[archived] Postmaster -- A simple email-on-post / newsletter manager

pfctdayelise · 2007-07-13 06:06:51

Hi,

I tried to use Postmaster, but it seems having <txp:title /> in the list’s subject line didn’t work. … (TXP v4.0.5)

Second it seems to me that if I want to use it, I have to manually deal with unsubscriptions. Is this true? If not, could someone please explain how unsubscribing works? I don’t know where the ‘Unsubscribe Url’ is supposed to come from. The ‘Postmanual’ is rather opaque about this.

If this is true, I will sadly go back to my original plan of using RSS2email and Mailman for a fully-fledged mailing list.

thanks,
Brianna

benbruce · 2007-07-13 21:46:21

Brianna,

Postmaster does handle unsubscriptions for you. There are two ways for users to unsubscribe:

You can add an unsubscribe option to your subscription form, as explained here.
You can send your mails with an unsubscribe link included, which will allow your subscribers to unsubscribe with a single click.

No. 2 requires a few steps to set up ( explained here and here ):

Create an article¹, and in that article, place the following tag (along with whatever else you like): <txp:bab_pm_unsubscribe />
Take the hard url to the article you just created² (the one that looks like this: http://www.example.com/index.php?id=123) and place it in the Unsubscribe Url field in your list’s Edit screen (see the tutorial for help)
In your list’s form, add the following tag: <txp:bab_pm_unsubscribeLink /> ( More on this tag )

This will create a link in your subscriber’s email, which will take them to the page you specified, and using the function you placed on the page with the <txp:bab_pm_unsubscribe /> tag, unsubscribe them from the list.

It’s a bit hard to describe, and you’re not nearly the first person who has asked about it, but it’s done this way because once you’ve got the hang of it, it’s very flexible.

Not sure why the <txp:title /> tag isn’t working in the subject line. It should.

¹ This can be an existing article, it could be a new article, it could be a “goodbye” article that you create, it could be a page with a poll asking why they are unsubscribing, it could be a sweet deal that you offer them, etc.

² There is a hack here that let’s you use a “clean” url, but as it makes no difference to your user at all, I recommend using the hard url as described.

Last edited by benbruce (2007-07-13 21:49:07)

pfctdayelise · 2007-07-14 08:27:01

benbruce wrote:

Brianna,

Postmaster does handle unsubscriptions for you. There are two ways for users to unsubscribe:

You can add an unsubscribe option to your subscription form, as explained here.

ok… but I don’t particularly want to get an email every time someone un/subscribes…?

I guess it’s not clear to me from the documentation that creating this form actually makes anything happen other than me receiving another email.

You can see my form here . Is it necessary to include a tick box for unsubscribing?

code:


<txp:zem_contact to="info@clntranslations.org" label="Subscribe to email updates" thanks="Thankyou, you have been subscribed to email updates.">
<txp:zem_contact_email name="zemSubscriberEmail" label="Your Email:" /><input type="hidden" name="zemSubscriberLists" value="news" >
<txp:zem_contact_submit label="Subscribe" /> </txp:zem_contact>

Unsubscribe
<txp:zem_contact to=“info@clntranslations.org” label=“Unsubscribe from email updates” thanks=“Thankyou, you have been unsubscribed from email updates.”>
<txp:zem_contact_email name=“zemSubscriberEmail” label=“Your Email:” />
<txp:zem_contact_checkbox name=“zemUnSubscribe” label=“Unsubscribe” required=“no” />
<txp:zem_contact_submit label=“Unsubscribe” />
</txp:zem_contact>

When users un/subscribe is there any confirmation email, to stop other people un/subscribing random addresses?

thanks,
Brianna

pfctdayelise · 2007-07-14 09:03:32

OK after a bit more playing…

I tried to unsubscribe one of my email addresses using the form I linked previously. I didn’t tick the “unsubscribe” check box and it produced this error:
tag_error <txp:zem_contact to=“info@clntranslations.org” label=“Unsubscribe from email updates” thanks=“Thankyou, you have been unsubscribed from email updates.”> -> Textpattern Warning: Duplicate entry ‘brianna.laugher@gmail.com’ for key 2
INSERT INTO bab_pm_subscribers values (‘’,’‘,‘brianna.laugher@gmail.com’,’‘,’‘,’‘,’‘,’‘,’‘,’‘,’‘,’‘,’‘,’‘,’‘,’‘,‘d7a37e9258fa79aac2edcf01da12cc9c’) on line 84

my reading of this is that it tried to in fact subscribe me again! so
1- shouldn’t it degrade more gracefully if someone who is already subscribed tries to susbcribe again? (maybe it does- my site is still in “Testing” production status)
2- can the “unsubscribe” tick box be made “implicitly ticked” somehow?

