Automated Reminder Emails via a cron job.

 

Download

Joomla 3.x & 4.0    
  mod_sv_reminders3J3b5 beta 5 June 9/20 
     
Joomla 3.x    
Joomla 3.1+ - ABPro 4.0.x mod_sv_reminders3J30b4 beta 4 Sep 9/16 
Joomla 3.1+ - ABPro 4.0.x mod_sv_reminders3J30b3 beta 3 Apr 27/16 
Joomla 3.0 - ABPro 3.0.x mod_sv_reminders3J30b1 beta 1 Oct 29/12 

 

Joomla 2.5    
Joomla 2.5 - ABPro 2.0.x (php 5.3) mod_sv_reminders2J25b3 beta 3 Oct 18/12
Joomla 2.5 - ABPro 2.0.x mod_sv_reminders2J17  beta 2 Nov 8/11

 

Joomla 1.5    
Joomla 1.5 - ABPro 2.0.x (php 5.3) mod_sv_reminders2J15b2 beta 2 Oct 18/12
Joomla 1.5 - ABPro 2.0.x mod_sv_reminders2J15  beta 1

 

  

Overview

Web applications are passive and can only respond to requests for pages. A web application cannot 'wake up' and take action on its own. To do that you need a scheduled task or cron task running on your web server. This module provides a mechanism to have your server send reminders automatically by setting up a cron job to call the module during the night.

The module mod_sv_reminders , an add-on to ABPro, does not do automated email reminders by itself.

It installs a file, reminders_cron.php, that can be called by your server's cron facility and when it is, it will look at the module parameters and send email reminders to accepted bookings. The module needs to be 'Published' but need not appear on any site page. It is really just a way to let you set parameters for the reminders_cron.php to read at runtime.

 

Installation and Setup

Step 1 Download and install the module
  Download from link above then install as with any other module - nothing special here.
Step 2 Modue Setup
 

Set Enabled = Yes
and Show Title = No

You can set the Menus to None as it does not need to appear on any page.

 

Parameters

Days Before Booking:
Enter a number days in advance of the booking time that you wish the email to be sent.
You can have multiple days separated by comma.
Example: 3 = send a reminder 3 days before the booking.
Example: 5,3 = send a reminder 5 days before AND send a reminder 3 days before

This field must be integer value(s) - no 3.5 days.

Component:
Select either ABPro or RBPro

Version:
For future use, currently only supports version 1.3 of each component.

Email Results To:
You can enter an email address that will receive a status report after each cron run.
If left blank the report will be sent to the email address in the component's (ABPro or RBPro) Configure / MailTO setting.

Test Mode:
For testing, see below.

 
Step 3 Cron Setup
 

After you have the module installed and configured, your next step is to setup or schedule the cron job at your webserver.  Each hosting provider will have their own unique process for exactly how to do this.  But in each case, you need to create and name a new Cron job, define how often the Cron job should run (this should be once per day), and point the Cron job to the correct path to the reminders_cron.php file.  Below are 2 video tutorials that will demonstrate the setup procedures for common hosts.

You need to know the physical path, on the server, to the file reminders_cron.php
There is a file included in the module to do this for you. From your browser issue the request:

http://yoursite.com/modules/mod_sv_reminders/show_path.php

You will get back a screen like this..

 

Cron setup tutorials

 
Step 4 Testing
 

The file reminders_cron.php has some code at the beginning to prevent it from being called interactivity by a malicious user.

For testing you can set 'Test Mode' (above) to Yes and call reminders_cron.php from your browser like:
http://yoursite.com/modules/mod_sv_reminders/reminders_cron.php

When calling as above, you will just get something like..

and the results will be emailed out.

Ensure you set the module's Menu Assignment to 'On all pages' or the parameters are not accessible.