Q: What are the steps required to configure J!MailAlerts correctly?
Answer: Follow these steps:
1. Install LATEST STABLE version of JMailAlerts core component.
2. Install and enable all the plugins you want to use.
3. Configure all the parameters(PLUGIN parameters and LEGACY parameters) for EACH installed plugin of type "emailalerts".
4. Now, goto Jmailalerts component. Click on "Alert Types -> New"
5. Configure the settings for alert type.
6. Add required TAGS for all installed and enabled plugins of type "emailalerts" in the email template (for each alert type).
7. Set "Allow user to configure alert:" to YES
8. Set "Respect last email date" to "No" in each alert type (for testing purpose).
9. Save the alert type.
10. Now, go to "Sync" tab.
Select the alert types and perform a sync operation once (This will make all existing users subscribe to the email alerts)
11. Also select the alert types and click on "Save" (This will make newly registered users auto subscribe to selected mailalerts-alertypes)
12. Then add new content.
13. Now, goto "Simulation" tab
Select "alert type" , enter user id userid other than creator of content from step 12.
14. If your simulation is showing an output, set up a cron-job for sending emails to subscribed users automatically.
Q: Where do users manage their email alert preferences and subscription?
Answer: You will need to create a menu item having link to jmail alerts component default view.
1. To add new menu item
Goto- Menus=> User Menu=> Click on "New" => Select jmailalerts "default" layout. => Give it a "some name" and Click on "Save"
2. Then login in frontend and click on the newly created menu, you will be redirected to the email alert preferences page.
Q: Can I override JMA plugins? How to override JMA plugins?
Yes, you can override all JMA plugins, just like you override modules/components.
Suppose you want to override plugin 'jma_latestevents_js'
Overrides can go to -
your_joomla_root/templates/current_template/html/plugins/emailalerts/jma_latestevents_js/jma_latestevents_js.php
your_joomla_root//templates/current_template/html/plugins/emailalerts/jma_latestevents_js/jma_latestevents_js.css
Q: How do i test this extension ? How do i know its working ?
Please read the Article "Testing Your J!MailAlerts Installation"
Q: I have installed the Component & User Plugin. I have also installed & enabled some J!Mailalerts plugins. But Nothing is happening !
Q: I am getting Errors when Simulating the email or Running Crons
No user Found !!
This error simply means that the user id you have entered does not exist.
Email Errors
- Could not instantiate mail function OR
- PHPMAILER_RECIPIENTS_FAILED OR
- SMTP Error! Could not connect to SMTP host.
This means you need to check your Joomla Email Settings in Global Configuration > Server > Mail Settings . Note that since J!MailAlerts uses the Joomla email sending utility, you need to make sure that your Joomla installation is able to send emails. One easy way to check this is either use the Joomla Maill Mail component located in Tools > Mass Mail or setup a Joomla contact form using the Joomla contact component & fill out the send email form & see if it can send emails. If it can, then J!MailAlerts should be able to as well..
No Content Found. Sending Failed
It simply means that there is no new content available in any of the plugins & hence an email wont be sent. This can be an issue especially if you have set "Respect Last Email Date" to Yes.
Q: Hey in the admin i saved default settings as weekly .. But some of my users seem to get daily emails, some of them monthly & some none at all ! Whats happening ?
J!MailAlerts allows the users to control their own alert settings. They can chose on a personal level & override default admin settings to chose if they want an Alert at all , or want one on a daily, weekly, fortnightly or monthly basis. So it simply means that some of your users have set their own settings & emails are being sent according to those settings.
Q: I have So many plugins installed & Configured & also tags added to the email design , but frequently it so happens that my users only get some of the plugin content..
There might be three reasons why this is happening.
A. There is no new content for the plugins that users are not getting alerts for ( This applies if you have Respect Last Email Date set to yes in component configuration)
B. The user has either opted out completely from those Alert Plugins or configured the plugins to receive only certain alerts. For instance a user might only select 2 categories out of the total 40 odd you have from the Latest News plugin, & no new content might be available in those categories.
