Is there HTML coding list for writing emails?

[JennaSchnizlein]

Is there a list or training somewhere that lists the proper codes on how to do basic things when writing emails in HTML?

Someone had to tell me about &NewLine()&, but the information I have found on line about how to add bullet points, or bold text or hyperlinks, aren't working.  I have looked for 30 minutes through items in the University and on discussion boards.  Perhaps the key words I am using are not correct.

If this information is out there, could someone please point me in the right direction?

Thank you!

[NorahAlsudani]

I use this for writing emails, hope it helps: Word to HTML - Easy to use & Instant Conversions

[JennaSchnizlein]

Thanks Norah, 
I tried that and I found information online that I needed to change the " to &Chr(34)& for it to work, but is throwing an error. Other than just pasting the result, is there any other formatting that is required for it to work in Blue Prism?

[ewilson]

Hi @Jenna Schnizlein,

Are you referring to character encoding within HTML? If so, take a look at this page. It offers some basic direction about how to handle the typical special characters in HTML.

https://uplandsoftware.com/postup/resources/blog/bulletproof-your-email-with-character-encoded-html-symbols/

Cheers,
Eric​

[JennaSchnizlein]

Thanks Eric,
But not exactly.  I think this is close to what I need, but not sure how to incorporate it correctly into a Blue Prism calculation stage.  

For example, if I wanted to put in an email, something like:

I would like to make the following three points:

• Point A
• Point B
• Point C

I am having trouble how to write in the calc stage (a) how to bold specific text and (c) how to write in a bullet point; (I was able to copy and paste it in, but I have to think there is a better way).

Currently, I would have something similar to (assume that the asteriks is a copied bullet point):

"I would like to make  the following three points:"&NewLine()&
"*"&"   Point A"&NewLine()&
"*"&"   Point B"&NewLine()&"*"&"   Point C"&NewLine()&

Regular HTML code would allow me to accomplish this via the following commands:
I would like to make the following <strong>three</strong> points:<br />
<ul>
<li>Point A</li>
<li>Point B</li>
<li>Point C</li>
</ul>

But this isn't working for me in BP.  Could you point me in the right direction?

Thank you!

[JamesMcLintock]

Hi Jenna,

The best success we have found via doing the following:

• New Line Example with formatting and bold <p></p>:  <p class="MsoNormal" style="" align=""><span style=""><strong><span style="">Make this bold! </span></strong></p>
• Hyperlinks we would handle like this <a></a>: <a style="" href="https://community.blueprism.com/home">https://community.blueprism.com/home</a>
• Breaks are easiest with: <p><br></p>

You can do it with <li>:

• But we change formatting: <li class="MsoListParagraph" style=""><span style="">Lines of paragraph I want</span></li>

Hope this is helpful

James

[ewilson]

Ok, so you're really just trying to create an HTML payload that will ultimately be sent to and displayed in an email client that knows how to interpret HTML. Have you tried something like this as an example?

"I would like to make the following <b>three</b> points: <br/><ul><li>Point A</li><li>Point B</li><li>Point C</li></ul>"​

I don't think you need to add the newlines yourself as the email client should interpret the list as being spread over multiple lines due to it being defined as an HTML unordered list.

Cheers,
Eric

[MattPaisley]

Jenna,

My approach to automating Email is to create a Template that I create using an online HTML Editor.  Since HTML is text I can embed my own tags within the body and use a Replace() within a calculation stage.  For example:

<p><strong>Customer:&nbsp;</strong>CUSTOMER NAME GOES HERE</p>
<p><strong>Address: </strong>CUSTOMER ADDRESS GOES HERE</p>

Using a BP Calculation Stage, I can replace each tag with the appropriate data.  The only snag is when you may want to use images in your response.  You will need to make sure that the Image URL is accessible by the recipient of the email.

I hope this helps.

[JennaSchnizlein]

Thanks Eric, but is still isn't coming through correctly.  This is a snip of how the email looks like this when I put it in quotes, like you had it:
(Not sure if it's worth noting, but we are still on version 6.4; could that be part of the problem?)




I tried replacing the quotation marks (") with some note I found online about using Chr(34) and I am getting the following error message..

[ewilson]

Hi @Jenna Schnizlein,

I'm not sure if you tried posting a screenshot. If so, it didn't come through. 😞

So there are a few things to touch on here. First, you don't need to use the Chr(34) function unless you specifically want quotation marks included in the output text. In other words, if I wanted the text The man said "This is a test" to be output then I would set the equation to be:

"The man said " & Chr(34) & "This is a test" & Chr(34)​

​
Straight quotes in the equation builder simply tell Blue Prism that the following information should be treated as a text string so when we enter "This is a test." Blue Prism simply output This is a test. (no quotes). Hopefully that makes sense.

Circling back around to the HTML issue, I'm wondering if what you need to enter is a fully formed HTML document? If so, you might try changing the entry in the equation builder to something like this:

"<html><head/><body>I would like to make the following <b>three</b> points: <br/><ul><li>Point A</li><li>Point B</li><li>Point C</li></ul></body></html>"

What email client are you testing with?

Cheers,
Eric