api_send

Description

Makes an API send request.

api_send( string template [, string email [,  object vars [, string schedule_time [, object options [, object evars ]]]]] )

api_send(
object parameters)

This is for use only within a trigger custom zephyr script. Make a send API Request:

    • templateName of the valid template
    • emailthe email address to send to; if multi-send, use comma separated email strings
    • varsa key/value hash of the replacement vars to use in the send. Each var may be referenced as {varname} within the template itself
    • schedule_timedo not send the email immediately, but at some point in the future. Any date recognized by PHP’s strtotime function is valid, but be sure to specify timezone or use a UTC time to avoid confusion
    • optionsA key/value hash containing all or one of the following keys: replytotest or behalf_email
    • evarsApplicable only for multi-send; A Key/value hash where each key is an email address, and each value is a key/value hash of variables for that particular email address
<code style="display: none;"><!--Limit Option Removed Per Ian/Stephen Dove <li><code>limit["name"] – Specify an arbitrary name that this limit will be tied to. When another send is attempted with the same limit name AND template, it will either prevent the old send that was scheduled, or the new send (see limit[“conflict”])
  • limit["within_time"] – Specify a time frame for the limit
<code style="display: none;">
  • limit["conflict"] – Tell Sailthru how to handle a conflict (update the old send with the new values or fail the new attempted send), either “update” or “fail”
--> This function is basically a Send API call in POST mode

Example

{api_send('template_name')}

Description: Send email to specific template using given user profile email

{api_send('template_name', 'praj@sailthru.com,ian@sailthru.com')}

Description: Send multiple emails to given template

{api_send('template_name', email + ',praj@sailthru.com')}

Description: Send multiple emails to given template using custom email and user profile email

{api_send({'template':'template_name', 'email':email + ',praj@sailthru.com'})}

Description: Send multiple emails to given template using custom email and user profile email utilizing a map instead of order of parameters

Trigger a Dynamic Welcome Follow Up

Use Case: You have a Welcome Stream that gets triggered after a user subscribes. If the user opens the first message, you want to take them down a certain “engaged users” stream. If they do not, you want to take them down a “disengaged users” stream. Used in conjunction with “if/else” template variables.


Zephyr:

{if message.open_time}
{api_send("Welcome 2A - Openers")}
{else}
{api_send("Welcome 2B - NonOpeners")}
{/if}

Explanation:

This script is included in a trigger at the template level and uses a conditional “if” statement to determine whether after a certain amount of time (designated when creating the trigger) a user has opened the message. (Note: this information is stored in and accessible in Zephyr from the “message” object.) After the evaluation has been made, the script uses the api_send() function to send an “Openers” template to those who opened the previous message, and a NonOpeners template to those users who did not.

Cancel and Resend Template Based on a Date (Avoiding Weekends)

Use Case: You have a certain transactional (such as a Welcome email) that you don’t want going out on the weekends. Instead, you’d like it to go out the following Monday.


Zephyr:

In the Setup:

{cancel(date("EEEE", time('now')) == "Saturday" || date("EEEE", time('now')) == "Sunday", "It's the weekend")}

In the Trigger: Event:
On Cancel Time: 0 minutes
Action: Custom Zephyr:
{if date("EEEE",time('now'))=="Sunday"}
{api_send({'template':'Welcome', 'schedule_time':date("EEEE, MMMM d, yyyy hh:mma",time("+24 hours"))})}
{else if date("EEEE",time('now'))=="Saturday"}
{api_send({'template':'Welcome', 'schedule_time':date("EEEE, MMMM d, yyyy hh:mma",time("+48 hours"))})}
{/if}

Explanation: 

This script uses the time() function to return the timestamp of the current day and time, which the “date” function converts to a human readable value. Then using the cancel() function, an evaluation is made to check if the value equals “Saturday” or “Sunday”. Note: The double pipe  (“||”) acts as on “OR” statement.

Assuming that this is the only cancel() statement within the template, a script is triggered in the “Triggers” tab on event send. Using an “if” statement, and similarly using the date() and time() functions, a check is done to see which day it is. If it’s Sunday, the api_send() function will queue the template to resend itself in 24 hours (i.e. on Monday) at the current time. So if the template canceled at 12:30PM on Sunday, it will resend at 12:30PM on Monday. Similarly, if the template canceled on Saturday, api_send() will queue it to resend to the user in 48 hours, i.e. the following Monday.

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