Sending email from AOS server - axapta

I am trying to have an email being sent based on some events triggered by users in their client. I do not want the email being sent from the client (as this would require us to allow virtually every workstation in the domain to use the SMTP service) but rather from the AOS server.
I thought of creating a class that would extend RunBaseBatch and use SysMailer in it.
Here's what I have so far.
class Batch_Mailer extends RunBaseBatch
{
str subject;
str body;
str fromName;
str fromAddress;
str toAddress;
str smtpServer;
void new(str _subject, str _body, str _fromName, str _fromAddress, str _toAddress)
{
subject = _subject;
body = _body;
fromName = _fromName;
fromAddress = _fromAddress;
toAddress = _toAddress;
smtpServer = 'mail.domain.ca';
super();
}
public boolean canGoBatchJournal()
{
return true;
}
public void run()
{
SysMailer mail;
;
super();
try
{
mail = new SysMailer();
mail.fromAddress(fromAddress, fromName);
mail.SMTPRelayServer(smtpServer);
mail.tos().appendAddress(toAddress);
mail.htmlBody(strfmt(body));
mail.subject(subject);
mail.sendMail();
}
catch
{
//Log something maybe, but nice if the infolog would not pop up...
}
}
}
Here's how I use it:
Batch_Mailer mail;
mail = new Batch_Mailer("Subject.", strfmt("#VDX488", vendTable.AccountNum, curUserId()), "AX Alerts",
"AXAlerts#domain.ca", "test.mailbox#domain.ca"
Unfortunately, this seems to run in the client. If I run the code on the dev box VM that has the AOS server on (which can use the SMTP service) the email fires, but not if I run it in the client on my physical box (which is not allowed to use the SMTP service).
I thought extending RunBaseBatch and overriding run would do it, but apparently not. Any ideas ?
I'm also wondering if this approach will fail since I don't think most users can run batches using their accounts... Perhaps I'll have to use impersonation?
Thanks!

Extending RunBaseBatch doesn't imply that it is always executed on the server tier - where the code is actually executed depends on where the object lives.
Therefore you could ensure that the code is always executed on the server tier by ensuring that such objects are always created there. To accomplish this just create a server static method which you use to create new instances of your class.
Example:
public static server Batch_Mailer newOnServer(
str _subject,
str _body,
str _fromName,
str _fromAddress,
str _toAddress)
{
;
return new Batch_Mailer(_subject, _body, _fromName, _fromAddress, _toAddress);
}
After that you just have to call this static method instead of directly using new:
mail = Batch_Mailer::newOnServer("Subject.", strfmt("#VDX488" ...
mail.run();

DAXaholic's answer is spot on answer to your question, but perhaps you should consider using the built-in AX framework for sending emails instead of coding up your own method. I'd imagine you will have less problems down the road and an easier upgrade path to 2012+.
See my blog post:
http://alexondax.blogspot.com/2013/09/how-to-properly-send-emails-with-built.html

