Event triggers are actions that take place in LAC through either the web-based UI or the LAC API. An event trigger can be configured to use one or more event handlers. An event handler is a specific response to the event trigger. When you enable an event trigger, LAC will automatically execute the event handler(s) you have configured for that event. For example, when a license order is created for a customer in LAC (an event trigger), you can automatically send a notification email to the contacts for that customer (an event handler).
To enable and configure an event:
- Open the Events tab from the Administration page. All currently configured events are listed on the Events page.
- Click the Add New button at the bottom left of the page. This opens a wizard that steps you through enabling and configuring an event trigger.
- In the Trigger tab, select the trigger to enable from the Event Trigger selection list (see the list of available Event Triggers, below).
- Check the Enabled checkbox to enable the trigger (triggers are enabled by default).
- Complete any additional information for the trigger. For example, the License About To Expire trigger lets you set the number of days before license expiration to execute the trigger.
- Click Next to continue to the Handlers tab. The Handlers tab lists all currently configured handlers for the trigger (if you are creating a new trigger, no event handlers will exist yet).
- To add a new handler for the trigger, click Add New at the bottom left of the page. The Create Handler dialog opens.
- Select the handler you want to use for the trigger from the Event Handler selection list (see Event handlers, below).
- In the Name field, enter a name that will identify the handler when there are multiple handlers being used for a given trigger.
- Customize the handler as needed by completing the template (see Event Handlers, below, for more details on customizing event handlers).
- Click Save to save the event handler.
Event triggers
LAC currently includes the following event triggers.
Event Trigger | Description |
|---|---|
New License | This event trigger is executed when a new License Order has been added to LAC. |
License About To Expire | This event trigger is executed when a license's expiration date is equal to the current date minus the number of days specified in this trigger's Days Before Expiration field. Valid entries are from 1 to 180 days. For example, if the Days Before Expiration field is set to 60 days, all handlers for this trigger will be executed 60 days before the expiration date of an activated license. The default Days Before Expiration setting is 30. You can add multiple instances of this trigger with different settings for the number of days to expiration. For example, you may have one trigger configured for 60 days before expiration, another for 30 days before expiration, and another for 7 days before expiration. |
| License Expired | This event trigger is executed after a specified number of days past the expiration date of a license. The number of days is specified in the Days After Expiration field. Valid entries are from 0 to 180 days. For example, if the Days After Expiration field is set to 60 days, all handlers for this trigger will be executed 60 days after the expiration date of an activated license. The default Days After Expiration setting is 30. You can add multiple instances of this trigger with different settings for the number of days after license expiration. For example, you may have one trigger configured for 1 day after expiration, another for 7 days after expiration, and another for 14 days after expiration. |
| License Maintenance About to Expire | This event trigger is executed when a license's maintenance expiration date is equal to the current date minus the number of days specified in this trigger's Days Before Maintenance Expiration field. Valid entries are from 1 to 180 days. For example, if the Days Before Expiration field is set to 60 days, all handlers for this trigger will be executed 60 days before the expiration date of an activated license. The default Days Before Maintenance Expiration setting is 30. |
| License Maintenance Expired | This event trigger is executed after a specified number of days past the expiration date of a license's maintenance. The number of days is specified in the Days After Maintenance Expiration field. Valid entries are from 0 to 180 days. For example, if the Days After Maintenance Expiration field is set to 60 days, all handlers for this trigger will be executed 60 days after the expiration date of an activated license's maintenance. The default Days After Maintenance Expiration setting is 30. You can add multiple instances of this trigger with different settings for the number of days after maintenance expiration. For example, you may have one trigger configured for 1 day after expiration, another for 7 days after expiration, and another for 14 days after expiration. |
Event handlers
LAC currently includes the following event handlers.
Event Handler | Description |
|---|---|
Email Customer | This event handler sends an email to all customer contacts in response to an event trigger. |
Custom Email | This event handler sends an email notification to a comma-separated list of email addresses. |
You can customize the template for the event handlers as follows:
| Field Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Name | Type a descriptive name for the event handler. |
| Delay | Select the amount of time to delay the handler from being completed after the event occurs, from no delay (None, the default) up to 24 hours delay. For example, if the delay is set to 15 minutes, an email will be sent to the customer 15 minutes after a license order is created for that customer. |
| Email Addresses | Enter the email addresses to send the email to. |
| Subject | The Subject field contains default text appropriate for the handler you chose. You can edit the Subject text as needed, including inserting variables listed in the Template Fields selection list, as described below. |
| Body | The Body field contains default text appropriate for the handler you chose. You can edit the Body text as needed, including inserting variables listed in the Template Fields selection list, as described below. The editor for the email template body includes common editing features, such as text styles, hyperlinks, etc. You can also use the Source Edit toggle to switch to HTML source, which supports full HTML, allowing you to create more complex e-mail templates with styles, links and customized tags. |
Using Template Field variables
For the Subject and Body content, you can select variables from the Template Fields selection list that automatically use information from LAC, such as customer and contact names, the product name, etc.
For example, the default Subject text for the License Expired event trigger is "Your %PRODUCT_NAME% license has expired." In the event handler email that is sent, the variable will be replaced with the name given to the product in LAC; for example, "Your Penny-Pincher Financial Tracker license has expired."
Note that your Template Fields selections must be valid to be included as text in the email. For example, if you use the Expiration Date variable for a permanent license, the variable will be left blank in the email that is sent.