Email Parsers
Email Parsing allows you to scan the contents of an email, or text-based
attachments of the email and
look for, and extract text according to "parsing" rules that you configure.
Extracted text can then be used to update different parts of the job (details,
priority, job type etc), update a job, run scripts, or even create a new client. You can create multiple parsers per Email Manager
profile. A parser is simply a set of text processing rules that you define to extract
text from a bigger block of text. Once a parser runs, any extracted text
can be transferred into a HelpMaster job, or stored in a variable for additional
parser processing.
Example parser
Suppose you get an email that includes an SQL Server version string that looks
like this:
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 (RTM) -
10.50.1600.1 (X64) Apr 2 2010 15:48:46 Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation
Enterprise Edition (64-bit) on Windows NT 6.1 <X64> (Build 7600: )
As part of the email processing, you want to extract the following 3 things
from it:
- The SQL Server version (Microsoft
SQL Server 2008 R2 (RTM) - 10.50.1600.1 (X64) Apr 2 2010 15:48:46
Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation Enterprise Edition (64-bit) on Windows
NT 6.1 <X64> (Build 7600: ) )
- The Windows version (Microsoft
SQL Server 2008 R2 (RTM) - 10.50.1600.1 (X64) Apr 2 2010 15:48:46 Copyright
(c) Microsoft Corporation Enterprise Edition (64-bit) on
Windows NT 6.1 <X64> (Build
7600: ) )
- The build number (Microsoft
SQL Server 2008 R2 (RTM) - 10.50.1600.1 (X64) Apr 2 2010 15:48:46 Copyright
(c) Microsoft Corporation Enterprise Edition (64-bit) on Windows NT 6.1
<X64> (Build 7600: ) )
To do this, you would create 3 parsers - each one targeting a specific area
of the original text.
Use
- From the Email Manage profile's Email Parsing step, click Add to create a new parser
item and then from the the Content Source tab, where you
wish to extract the text from. In this example it's the Email Body,
Content Source : The parser will scan whatever you select here. Refers to
one of the following source fields:
- Email body - Use when the text you are looking for is contained within
the body of the email
- Email subject - Use when the text you are looking for is contained
within the subject of the email
- Email Sender - Use when the text you are looking for is contained within
the senders email address of the email
- Email Attachment - Use when the text you are looking for is contained
within a text-only attachment of the email. See
Attachment parsing
- String Builder - Use when the text you are looking for is contained
within a custom-made string (text) that you have configured. See
String Builder Email Parser
- Script - Use to create advanced database/SQL scripting options. See
Script based Email Parser
- Variable - Use when you wish to run a parser over an
existing variable that was previously created
- On the "Email Parser Item" tab, define the parser details
(see below for an explanation of each setting),
Parser Name : A unique name that identifies this parser
Description : A short description of what the parser does
Destination : When the parser successfully extracts text from the
source, the destination will store the extracted text.
- Job Field
The extracted text will be inserted to the job
field that is specified in the Job Field drop-down box.
- Control set
The extracted text will be inserted into
the control set field that is specified from the Control Set drop-down
boxes.
- Action Field
The extracted text will be inserted to
the action field that is specified in the Action Field drop-down box.
Use this option when updating an existing job from an email.
- Variable (Name = Parser name)
The extracted text will be stored
in a variable. The variable name is the same name as the parser name.
Once a value has been stored in a variable, it can then be used as the
Source for another parser. This may be useful for advanced text
processing requirements as it allows you to break up text into smaller
units, which can then be re-parsed for further information.
- Client Field
The extracted text will be inserted to
the client field that is specified in the Client Field drop-down box.
Use this option when you wish to create a new client as part of the job
logging process.
- Note! If the
same destination field is selected for multiple parsers, the last parser to
be processed will overwrite all previous values. If you need to
preserve the individual values for each parser value, you will need to set
the destination for each parser to use the "Variable (Parser name)" option,
and then use the String Builder to build up your text values and set the
destination value from the String Builder.
Find Start : Define how to find the
start of the text you wish
to extract
- Use Search Text : Enter the exact text that will mark the beginning of the
text you wish to extract.
- Regular Expression Search : Enter a regular expression that will mark the
beginning of the text you wish to extract
- Beginning of Source : This option does not require you to enter anything.
Parsing will start at the very beginning of the text as specified in the source
option.
- Beginning of Line : This option does not require you to enter anything, and
relies on the options you specify in the "Find End" section. When the
parser finds the end-text as defined in the "Find End" section, the "Beginning
of line" option will extract all of the text from the beginning of the line that
the "Find end" parameters were found on.
Find End : Define how to find the
end of the text you wish to extract
- Use Search Text : Enter the exact text that will mark the end of the
text you wish to extract.
- Regular Expression Search : Enter a regular expression that will mark the
end of the text you wish to extract
- End of Source : This option does not require you to enter anything.
Parsing will end at the very end of the text as specified in the source
option.
- End of Line : This option does not require you to enter anything.
Parsing will end at the end of the line of the text as specified in the
source option.
- Test your email parser
with some sample text
Notes
Targetting the job summary, or job details will replace all of the information in these fields. Use with care.
See also
Attachment parsing
String Builder Email Parser
Script based Email Parser