MOD2000: Document Library Template Requires SMTP (265621)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Office 2000 Developer
This article was previously published under Q265621

SYMPTOMS

In the Access Workflow Designer Document Library Sample solution, after assigning a document review to one or more reviewers, you find that none of the reviewers receives an email message. You also notice that no errors occurred when you sent the message.

CAUSE

The Document Library Sample requires that the Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) be properly configured and running for e-mail notifications to be delivered. If it is not properly configured, e-mail messages are not delivered, and you may see no error messages at all.

RESOLUTION

One common issue with SMTP that can cause this behavior is invalid settings for the SMTP Fully Qualified Domain Name or Smart Host. To check these settings, do one of the following, depending on your operating system:

On Microsoft Windows NT 4.0

  1. On the Start menu, point to Programs, point to Windows NT 4.0 Option Pack, point to Microsoft Internet Information Server, point to Microsoft SMTP Service, and then click SMTP Service Manager (HTML).
  2. On the SMTP Server Administration page, click Default SMTP Site, and then click Properties (located on the left side of the page). On the next page, click Delivery.
  3. In the Delivery Properties dialog box, make sure that you have a valid entry for Fully Qualified Domain Name and Smart Host.
  4. Click Save.

On Microsoft Windows 2000

  1. On the Start menu, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
  2. In Control Panel, click Administrative Tools, and then click Computer Management.
  3. In Computer Management, open Services and Applications, and then open Internet Information Services.
  4. Click Internet Information Services, and then click your machine name.
  5. Under your machine name, right-click Default SMTP Virtual Server, and then click Properties.
  6. On the Delivery tab, click Advanced.
  7. In the Advanced Delivery dialog box, make sure you have a valid Fully-qualified domain name for your SMTP server. Also, verify that you have a valid Smart Host for your SMTP server.

MORE INFORMATION

Refer to the Microsoft SMTP Service documentation if:
  • Verifying the Host and SmartHost settings does not resolve the problem.
  • You need more information to verify these settings.
  • You require additional information on the installation and configuration of the SMTP Server component.
To view the documentation do one of the following.

With IIS 4.0 on Windows NT 4.0

The documentation is located on the SMTP menu in Windows NT. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Windows NT 4.0 Option Pack, point to Microsoft Internet Information Server, and then click Microsoft SMTP Service. There you can choose from SMTP Service Documentation and SMTP Service Readme documents. Click once to view the document in your browser.

With IIS on Windows 2000

The SMTP documentation is incorporated in Windows 2000 Help. For the latest information, please visit the following Microsoft Web site and search on SMTP:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?URL=/library/psdk/cdosys/_cdosys_about_cdo_for_windows_2000.htm

Knowledge Base

If you are experiencing an SMTP error or just need more information on SMTP, you can perform a search on the Microsoft Knowledge Base, which is located at the following Microsoft Web address:

http://support.microsoft.com

SMTP Support Options

If you require assistance, you can refer to Microsoft Support Online or you can contact a Microsoft Support Professional. To view support options, please visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://support.microsoft.com/directory/directory.asp

Steps to Reproduce Behavior

  1. On an Access Workflow Designer Server, install the Access Workflow Designer Document Library Sample Template form the following Microsoft Web site:

    http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/moddev/html/demscDevGuideStartPage.asp

  2. Because IIS is required for the Workflow Designer, SMTP is probably loaded. You can check this by seeing if the manager is installed (See the "Resolution" section).
  3. Make sure the SMTP Delivery settings have nothing for Fully Qualified Domain Name or Smart Host.
  4. On the Programs menu, click Microsoft Office 2000 Developer, Access Workflow Designer, and Team Solutions Manager.
  5. Click Refresh, wait, and then click the User Information tab and double-click a blank line in the grid. A user Details dialog box is displayed.
  6. You can enter test information for the new user, except for the e-mail name, which must be a valid internet mail address.
  7. After adding the user, close the Team Solutions Manager.
  8. In Internet Explorer, browse to <your machine name>/documentlibrarysample/default.htm.
  9. Click Submit a New Document.
  10. Fill out the form. In the URL box, you can type a UNC path to a word document on your computer. You can leave Owner blank.
  11. Click Save, and then click Start a New Review.
  12. On the Starting a New Document Review page, pick the new user from the list of reviewers; then, click Add and Finish.
Note that even though the next page says that the review has been started, the e-mail recipient never gets the e-mail message.

The SMTP service is a component of Internet Information Server and is designed to allow for the easy transmission of Internet Mail. The Document Library Sample contains VBScript that uses the CDO for NTS interface to send mail messages via SMTP. CDO for NTS stands for Collaboration Data Objects for Windows NT Server.