Also, in the Postmaster ‘Manage lists’ section, for the field ‘Unsubscribe Url’ I put this: http://www.clntranslations.org/subscribe

and in my email form I put Unsubscribe: <txp:bab_pm_unsubscribeLink />

But it mails out http://www.clntranslations.org/subscribe&uid=4e061347f77d66612d7f978f2eb56b5f which produces a 404.

Is the Unsubscribe Url only supposed to be used for ‘dynamic unsubscriptions’? In the email form should I just write the URL manually instead of putting <txp:bab_pm_unsubscribeLink />?

Also, for each post on my website, there are a few relevant files (PDFs). I use a custom field to list their file IDs, and then in the default form I have <txp:upm_article_file_list label="Relevant files" labeltag="h3" break="li" wraptag="ul" />

Obviously txp:bab_pm_data is not quite able to handle this. What I would really like to do is attach those files to the email. I don’t suppose that’s possible? :)
Assuming not, how can I use bab_pm_data to put links to those files?

thanks,
Brianna
(edited: added info about PDFs)

Last edited by pfctdayelise (2007-07-14 09:22:35)

benbruce · 2007-07-14 15:19:07

Brianna,

You don’t have to use the forms the way they’re printed in the Postmanual — you may customize them however you like. In fact, the default form does not include the unsubscription field, so use that if you don’t want to offer the option in your form — but then you should use the second method (link in the email) to give your users some way to get out easily.

Also, in the Postmaster ‘Manage lists’ section, for the field ‘Unsubscribe Url’ I put this: http://www.clntranslations.org/subscribe and in my email form I put Unsubscribe: <txp:bab_pm_unsubscribeLink />. But it mails out http://www.clntranslations.org/subscribe&uid=4e061347f77d66612d7f978f2eb56b5f which produces a 404. Is the Unsubscribe Url only supposed to be used for ‘dynamic unsubscriptions’? In the email form should I just write the URL manually instead of putting <txp:bab_pm_unsubscribeLink />?

You did everything right, but missed this part of my earlier post:

2) take the hard url to the article you just created (the one that looks like this: http://www.example.com/index.php?id=123) and place it in the Unsubscribe Url field in your list’s Edit screen (see the tutorial for help)

As I mentioned in my earlier post, there is a hack that allows you to use non-messy urls (as you tried to do), as explained here

Also, for each post on my website, there are a few relevant files (PDFs). I use a custom field to list their file IDs, and then in the default form I have <txp:upm_article_file_list label="Relevant files" labeltag="h3" break="li" wraptag="ul" />

I’m not sure about this tag, but it should work fine. How does it know which files to display links for?

Obviously txp:bab_pm_data is not quite able to handle this. What I would really like to do is attach those files to the email. I don’t suppose that’s possible? :) Assuming not, how can I use bab_pm_data to put links to those files?

You cannot attach files. But you could use something like this in your form (to display whatever is in your custom field): <txp:txp:bab_pm_data display="article_custom1" /> (More on this tag). This would only display the file ID, if that’s all you put in the custom field. But you could just as easily put the url to the file in the custom field, and that would give your subscriber the correct link.

Last edited by benbruce (2007-07-14 15:21:36)

pfctdayelise · 2007-07-15 08:25:29

I fixed the unsubscribe-url thing, thanks for your help there.

(me) Also, for each post on my website, there are a few relevant files (PDFs). I use a custom field to list their file IDs, and then in the default form I have <txp:upm_article_file_list label="Relevant files" labeltag="h3" break="li" wraptag="ul" />

(ben) I’m not sure about this tag, but it should work fine. How does it know which files to display links for?

In custom field 1 there is a list of file ids. e.g.: “4” or “1, 2, 3”.

(me) Obviously txp:bab_pm_data is not quite able to handle this. What I would really like to do is attach those files to the email. I don’t suppose that’s possible? :) Assuming not, how can I use bab_pm_data to put links to those files?

(ben) You cannot attach files. But you could use something like this in your form (to display whatever is in your custom field): <txp:txp:bab_pm_data display="article_custom1" /> (More on this tag). This would only display the file ID, if that’s all you put in the custom field. But you could just as easily put the url to the file in the custom field, and that would give your subscriber the correct link.

upm_article_file_list does some kind of loop to handle multiple files. Are there any custom tags in postmaster that have loop capability?

Also, is there a way to send confirm/“welcome” messages to new subscribers?

thanks,
Brianna

Last edited by pfctdayelise (2007-07-15 08:29:25)

benbruce · 2007-07-16 05:46:56

Brianna,

In custom field 1 there is a list of file ids. e.g.: “4” or “1, 2, 3”.

