and as a filter for views). We would have way too many variations on the email side to make a drop down feasible (A multi select checkbox would be awesome for that).

christopher.t.jones123

@decust, I've tried this several times but the To field in the email action doesn't support custom variables, unfortunately.

decust

Unfortunately this would still leave me with a space in between Team and the team name. so it would try to send something to "Team Name@companyname.com"

decust

Aw man, that really unfortunate. Would've made some thing easier...

bobmarley

As long as the custom property did not have spaces in the name it worked in my environment.

decust

I understand, but that's actually the thing. We also go to ServiceNow with that property. Which has the space in it.

adam.beedell

Heya, I see the problem you're trying to solve, this solution is really fragile. If you trigger this on a range of objects from different tables most will fail. if it fails to find a completed team macro it'll fail, and when it fails it'll break the whole email ie less contacts get the message.

I'm kinda with some of the other commentors in the feeling of "fall back to a simpler solution". That said, there is a way through, just be cautious.

Initial guesses at your problem are that either the submacros are intended for a node or something and may not be the right ones for the object you're trying to work on, or you want a ";" or something so this email and the next email dont break when they come together (or similar, starting with an @ would be bad)

You're not trying to do anything crazy and this should be fine.