Related

App Service to EntityFramework using MSI

I'm trying to retrofit MSI to an existing app.
The original app's DbContext used only a Constructor that found a ConnectionString by the same name in the web.config.
I've modified it to use a DbConnectionFactory to inject an AccessToken.
public class AppCoreDbContext : DbContext {
public AppCoreDbContext() : this("AppCoreDbContext")
{
}
public AppCoreDbContext(string connectionStringOrName) : base( OpenDbConnectionBuilder.Create(connectionStringOrName).Result, true)
{
}
...etc...
}
The class that it is invoking looks like:
public static class OpenDbConnectionBuilder
{
public static async Task<DbConnection> CreateAsync(string connectionStringName)
{
var connectionStringSettings = ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings[connectionStringName];
var dbConnection = DbProviderFactories
.GetFactory(connectionStringSettings.ProviderName)
.CreateConnection();
dbConnection.ConnectionString = connectionStringSettings.ConnectionString;
await AttachAccessTokenToDbConnection(dbConnection);
// Think DbContext will open it when first used.
//await dbConnection.OpenAsync();
return dbConnection;
}
static async Task AttachAccessTokenToDbConnection(IDbConnection dbConnection)
{
SqlConnection sqlConnection = dbConnection as SqlConnection;
if (sqlConnection == null)
{
return;
}
string msiEndpoint = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("MSI_ENDPOINT");
if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(msiEndpoint))
{
return;
}
var msiSecret = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("MSI_SECRET");
if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(msiSecret))
{
return;
}
string accessToken = await AppCoreDbContextMSITokenFactory.GetAzureSqlResourceTokenAsync();
sqlConnection.AccessToken = accessToken;
}
}
Which invokes
// Refer to: https://winterdom.com/2017/10/19/azure-sql-auth-with-msi
public static class AppCoreDbContextMSITokenFactory
{
private const String azureSqlResource = "https://database.windows.net/";
public static async Task<String> GetAzureSqlResourceTokenAsync()
{
var provider = new AzureServiceTokenProvider();
var result = await provider.GetAccessTokenAsync(azureSqlResource);
return result;
}
}
The result of the above is that when tracking it with a debugger, it gets to
var result = await provider.GetAccessTokenAsync(azureSqlResource);
then hangs for ever.
Note: I'm working on a personal machine, not joined to the organisation domain -- but my personal MSA has been invited to the organisation's domain.
Admittedly, I've taken a hiatus from development for a couple of years, and the hang is probably due to having made a mistake around await (always been rough on understanding that implicitly)... but while trying to figure that out, and the documentation is pretty sparse, would appreciate feedback as to whether the above was the intended approach for using MSI.
I'm wondering:
When deploying to Azure, we can tell the ARM to create the Identity -- when developing, how do we tell the local machine to use MSI?
If on the dev machine the connection string is to a local db, and I create and add the token anyway, will it ignore it, or raise an exception.
This is a bit beyond the scope of discussing MSI, but I've never before created a dbConnection to use within a DbContext. Does anyone know the pros/cons of the DbContext 'owning' the connection? I'm assuming that it would be wiser to own & close the connection when the dbcontext is closed.
Basically...this is all new, so would appreciate any advice on getting this working -- the concept of being able to deploy without secrets would be awesome and would really like to get this demo working.
Thanks very much!
Hello user9314395: Managed Service Identity only works with resources running on Azure. While we don't support the local development scenario, you might consider looking into using the following (preview) library: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/key-vault/service-to-service-authentication

SignalR client specific with angularjs

So I am fairly new with signalR and had worked with it a bit with MVCs. Now I am using it in webapi with angularjs and am a bit confused or have forgotten of what I have done. I am using bearer tokens with webapi and am trying to create a notification system.
What I want to figure out is the proper way of using angularjs with signalR. I see many people use the proxy on/invoke. Is the proxy.on is when I call the hubcontext from the server as so:
IHubContext hubContext = GlobalHost.ConnectionManager.GetHubContext<NotificationHub>();
hubContext.Clients.User(UserId).broadcastNotification("Good morning! The time is " + DateTime.Now.ToString());
and the proxy.invoke method is from the client side? If so, which would be the best way for using notification systems (I would assume the proxy.on)?
My second question is more on sending notifications to specific users. For sending requests to specific users, I would assume you would want to do this on the hub as so:
public void SendNotification(string userId)
{
Clients.User(userId).broadcastNotification("Good morning! The time is " + DateTime.Now.ToString());
}
My startup is something like this:
public class MyProvider : IUserIdProvider
{
public string GetUserId(IRequest request)
{
var userId = request.User.Identity.Name;
return userId.ToString();
}
}
public void Configuration(IAppBuilder app)
{
HttpConfiguration config = new HttpConfiguration();
ConfigureOAuth(app);
WebApiConfig.Register(config);
app.UseCors(Microsoft.Owin.Cors.CorsOptions.AllowAll);
app.UseWebApi(config);
Database.SetInitializer(new MigrateDatabaseToLatestVersion<AuthContext, Travelfy.API.Migrations.Configuration>());
GlobalHost.DependencyResolver.Register(typeof(IUserIdProvider), () => new MyProvider());
app.MapSignalR("/hubs", new HubConfiguration());
}
When I refresh my pages, I notice that all my userids are all empty strings "". I was reading that maybe it was due to using bearer tokens. If so, how would I use bearer tokens to specific the userId that I would want to send to? When I use the Clients.All everything works fine, so I'm assuming it has to be something with the startup/userIds I am getting.
Thanks
To answer your first question:
Which would be the best way for using notification systems
If you want to push notifications from the server towards the client, you have to define a new handler is to define a method on the client (with the generated proxy) like this:
How to define methods on the client that the server can call
If you want the client to call a method that lies on the server, you have to use this method:
How to call server methods from the client
To answer your second question:
For sending requests to specific users, I would assume you would want
to do this on the hub
You could use the connection ID of the client you wish to target. See this:
Calling client methods
So after a while, I was able to figure out the right answer. Because I was using bearerTokens, I really had to determine another method of obtaining the userId rather than just relying on request.User.Identity.Name. What I needed to do was pass my bearerToken to the connection.qs value.
connection.qs = { Bearer: token };
Once I was able to do that I had to route the find my user based on the token that I had sent in.
var token = request.QueryString.Get("Bearer");
var authenticationTicket = Startup.OAuthBearerOptions.AccessTokenFormat.Unprotect(token);