There’s no looping for the bab_pm_data tag. You should keep experimenting with the upm_article_file_list, though, because there’s not a reason I can think of why it wouldn’t display the links you want. I’ve used <txp:linklist> and <txp:article_custom /> myself. Alternatively, you could try — instead of putting the file ids in custom field 1 — putting:

http://www.example.com/images/1.jpg <br /> http://www.example.com/images/2.jpg <br /> http://www.example.com/images/3.jpg

and see what happens. That’s a hack, but it might work. But like I mentioned, I’d keep prodding at the upm_ tag because I think that’ll do what you want.

Also, is there a way to send confirm/“welcome” messages to new subscribers?

It’s hard to customize the email that zem_contact_reborn sends; however, there’s a way to do what you want.

In your <txp:zem_contact /> tag, add the copysender attribute and set it to “1” (as described in the help for zem_contact_reborn plugin). This sends a copy of the email to the email address that was entered. Here’s an example:

<txp:zem_contact to="subscribed@example.com" copysender="1" form="example_zem_subscribe" label="Subscribe"  thanks="Thanks for subscribing!" />

Then, in your example_zem_subscribe form, add a “hidden” field at the top of the form (or wherever you want the text to appear), by using something like this:

<txp:zem_contact_secret label="Thanks for subscribing" value="Go to the following url if this subscription was made in error: http://www.example.com/unsubscribe" />

That value="your text here" is where you can put your custom message. There’s also ways to change the subject line of the email — see the zem_contact_reborn help for more info there.

Ben

rsskga · 2007-07-16 22:44:48

Workaround for importing a .csv into Postmaster’s Address Book…

Here are the instructions for the template I’ve made:
Cut and paste your list of names, email addresses and postmaster list name into the following excel file. Then, save as a .csv and open with a text editor. First, replace all the commas with nothing. Then, replace the / with “ and the ? with commas. You now have perfectly formed text which you can copy and paste into the database manager plugin (http://www.wilshireone.com/article/205/textpattern-database-manager-plugin-updates)! You don’t even really need to understand SQL or much about databases. Once you’ve enabled the database plugin, you’ll navigate to DB Manager from the Extensions Tab, select bab_pm_subscribers and just paste all of your text file into the SQL command window. This is a great workaround until the next version of Postmaster is released! (At least for me – I’ve got like 6,000 emails to migrate from Constant Contact).

Download the excel template at http://thequeensmen.com/textpattern/textpattern_import_list.xls

Last edited by rsskga (2007-07-16 22:49:26)

mlarino2 · 2007-07-17 04:53:55

Hi,
Thanks for this great plugin! I just stared using it today, and managed to read all the posts to help me implement it on my site, but now that I am done and everything works fine, I tested it on Safari, and the pages that have the postmaster forms dont even load, i get a blank page.
It works perfect on IE or FireFox.
Any idea why this is happening?
I am using Safari on Windows.
www.mlarino.com/web2
(sections with postmaster are *info & *contact)

Hope you guys can help!
Thanks

iblastoff · 2007-07-17 05:47:15

hmm. loads for me just fine in safari 3 beta for windows

mlarino2 · 2007-07-17 05:50:43

Thanks!
seems to be a problem with my Safari only…
I will reinstall and see…

mttw · 2007-07-20 09:54:23

I’m experiencing a strange problem with Safari v3.0.2 When i’m sending an email..the subscribers receive 2 exact the same mails instead of 1. When i’m using FireFox or Safari v2. they receive only 1 mail.

Anyone having the same problem?

Textpattern CMS

Textpattern CMS support forum

#289 2007-07-13 06:06:51

Re: [archived] Postmaster -- A simple email-on-post / newsletter manager

#290 2007-07-13 21:46:21

Re: [archived] Postmaster -- A simple email-on-post / newsletter manager

#291 2007-07-14 08:27:01

Re: [archived] Postmaster -- A simple email-on-post / newsletter manager

#292 2007-07-14 09:03:32

Re: [archived] Postmaster -- A simple email-on-post / newsletter manager

#293 2007-07-14 15:19:07

Re: [archived] Postmaster -- A simple email-on-post / newsletter manager

#294 2007-07-15 08:25:29

Re: [archived] Postmaster -- A simple email-on-post / newsletter manager

#295 2007-07-16 05:46:56

Re: [archived] Postmaster -- A simple email-on-post / newsletter manager

#296 2007-07-16 22:44:48

Re: [archived] Postmaster -- A simple email-on-post / newsletter manager

#297 2007-07-17 04:53:55

Re: [archived] Postmaster -- A simple email-on-post / newsletter manager

#298 2007-07-17 05:47:15

Re: [archived] Postmaster -- A simple email-on-post / newsletter manager

#299 2007-07-17 05:50:43

Re: [archived] Postmaster -- A simple email-on-post / newsletter manager

#300 2007-07-20 09:54:23

Re: [archived] Postmaster -- A simple email-on-post / newsletter manager

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