If you have a solution based on this template, you can perform the following steps to view the VBScript function that sends mail through SMTP.
  1. Open the Access Project DocumentLibrarySample.adp.
  2. On the Tools menu, click Access Workflow Designer.
  3. In the Workflow Designer, in the Object List, click the Workflow process folder.
  4. Click either the ReviewItemsWork flow process or the ReviewsWorkFlow process. They both contain the same function.
  5. Click the Shared Script tab, and in the Go to procedure list, click ModSendMail. Note that the following code is displayed: 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
'// Name      : modSendMail
'// Purpose   : SEND MAIL VIA SMTP
'// 
'// Prereq    : Assumes that you have a smarthost assigned in the SMTP 
'//             Settings to route
'//           : mail via exchange.

'// Inputs    : strUser - account name of recipient
'//           : strFrom - name to use for sending mail
'//           : strSubject - Subject of mail
'//           : strBody - Body of mail
'// 
'// Return    : True if it succeeds, Otherwise False
'// -------------------------------------------------------------------------
Function modSendMail(strUser, strFrom, strSubject, strBody, nPriority)

    '// declarations
    Dim objmail, strTo
  
    '// assume failure
    modSendMail = False

    On Error Resume Next
    Set rsUser = Session.Userlist("SAMAccountName = '" & strUser & "'")
    If Not rsUser.EOF Then
        strTo = rsUser.Fields("Mail").Value
        If strTo <> "" Then
            Set objmail = CreateObject("CDONTS.NewMail")
            
            objMail.BodyFormat = 0  'html
            objMail.MailFormat = 0  'mime
            objMail.To = strTo
            objMail.From = strFrom
            objMail.Subject = strSubject
            objMail.Body = strBody
            objMail.Importance = nPriority
            objmail.Send
            'Logger.PrintString "modSendMail: From '" & _
             strFrom & "', To '" & strTo & "', Body '" & _
             strBody & "', Importance " & nPriority & vbCrLf
            
            '// check for fail
            If Err Then
                LogError "modSendMail: Error '" & Err.Description _
                         & "' sending mail"
                Exit Function
            End If
            modSendMail = True
        Else
            LogError "modSendMail: No address for user '" & strUser & "'"
        End If
    Else
        LogError "modSendMail: No record for user '" & strUser & "'"
    End If
End Function

More information about CDO for NTS

For Documentation on CDO for NTS, please visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/partbook/asp20/usingcdofornts.htm

You can also visit http://mspress.microsoft.com to search for books on CDO.

Overview of the SMTP Service

When the SMTP service is installed, it creates a directory called MailRoot in your default wwwroot folder. MailRoot has a number of subdirectories that are used for the processing of SMTP Mail. The names and purposes of these subdirectories are as follows.

Mailroot\Pickup

The Pickup directory is used as the primary location for outgoing mail messages. Whenever a mail message is placed in this directory, the SMTP service will pick up the message and process it. This means that you can copy a text file into this directory and, if it is in the correct format, it will be sent as a mail message.

Mailroot\Queue

After a message has been retrieved from the Pickup directory, SMTP attempts to send it immediately. If the message cannot be sent immediately, it is placed in the Queue directory and the SMTP service attempts to resend the message at regular intervals. The number and frequency of retries can be configured on the Delivery tab of the property sheet for the SMTP site in the Microsoft Management Console.

The Queue directory also contains transcript files. These are text files and have either an LTR (local transcript) or RTR (remote transcript) extension and can be used to determine the reason for the non-delivery of a particular mail message.

Mailroot\BadMail

If a message cannot be delivered (and the maximum number of retries has been exceeded) and the message cannot be returned to the sender as undeliverable, it is placed in the BadMail directory. After installation, the location of the BadMail directory can be changed on the Messages tab of the property sheet for the SMTP site in the Microsoft Management Console.

Mailroot\Drop

This is the location for incoming messages for all of the local domains that make up a particular site. Note that there is only a single Drop directory for all users on all local domains. The SMTP service within IIS 4.0 has no concept of local mailboxes, and therefore delivery of incoming mail messages to individual mailboxes is not supported. However, inbound messages in the Drop directory can be read from an Active Server Page.

REFERENCES

You can download the Access Workflow Designer Document Library Sample Template form the following Microsoft Web site:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/moddev/html/demscDevGuideStartPage.asp

Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:5/30/2006
Keywords:kbprb kbWorkFlowDesigner KB265621
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