Some questions concerning the combination of ADO.NET, Dapper QueryAsync and Glimpse.ADO

I have been experimenting with a lightweight solution for handling my business logic. It consists of a vanilla ADO.NET connection that is extended with Dapper, and monitored by Glimpse.ADO. The use case for this setup will be a web application that has to process a handful of queries asynchronously per request. Below a simple implementation of my setup in an MVC controller.
public class CatsAndDogsController : Controller
{
public async Task<ActionResult> Index()
{
var fetchCatsTask = FetchCats(42);
var fetchDogsTask = FetchDogs(true);
await Task.WhenAll(fetchCatsTask, fetchDogsTask);
ViewBag.Cats = fetchCatsTask.Result;
ViewBag.Dogs = fetchDogsTask.Result;
return View();
}
public async Task<IEnumerable<Cat>> FetchCats(int breedId)
{
IEnumerable<Cat> result = null;
using (var connection = CreateAdoConnection())
{
await connection.OpenAsync();
result = await connection.QueryAsync<Cat>("SELECT * FROM Cat WHERE BreedId = #bid;", new { bid = breedId });
connection.Close();
}
return result;
}
public async Task<IEnumerable<Dog>> FetchDogs(bool isMale)
{
IEnumerable<Dog> result = null;
using (var connection = CreateAdoConnection())
{
await connection.OpenAsync();
result = await connection.QueryAsync<Dog>("SELECT * FROM Dog WHERE IsMale = #im;", new { im = isMale });
connection.Close();
}
return result;
}
public System.Data.Common.DbConnection CreateAdoConnection()
{
var sqlClientProviderFactory = System.Data.Common.DbProviderFactories.GetFactory("System.Data.SqlClient");
var dbConnection = sqlClientProviderFactory.CreateConnection();
dbConnection.ConnectionString = "SomeConnectionStringToAwesomeData";
return dbConnection;
}
}
I have some questions concerning the creation of the connection in the CreateAdoConnection() method. I assume the following is happening behind the scenes.
The call to sqlClientProviderFactory.CreateConnection() returns an instance of System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection passed as a System.Data.Common.DbConnection. At this point Glimpse.ADO.AlternateType.GlimpseDbProviderFactory kicks in and wraps this connection in an instance of Glimpse.Ado.AlternateType.GlimpseDbConnection, which is also passed as a System.Data.Common.DbConnection. Finally, this connection is indirectly extended by the Dapper library with its query methods, among them the QueryAsync<>() method used to fetch the cats and dogs.
The questions:
Is the above assumption correct?
If I use Dapper's async methods with this connection - or create a System.Data.Common.DbCommand with this connection's CreateCommand() method, and use it's async methods - will those calls internally always end up using the vanilla async implementations of these methods as Microsoft has written them for System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection and System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand? And not some other implementations of these methods that are actually blocking?
How much perf do I lose with this setup compared to just returning a new System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection directly? (So, without the Glimpse.ADO wrapper)
Any suggestions on improving this setup?
Yes pretty much. GlimpseDbProviderFactory wraps/decorates/proxies all the registered factories. We then pass any calls we get through to the factory we wrap (in this case SQL Server). In the case of CreateConnection() we ask the inner factory we have, to create a connection, when we get that connection, we wrap it and then return it to the originating caller
Yes. Glimpse doesn't turn what was an async request into a blocking request. We persevere the async chain all the way though. If you are interested, the code in question is here.
Very little. In essence, using a decorator pattern like this adds only one or two frames to the call stack. Compared to most operations performed during the request lifecycle, the time to observe whats happening here is extremely minimal.
What you have looks great. Only suggestion is to maybe us this code to build the factory. This code means that you can shift your connection string, etc to the web.config.

