Why do customer emails truncate?

[Mike Hughes]

I've tried sending that text via Actinic V6, V8 (8.5.3) & V9 but can't recreate the problem. All the emails came through OK.

Does the problem show up using just that text?

It might be a problem with your host's email handling. I tested on a 1and1 account.

Mike

[george]

Hmmm... I guess this line is responsible for the whole lot:

<actinic:variable name="OrderLines"/>

Aye, but you'd think it'd be all or nothing, well maybe not nothing, more a mess instead of just a missed bit?

[george]

I'll send the same email outwith Actinic.


Update. CnP'd the email and sent from the same hosting people to myself and came through fine.

Sent exactly the same email via Actinic and it came through with three lines instead of 22.

So. What happens to the email between being activated from Actinic and actually hitting the interweb delivery wires?

Just to confirm it looks as it should when previewed in Actinic, once its actually sent it gets squashed.

[leehack]

I'd guess that the programming that is involved in the process somehow truncates the contents when it encounters a certain character. I'd have thought there would be an exceptions rule or list of acceptable characters that has maybe been amended incorrectly or is not as up to date as it should be.

Some changes were made to email in the last release IIRC, maybe there's a knock on effect as i'd have thought this would have surfaced if been around for some time.

[george]

I should experiment with some older orders now, see if the results are the same.

[george]

I have to prove this for definate, but I think it corrupts when ( and ) are used more than three times in an order.

[Mike Hughes]

Hi george,

This looks like the same problem that came up here http://community.actinic.com/showthread.php?t=35118

The fix appears to work for brackets.

edit Actinic.pm and
search and replace...

$value =~ s/(.*?)(\()(.{0,$::eRBDataLimit})(.*)(\))(.*)/$1$2$3$5$6/is;
$value =~ s/(.*?)(\<)(.{0,$::eABDataLimit})(.*)(\>)(.*)/$1$2$3$5$6/is;

with...

if ($key !~ /TEXTDATA/i)
{
$value =~ s/(.*?)(\()(.{0,$::eRBDataLimit})(.*)(\))(.*)/$1$2$3$5$6/is;
$value =~ s/(.*?)(\<)(.{0,$::eABDataLimit})(.*)(\>)(.*)/$1$2$3$5$6/is;
}

Mike

PS. It was mostly 8.5.2 at the time. Are you still on that or 8.5.3?

[george]

I've spent ages looking into this now.

The bottom line is Actinic does NOT like ( or ) in product descriptions. FACT.

We use them a LOT as it happens. When you have an order with any number of lines (and no brackets in the product description) theres no problem with the emails.... you have an order with one line with a pair of brackets in it then it seems (so far) to be able to handle it okay.... add products which have two sets of brackets or more within the products and it gets truncated, every time.

Not good.

Can someone test this in v9? Might be worth telling people to watch out for it anyway?

Hmmm. Theres nothing that does the job that brackets do either. fiddlesticks.

[Mike Hughes]

Coughs. Nods upwards.

Mike

[george]

PS. It was mostly 8.5.2 at the time. Are you still on that or 8.5.3?

8.5.2. Cheers muchly Mike, I searched and trawled through the forum over the last year or sos posts and couldnt find that.

I'll try that shortly and report back.

[george]

The bit just above that line in Actinic pm is...

"Restrict the length of data between () and <> brackets"


Errr, great idea programmer bloke.

*rolls eyes*


Cheers again Michael, and everyone else for adding bits.

[george]

Dosent seem to cure outstanding current or completed orders but I'll report a bit later if its fixed or not.

Unless I need a refresh? *sighs and grows (much) older by the second*

[acompton]

Dosent seem to cure outstanding current or completed orders but I'll report a bit later if its fixed or not.

Unless I need a refresh? *sighs and grows (much) older by the second*

Yes, you'll need a refresh. That script is used on the website to generate the emails.

[Mike Hughes]

It might need a refresh.

The edit is to the .pm file and actinic uses that to create the .pl file before uploading.

Actinic might not be checking the .pm files for changes. I can't remember anymore.

Mike

[george]

Aye Al, its chugging along as I type.


*sighs some more*


Any incoming sales calls will be met with increasing thunder.