Mail Blast/400 Operating Instructions
From Support
This instruction guide is to serve as a quick-start for using the Mail Blast/400 software:
Getting to the Menu
ADDLIBLE RJSBLAST GO RJSBLAST
Creating Email Letter Templates
From the RJSBLAST menu, select Option 5, Edit Email Message Templates
Once the program starts, use F6 to create a new message member or use option 1 to edit an existing message template.
A message can have up to 500 lines of text, including blank lines.
The following keywords can be inserted anywhere in the message text and the appropriate values will get substituted into the message at runtime:
- @EFCOMP - COMPANY
- @EFNAM - AGENT NAME
- @EFIRST - FIRST NAME
- @ELAST - LAST NAME
- @EADDR - EMAIL ADDRESS
- @EBDNM - BROKER/DEALER NAME
- @ESAL - SALUTATION
- @ETITLE - TITLE
- @EVAR1 - VARIABLE FIELD 1 (Can be used for anything)
- @EVAR2 - VARIABLE FIELD 2 (Can be used for anything)
- @EVAR3 - VARIABLE FIELD 3 (Can be used for anything)
- @EVAR4 - VARIABLE FIELD 4 (Can be used for anything)
- @EVAR5 - VARIABLE FIELD 5 (Can be used for anything)
Editing Email Names/Addresses
From the RJSBLAST menu, select Option 6, Edit Mail Blast Name/Address File
This option can be used to edit an existing name/address file. The AS/400 file name is: BLMADR00.
The DDS for this file can be found in the source file: SOURCE in library BLMADR00. You can create as many copies of this file as needed to accomodate multiple mailing lists.
Resetting Processed Flags for Email Names/Addresses
From the RJSBLAST menu, select Option 7, Reset Processed Status for Email Names/Addresses
This step should be done after a mass-emailing has been completed and before the next mass-emailing is done using the same name/address file.
When this step is run, the processed flag field: EPROC is reset to blanks for each record in the BLMADR00 file so it's ready for the next emailing. This field is set value 'P' while it's being processed and 'Y' once email processing has completed for the email address.
Run Mail Blast Processing Interactively - BLMPROCESS
From the RJSBLAST menu, select Option 10, Run Mail Blast Processing Interactively - BLMPROCESS
This step runs the actual email processing using a selected message template, up to 10 PC file attachments from the AS/400 IFS and the selected name/address file.
This command will typically be run in batch mode.
Multiple copies of BLMPROCESS can be submitted to allow multiple jobs to be processing the same name/address list at the same time. Even if multiple jobs are processing the list at the same time, only one email should get sent to each recipient. This is done to improve performance.
BLMPROCESS parameters:
Mail Blast Name/Address File - This is the Name/Address file which will get processed. Default: BLMADR00. A member name must be selected. *FIRST is a valid member name.
Mail Blast Template Msg File - This is the selected message template member which will be processed. A message template member name must be selected. DO NOT use *FIRST for this parameter.
From email address - This is the email address where the email messages are originating from and will bounce back to if undeliverable. This should be set to a valid system administrator email address in your email system. *DEFAULT will use the default from address setting.
Subject - This is the subject of the email. If *TEMPLATEDESC is used, the email message template description is used as the email subject line.
SMTP server name - This is the SMTP server where all outgoing email messages will be forwarded to for delivery. If you use LOCALHOST for this entry, the local AS/400 SMTP server or Domino Server will be used. A host name should always be used, not an IP address. A host name can be set up for a SMTP server from the following menu: (GO CFGTCP, option 10) *DEFAULT will use the default SMTP server setting.
Mime content type - Typically 'text/plain' should be used, however if messages will be formatted as HTML, 'text/html' can be used.
Attachment file 1 - 10 - These are the IFS attachments which will be sent out with the selected email message templates. If PC document files are placed in AS/400 shared folders, /QDLS must be appended to the file path, so the documents can be found in the appropriate shared folder. If documents are placed in a regular IFS folder, the forward slash must always be appended to the path (/).
Example: /DOCS/DOC1.PDF refers to a file named DOC1.PDF in the DOCS IFS folder.
Zip attachment files - When this setting is enabled, all attachment files are zipped before mailing.
Delivery confirmation request - A delivery confirmation request will be sent with each email message. An email will be returned to the sender after the mail is delivered. **Note: This setting may not always work. It's dependent on the recipients email system allowing confirmation requests to be requested.
Read confirmation request - A read confirmation request will be sent with each email message. An email will be returned to the sender after the mail is read. **Note: This setting may not always work. It's dependent on the recipients email system allowing confirmation requests to be requested.
High priority request - This email message will be sent with a high priority flag so it shows up as a high priority message when delivered.
Submit Mail Blast Processing to Batch
From the RJSBLAST menu, select Option 11, Submit Mail Blast Processing to Batch
This step runs the BLMPROCESS command in batch. By default we send the job to jobq QSYSNOMAX so an unlimited number of copies can be submitted to run at the same time. We typically recommend submitting no more than 2-3 BLMPROCESS commands to run at the same time, however different AS/400 system conditions may allow for more or less jobs.
You may want to write your own CL program to submit multiple copies of the BLMPROCESS command to batch.
Display Mail Blast Log Entries
From the RJSBLAST menu, select Option 12, Display Mail Blast Log Entries
This option is used to display the email log entries. You should scan the log after each email processing job completes to make sure no errors occurred.
Clear Mail Blast Log Entries
From the RJSBLAST menu, select Option 13, Clear Mail Blast Log Entries
This option is used to clear the log after it's been reviewed.
Mail Blast Setting Commands
20. Set Default SMTP Host - BLMHOST This menu option sets the default SMTP host for use with the Mail Blast processing.
21. Set Default From Address - BLMFROM This menu option sets the default from email address for use with the Mail Blast processing.
22. Set Default ZIP File Extension - BLMZIPEXT Not currently used.
23. Set Default SMTP Port - BLMPORT This menu option allows you to change the SMTP port number. This setting should not typically be changed.
24. Set Default SMTP Buffer Size - BLMBUFFER This menu option allows you to change the SMTP send buffer size. This setting should not typically be changed.
General Processing Steps
A blast email campaign will generally consist of the following steps
- A new email message template will get created. If personalization is required, the special @KEYWORDS can be used as described above.
- If any PC file attachments will be sent, they will need to be copied to an IFS folder on the AS/400.
- Email addresses must be manually or programatically entered into the BLMADR00 file or a copy of the file.
- The BLMPROCESS command will be run specifying the email message template, email name/address file and up to 10 file attachments to send. Each email recipient will receive a copy of the selected letter and file attachments. After a recipient is mailed to, the processed flag is set for their address and must be reset prior to the next email process. **Note: file attachments are not required for text-only messages.
