How to send dynamic data in an email with Mendix

How to send dynamic data in an email with Mendix

Tables and lists

A requirement I’ve faced in the past is sending emails that contain dynamic data. By dynamic data, I mean calculated data from the database that can be displayed as a list or table.

One very well-known method is to create a little algorithm that would generate the HTML structure & styling of that dynamic data display.

Of course, with any implementation, there are some advantages and also some disadvantages. The main issue for me was with the maintainability of the solution. Often, it’s difficult to customize or extend the functionality since we have to work with string manipulation.

How I solved this

For my solution, I used the Document Template from Mendix. First, we create the document template, and we add our own structure & styling.

Based on the following simple domain model

We create a new document template.

Then, in the microflow we use to send the email, we have the following

Breaking down the microflow

First, the microflow retrieves the data before creating a new File document. After that, it generates an HTML document using a Java action from Community Commons and returns the resulting HTML as a string.

The generate document activity looks as follows:

And the Java action used to convert the file document to a string data type is named “String from file” and it’s implemented in the Community Commons module.

Now, the result is put in the email helper object’s TokenExample attribute, and then the email is sent.

Email Configuration settings

Of course, in the email configuration settings, we have a template with the following content

And the following placeholders

The result

After testing the message and inspecting the details generated, the end result looks like this:

Read more

[embed]Document Templates (Deprecated) The use of Document Templates and the Generate Document microflow action is deprecated and will be removed in a future…docs.mendix.com

[embed]Email Connector Describes the configuration and usage of the Email Connector module, which is available in the Mendix Marketplace.docs.mendix.com

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