Static function of database in Asp .net

I have a class that gets tables from Sql Server. the class is static, but the variables are not. I want to know if it is OK in Asp net, because I had read not to use static at database in Asp net.
My Class: (There are more functions in the class, I put here one for example)
public static class DataBase
{
public static bool TableChange(string sqlCreate)
{
using (SqlConnection connection = new SqlConnection(Global.ConnectionString))
{
using (var cmd = new SqlCommand(sqlCreate, connection))
{
try
{
connection.Open();
cmd.ExecuteNonQuery();
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
Log.WriteLog(ex.Message + "\n" + sqlCreate, ex, HttpContext.Current.Request);
return false;
}
}
}
return true;
}
}
Thanks in advance
What you have read is most probably something to do with this approach:
public static EntityContext Database = new EntityContext();
// or
public static SqlConnection Database = new SqlConnection("...");
Here you store the database connection in a static variable and thus all parallel requests would want to use the same connection which is a very bad approach if it even works at all (it will probably work sort of fine until the page is under load).
You do not have this problem, because in your case only the methods are static, not the variables. Your code follows the recommended path - open connection (retrieve it from the pool), execute query, close the connection (return it to the pool).

Writing my own Provider Class in ASP.NET

Note: I DON't want to write custom membership provider.
I want to write my own Provider class so I can define it in web.config and access it like Membership class.
Here is a sample of my class (it has many other static methods):
public static class MySqlHelper
{
private static string constring = ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["MyConnString"].ConnectionString;
public static int ExecuteNonQuery(string mysqlquery)
{
SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection(connString);
SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand(mysqlquery, conn);
int result;
try
{
conn.Open();
result= cmd.ExecuteNonQuery();
}
finally
{
conn.Close();
}
return result;
}
}
Usage: MySqlHelper.ExecuteNonQuery("select * from customers");
Now as you see I have hard-coded the name of connectionstring i.e. "MyConnString". I am planning to make it dynamic.
So I was wondering if I can make it like static built-in Membership class, where I can define the connectionStringName in web.config. This way the class can be made re-usable without always naming my connectionstring in web.config to "MyConnString".
1: I DON'T want to pass connectionstring in every static method as a parameter.
2: I must be able to access the methods similar to Membership.CreateUser i.e. static.
I am looking over the web in parallel but any inputs/guidance will help.
Edited: I have updated my code sample, to clear some confusion about issues using static class. Here is a new question I posted to clarify that. Sorry about confusion.
the only thing i can think of that meets the qualifications you laid out is to use dependency injection, a static constructor, and inject in an something like an IConnectionStringProvider. this seems like about the most convoluted thing i can think of, so you might like it. :)
edit
after reading your comment, it seems like you just want to be able to reference any connection string, but only one connection string per application. i'd say just add an element to appSettings named MySqlProviderConnection with the value being the name of the connection string you want to use.
then in your helper, check for the existence of the appsetting, get its value, and pass it in to your ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings call. that way your provider could use any connection you want, without changing any code.
I typically discourage sharing one SqlConnection instance across several requests. Even if you enable MARS, you can run into performance issues. I think when your connection receives a non-read command, the connection buffer will pause all current reads until the write finishes. The only thing you're really saving is the time it takes to establish a connection.
SqlConnections are pooled so you can configure the provider to have a min / max number of instances available to soliciting clients. Keep in mind this is also controlled by whatever database you're connecting to; assuming you're connecting to a SQL Server instance, SQL Server has its own maximum connections allowed setting.
Instead of allowing clients to determine when to open/close a shared SqlConnection instance, I suggest having your public members take in either a command string or command parameters. Then, similar to what your sample has suggested, open a connection from the pool and execute the command.
public IEnumerable<SqlResults> ExecuteStoredProcedure(string procedure, params SqlParameter[] parameters) {
using(SqlConnection connection = new SqlConnection(MyConnectionStringProperty)) {
try {
connection.Open();
using(SqlCommand command = new SqlCommand(procedure, connection)) {
command.CommandType = CommandType.StoredProcedure;
if(parameters != null) {
command.Parameters.AddRange(parameters);
}
// yield return to handle whatever results from proc execution
// can also consider expanding to support reader.NextResult()
