CLI - Reminder

Overview

CLI - Reminder allows an administrator to specify user note categories as reminder triggers. Multiple configurations can be active on a single note category.

Installation

1. Download CLI - Reminder from the RicheyWeb download page.
   • This page will remain unlinked, as the link may change in the future. Visit http://www.richeyweb.com and use the search feature - search for "CLI - Reminder".
2. In Joomla /administrator, go to the "Extensions" menu, the "Manage" sub-menu, and the "Install" sub-menu.
3. Select the "Upload Package File" tab
4. Press the "Choose File" button to browse your system and locate the plugin file you downloaded
5. Press the "Upload & Install" button

At this point, the extension is installed but not enabled. You can find the plugin by going to the Extensions menu and selecting "Plugins". When in the plugin manager, search for "CLI - Reminder".

Configuration

CRON Job

The first configuration to concern yourself with is the CRON job. In Linux, this is known as CRON, in Windows environments - these are known as "Scheduled Commands". I'll leave it to you to learn how to execute CRON/Scheduled Tasks in your environment. The important part of this configuration is the command itself. There are 2 parts:

1. Location of the PHP binary/executable.
2. Location of the "cli" directory in your Joomla installation.

If the PHP executable in your environment is "/usr/bin/php" and the location of the "cli" directory in your Joomla installation is "/home/website/public_html/cli", then the command to execute is:

/usr/bin/php /home/website/public_html/cli/reminder.php

The only configuration to your CRON job that is mandatory is that it repeat every night at midnight (or early in the morning). This configuration ensures that the reminders are sent as early as possible on the date they're designated to be delivered. You may wish to make additional configurations to capture the output of the reminder script into a log file, and again - I'll leave it to you to learn how to do that in your environment.

Owner Reminder Category

Any category you choose will cause the owner of the note (the user account for the note) to be a recipient of the reminder on the "Review Date". This field can remain empty. It is not required that you select anything for this field.

Self Reminder Category

Any category you choose will cause the creator of the note to be a recipient of the reminder on the "Review Date". This field can remain empty. It is not required that you select anything for this field.

Assignments

Select a note category and a user to receive reminders for that category. You may create multiple recipient entries for a single category.

Subject Template

The outgoing reminder email subject can be customized using any of the replacement tags listed below. The default for this field is %subject% - which is a replacement tag for the note subject text.

Body Template

The outgoing reminder email body can be customized using any of the replacement tags listed below. The default for this field is %body% - which is a replacement tag for the note body text. This field accepts HTML, however, you should pay close attention to any images or other media you use in this HTML. Joomla inserts images using a relative path and omits the domain name. Be sure your media has a complete URL.

Recipient Tags

The following items may be inserted into the note body text to send email to additional recipients. While you may use as many of these tags as you wish, it is possible to trip spam filters by adding too many addresses. This is not a newsletter. use common sense.

• {to:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.}
• {cc:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.}
• {bcc:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.}

Replacement Tags

%id%

Numeric ID of this note, useful to search notes using the searchstring: id:1

%user_id%

Numeric ID of the user who this note references.

%name%

Name of the user who this note references.

%username%

Username of the user who this note references.

%category%

Category of this note.

%subject%

Subject of this note.

%body%

Body text of this note.

%created_user_id%

Numeric ID of the user who created this note.

%created_user_name%

Name of the user who created this note.

%created_time%

Date this note was created

%review_time%

Review date for this note (the date this reminder is sent)

HELP

If your messages are not being sent, try executing your CRON command manually (type it into a console) and see if there are any error messages. If you find some - please submit a trouble ticket or post to the forum.