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Author: Gary Sherman

Chief Technology Officer, Vice President of Products

Gary Sherman
Gary Sherman
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RuleManager version 1.1 released

July 9, 2007 Dovetail RuleManager 1.1 is now officially available. My previous post has details of what's new in this release. RuleManager Documentation is available online. To obtain this release, create a request using Dovetail SelfService, or send us an email.

Upcoming product release: Dovetail RuleManager 1.1

July 5, 2007 We're currently working on version 1.1 of RuleManager. This version was fueled by customer requests, and should be available very soon.   Here's what's coming in version 1.1: RuleManager can now include attachments for emails initiated via a LogEmail action, which are typically made from within fcClient or the Clarify Client. The application taking that action, such as fcClient or the Clarify Client, is responsible for relating the LogEmail (table_email_log) to the attachment(s) (table_doc_inst). Because RuleManager will only attach files that it has access to, we recommend that the path to the attachment is a UNC path such as "\serverpathfile.ext". If RuleManager cannot access an attachment, the email will still be sent without the attachment. RuleManager will log an error when this situation occurs.The working directory of RuleManager is now the directory where RuleManager is installed. This is relevant when…

Having RuleManager invoke command line scripts

June 26, 2007 I've received a few questions on this recently, so I decided a post is in order.   One of the features in Rulemanager (both the Clarify/Amdocs Rulemanager and the Dovetail Rulemanager) is the ability to have it invoke command line scripts/executables via a business rule action.   For example:   if a case has been in a status of "waiting on customer" for more than 30 days, run a script that will close the case when a new contact is created, run a script that will send the contact data to another system (such as an ERP system) when a case is closed, run a script that will send the customer a satisfaction survey etc.   What kind of scripts can Rulemanager run? Basically, any kind of script or executable, as long as no UI activity or user input is needed.  …

less-code-but-miles-of-tangled-executable-XML-and-designer-puke

June 25, 2007 Chad finally breaks his 2007 blogging silence with Software is hard, handle with care. He mimics my earlier sentiments: just is a dirty word I love this line: In fact, I seem to be writing more code, but it's much BETTER and REUSABLE code and I've found that BETTER and REUSABLE are infinitely more valuable than less-code-but-miles-of-tangled-executable-XML-and-designer-puke. Cool post Chad; would love to see you post more!

Who's the concierge at your company?

June 19, 2007 The Customers Rock! blog points us to Chad, the web concierge at Element Fusion (formerly www.speaklight.com/your-web-concierge).  From the Customers Rock! blog: Chad’s job as concierge is to hand-hold the customers as they take their first steps with Light and make the who experience quick and easy.  He gives out his direct line or clients can email him directly as well in order to contact him with questions about the first 2-3 sites they bring on board.  What I found the most interesting about Chad (who is a real person, by the way - that’s his picture up above!) is that he is a high-level director of IT at the company, not a low-level employee.  Being a true concierge, as in a hotel, is a part of Chad’s job.  Tim explained to me that they felt it was important to show the…

Should log_notes update the last modified timestamp on the case?

June 13, 2007 On most workflow objects in Clarify, such as case, subcase, etc. there is a column which indicates the last modified date.  For example, on table_case, there is a modify_stmp column. In older versions of Clarify (including up to version 11.5), if you perform a log action (such as log notes), that timestamp is not updated. In later versions (such as 12.5), that timestamp is updated. The high level APIs in our fcSDK (such as log_case_note, log_case_phone, log_subcase_note, etc.) mimic the Clarify functionality. But, because they've been around so long, they mimic "older" versions of Clarify. So, our log* APIs do not update the last modified timestamp on a case. So, the question is: should our log APIs update the last modified timestamp? I could, but I would prefer not to, add version conditional logic, such as this: if (CLARIFY_SCHEMA_VER >= 59){…

Using the Tab control in Dovetail web applications (such as fcClient and fcAdmin)

June 12, 2007 We use a client-side JavaScript object for creating tabs in our web applications. Unlike in the Clarify Classic Client, tabs in our web apps are the same page as the parent. When you click on a tab, you are actually displaying the HTML elements on that tab, and hiding the HTML elements on the other unselected tabs. It's all a bunch of Dynamic HTML (DHTML) goodness.  It's trivial to make tabs visible/invisible, reorder tabs, resize, etc. The case page in fcClient is a good example of the use of tabs:   Here we will walk through the steps needed for creating and using tabs within a page. In your ASP page, Include the javascript code for building a tab <script language="javascript" src="../code/tab_builder.js"></script> In your ASP page, Include the stylesheet <link rel="stylesheet" href="../stylesheets/webagent.css" type="text/css"> Create an array of tabs var ArrayOfTabs= new Array(); Add…

Using the Tab control in Dovetail web applications (such as fcClient and fcAdmin)

We use a client-side JavaScript object for creating tabs in our web applications. Unlike in the Clarify Classic Client, tabs in our web apps are the same page as the parent. When you click on a tab, you are actually displaying the HTML elements on that tab, and hiding the HTML elements on the other unselected tabs. It's all a bunch of Dynamic HTML (DHTML) goodness.  It's trivial to make tabs visible/invisible, reorder tabs, resize, etc.   The case page in fcClient is a good example of the use of tabs:       Here we will walk through the steps needed for creating and using tabs within a page. In your ASP page, Include the javascript code for building a tab <script language="javascript" src="../code/tab_builder.js"></script>   In your ASP page, Include the stylesheet <link rel="stylesheet" href="../stylesheets/webagent.css" type="text/css">   Create an array of tabs…

Four Letter Words in Software Development

May 31, 2007 37signals warns about four letter words. We've run into this here in our development in the past. "We can just do ..." This tends to result in redesign later on down the road. I'm guilty of it myself at times. Once you acknowledge it, recognizing when it happens becomes easier.