using(SqlDataReader reader = command.ExecuteReader()) {
yield return new SqlResults {
Reader = reader;
};
}
}
}
finally {
if(connection.State != ConnectionState.Closed) {
connection.Close();
}
}
}
}
The sample code above is just that - a sample of a concept I use at work. The sample does now have maximized error handling but is very flexible in how results are returned and handled. The SqlResults class simply contains a SqlDataReader property and can be expanded to include errors.
As far as making any of this static, it should be fine as long as you enable a way to make a singleton instance of the provider class and continue to not have any mutable properties be shared (potentially across various requests/threads). You may want to consider some sort of IoC or Dependency Injection approach for providing the connection string given your request.
EDIT
Yield allows the caller to use the returned object before the execution context returns to the method yielding the return for continued execution. So in the sample above, a caller can do something like this:
// Since it's an IEnumerable we can handle multiple result sets
foreach(SqlResults results in MySqlHelper.ExecuteStoredProcedure(myProcedureName, new SqlParameter("myParamName", myParamValue)) {
// handle results
}
without the connection closing while we handle the results. If you notice in the sample, we have using statements for our SqlClient objects. This approach allows result set handling to be decoupled from MySqlHelper as the provider class will take care of the would-be-duplicate SQL provision code, delegate result handling to the caller, then continue with what it has to do (i.e. close the connection).
As for IoC/DI, I personally use Castle Windsor. You can inject dependency objects as properties or construction parameters. Registering an Inversion of Control container as your dependency resource manager will allow you to (among other things) return the same object when a type of resource is requested. Basically, for every caller class that needs to use MySqlHelper, you can inject the same instance when the caller class is instantiated or when the caller class references its public MySqlHelper property. I, personally, prefer constructor injection whenever possible. Also, when I say inject, I mean you don't have to worry about setting the property value as your IoC/DI does it for you (if configured properly). See here for a more in depth explanation.
As another note, the IoC/DI approach would really only come into play if your class is non-static such that each application can have its own singleton instance. If MySqlHelper is static, then you could only support one connection string unless you pass it in, which in your original question, you'd prefer not to do so. IoC/DI will allow you to use your MySqlHelper property member as if it were static though since the registered container would ensure that the property has a proper instance.
Here is the complete code of a SqlHelper that I'd used on some small projects.
But carefull with static for this kind of class. If you will use it for Web project, remember that the connection will be shared at the same instance for all users, which can cause bad problems...
using System.Data;
using System.Data.SqlClient;
using System.Web.Configuration;
public class SqlHelper
{
private SqlConnection connection;
public SqlHelper()
{
connection = new SqlConnection();
}
public void OpenConnection()
{
// Updated code getting the ConnectionString without hard naming it.
// Yes, if you have more than 1 you'll have problems... But, how many times it happens?
if (WebConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings.Length == 0)
throw new ArgumentNullException("You need to configure the ConnectionString on your Web.config.");
else
{
connection.ConnectionString = WebConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings[0].ConnectionString;
connection.Open();
}
}
public void CloseConnection()
{
if (connection != null && connection.State != ConnectionState.Closed)
connection.Close();
}
public DataTable ExecuteToDataTable(string sql)
{
DataTable data;
SqlCommand command = null;
SqlDataAdapter adapter = null;
try
{
if (connection.State != ConnectionState.Open)
OpenConnection();
command = new SqlCommand(sql, connection);
adapter = new SqlDataAdapter(command);
retorno = new DataTable();
adapter.Fill(data);
}
finally
{
if (command != null)
command.Dispose();
if (adapter != null)
adapter.Dispose();
CloseConnection();
}
return data;
}
public int ExecuteNonQuery(string sql)
{
SqlCommand command = null;
try
{
if (connection.State != ConnectionState.Open)
OpenConnection();
command = new SqlCommand(sql, connection);
return command.ExecuteNonQuery();
}
finally
{
if (command != null)
command.Dispose();
CloseConnection();
}
}
public object ExecuteScalar(string sql)
{
SqlCommand command = null;
try
{
if (connection.State != ConnectionState.Open)
OpenConnection();
command = new SqlCommand(sql, connection);
return command.ExecuteScalar();
}
finally
{
if (command != null)
command.Dispose();
CloseConnection();
}
}
}
Sample usage:
SqlHelper sql = new SqlHelper();
DataTable data = sql.ExecuteToDataTable("SELECT * FROM Customers");
int affected = sql.ExecuteNonQuery("INSERT Customers VALUES ('Test')");
But if you really want static (if you is on a single user enviroment), just put static on all methods.

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