Email Notifications

Stakeholders are interested in the progress of samples as they move through a workflow. E-mail alerts of events can provide them with real-time notifications.

Some possible uses of notifications include the following:

• Completion of a workflow for billing department

• Manager review requests

• Notice of new files added via the Collaborations Lablink Interface

• Updates on samples that are not following a standard path through a workflow

Clarity LIMS provides a simple way of accomplishing this using a combination of the Clarity LIMS API, EPP / automation triggers, and Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP).

Solution

The send_email() method uses the Python smptlib module to create a Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMPT) object to build and send the email. The attached script does the following:

1. Gathers relevant data from the Clarity LIMS API endpoints.

2. Generates an email body according to a template.

3. Calls the send_email() function.

Mail Server Configuration

Connect to Clarity SMTP with:

• host='localhost', port=25

Because of server restrictions, the script can send emails from only:

• [e-mail]

Automation Parameters

The automation / EPP command is configured to pass the following parameters:

-u	The username of the current user (Required)
-p	The password of the current user (Required)
-s	The URI of the step that launches the script (Required)

Example command line:

python /opt/gls/clarity/customextensions/emails_from_Clarity.py -u {username} -p {password} -s {stepURI}

User Interaction

• The script can be executed using a Clarity LIMS automation / EPP command, and trigged by one of the following methods:

  • Manually, via a button on the Record Details screen.

  • Automatically, at a step milestone (on entry to or exit from a screen).

• The script can also be triggered outside of a Clarity LIMS workflow, using a time-based job scheduler such as cron.

Assumptions and Notes

• You are running a version of Python that is supported by Clarity LIMS, as documented in the Clarity LIMS Technical Requirements.

• The example code is provided for illustrative purposes only. It does not contain sufficient exception handling for use 'as is' in a production environment.

Attachments

emails_from_clarity.py:

4KB

emails_from_clarity.py

emails_attachmentPOC.py:

18KB

emails_attachmentPOC.py