Creating a Distribution List

How to:

A Distribution List is an easy way to distribute content to multiple recipients by selecting a list that contains the individual recipients rather than entering each recipient separately into a schedule.

If you have an LDAP data source, you can access Email information that is stored in it by configuring the LDAP Email Setting in the ReportCaster Console Configuration tool. Once configured, you can select email addresses from within the email address book of your company, eliminating the need to type them in manually. For more information on the configuration of this functionality, see LDAP Setting.

For more information on using this feature, see How to Retrieve Email Addresses from an LDAP Data Source.

Before creating a Distribution List, understand what groups or individual users require access to it to determine the folder in which to create it.


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Procedure: How to Create a Distribution List
  1. Right-click a Repository folder and select New, Distribution List.

    The Distribution List window opens, as shown in the following image.

    distribution list

  2. In the Title box, type a descriptive name for the Distribution List.
  3. From the Method drop-down list, select the distribution method for the Distribution List. Email is the default distribution method.
    • If you select Email, you must provide a list of email addresses and can optionally burst values associated with an address. For details on entering burst values, see Bursting a Report.

      In the Address box, specify the email addresses of the recipients (for example, chuck_hill@ibi.com for an individual user or #sales@ibi.com for a email server list that contains multiple email addresses). Be careful typing this information because there is no edit checking. The maximum number of email addresses you can specify in a Distribution List is 9999. You can specify a maximum of 800 characters within a single Address line.

      You can specify multiple email addresses within a single Address field. For more information, see Specifying Multiple Email Addresses.

      If the Email Delivery, Restrict Email Domains option is set to yes in the Server Configuration tool, then only those email domains (the portion of the email address following the at (@) symbol) listed in Allowed Email Domains (also in the Server Configuration tool)are valid email recipients.

    • If you select FTP, you must specify the names of the FTP files that will hold the report (including the extension) and, optionally, burst values associated with FTP file.

      The extension specified here should be appropriate for the format selected when creating the schedule. For example, if you selected Excel or EXL2K on a Windows platform, the file should be drive:\directory\filename.xls. The maximum number of FTP files you can specify in a Distribution List is 9999.

      When using FTP to transfer Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) files from any platform to z/OS UNIX and the z/OS UNIX httpd.conf file contains the default MIME type of 8-bit for CSS files, then the CSS files must be transferred in binary mode.

    • If you select Print, you must specify the printers that will receive the distribution and, optionally, burst values associated with the printer. For details on entering burst values, see Bursting a Report. For more information on creating printer Distribution Lists, see Using the Printer Distribution Option in the Basic Scheduling Tool.

      In the Printer input field, specify the printer using the following format:

      queue@printserver

      where:

      queue

      Is the name of the printer queue.

      printserver

      Is the host name or IP address of the printer.

      Although ReportCaster supports specifying only the print server (host name or IP address), we recommend that you specify both the print queue and print server. (ReportCaster differentiates between the printer queue and the printer server by detecting the presence of the '@' separator.)

  4. If you are finished creating a Distribution List, click Save & Close.

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Procedure: How to Retrieve Email Addresses from an LDAP Data Source
  1. From the Distribution List toolbar, click Add New.

    The Add New Member dialog box displays, as shown in the following image.

  2. Click the Search button adjacent to the email address field.

    The Find dialog box displays, as shown in the following image.

  3. Select the criteria (Last Name, First Name, or Email) and the operator (Equals, Starts with, Ends with, or Contains). Enter the search string (for example, M* to locate all records beginning with that letter).
  4. Click Search.

    ReportCaster retrieves and displays the specified names from the LDAP data source.

    Note: You can select one record at a time or use the CTRL key to select multiple records simultaneously.

  5. Click the To button to add the selected email address or addresses to your selection.
  6. Click OK to save them in the Distribution List.
  7. On the Add New Member dialog box, click OK.

    The email recipients are then listed in the Email column on the Distribution List dialog box.


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