C. The user might be an author of all the new content that is being sent !
Usually all our plugins follow the practice of not sending the user his own content.. So if you are an admin & are the sole person who ads content, then you might never gets alerts. So in this case best make another user so that you can get alerts to check if its working okay.
Q: Why is there a "Save" as well as "Sync" button on the Sync Screen ?
The Save button saves the default configuration for all new users who shall register on the website. It saves the Plugins selected on that screen & the "default" settings set in each of the plugin parameters as Default for all new user sign ups.
The Sync button SETS the same settings for current users on the site & also allows you to override their current settings by ticking the "Override" check box.
Q: I am getting Stale content in my Email Alerts ! Whats up ? I thought J!MailAlerts was only supposed to send fresh content ?
Check if you have the Respect Last Email Date setting in the component configuration set to yes. If it is then you will only get alerts when there is Fresh content. Also note that all plugins that we have developed are made to respect this setting. If you are using a third party plugin that is not respecting this setting, you shall need to contact the developer & report a bug.
Q: I have my Cron setup.. But i am not sure if its working ok. Is there any way to check this ?
J!MailAlerts creates a Log file that is written to every time a cron runs.This should give you insight on whats happening when the cron runs. If this file is missing or empty, there might be an issue in the way your cron is setup or a permission issue might not be allowing this log file to be written. The log file is located at : http://yoursite.com/administrator/components/com_jmailalerts/log.txt . You might want to protect this location with a htaccess file to prevent anyone from stealing email addresses from this file.
Q: How Does J!MailAlerts work / Explanation of how the Cron Logic Works & What the debug output means
Since the version 2.0.1 of the component, we have added verbose debugging both in the cron output & the Log files to help you understand how the component is working on your site & what logic is being applied
Shown below is a typical cron run output
[2010-12-08 16:55:37] : Start cron run
Looking for users...
Found them: 16 to process
Processing for Administrator (user id 62)
The applicable pulgins for user are jma_latest_docs_docman,jma_latestphoto_pg,jma_latest_posts_ku
2010-12-08 16:55:37
[email protected] 1
Mail sent to Administrator (user id 62)
Processing for Tom (user id 82)
The applicable pulgins for user are jma_latest_docs_docman,jma_latestphoto_pg,jma_latest_posts_ku
2010-12-08 16:55:42
[email protected] 1
Failed to send Email. No New content found
What is happening in the above case is pretty clear from the output. The first line shows when the Cron Run started (The date time stamp when the cron was triggered is shown here)
Then the system starts to look for users that are applicable to receive an Email.
A. Date Check - This is the first check that the system will run.
In this check, the system will check which users apply for sending an email at that instant as per their "Last Date an Email was sent" & their personal frequency setting.
The note above " Found them: 16 to process" is from this date check.
The system then shows the output for each individual user
B. Configuration & Content Check
For the users found , the system will according to each user's personal plugin opt ins & configurations, check if new content is available for each opted in the plugin.
For the above view, the system found that the Administrator user with ID 62 has opted in for jma_latest_docs_docman,jma_latestphoto_pg,jma_latest_posts_ku Plugins.
The next line you see, shows the datetime stamp the email was sent & the email id it was sent to.
In the next case for Tom user id 82, its seen that there was no new content found & hence, no email was sent.
Q: Does JMailAlerts have a plugin to support JEvents?
JEvents have developed the plugin you need. You can find it on their site. http://www.jevents.net/
Q: Does JMailAlerts send out email notifications to subscribers ONLY when a new article is published in a specified category
No, It's a digest email solution, not an instantaneous email solution. However, JMA allows you to create custom frequency on days, hours and even on minutes level. You can try running on a lower value frequency like every 15 minutes and also set a CRON to run frequency lower or equal to same as alert frequency depending upon no. of subscribers. This may work