I am testing to see if it is possible to integrate the Mass Messaging module
I tried this use this config with the CRM-contact as base entity in the view. It looks possible, but in views I can't bring up node fields to add as the email body.

It would be a great feature if fields of node content type, could be used as the content for a mass email subject to taxonomy, and email fields in the CRM contact.

This would let you go to a node and email it to a select list driven by a taxonomy field in the CRM contact list.

Has any one tried this? Any suggestions?

Comments

Anonymous’s picture

Anonymous (not verified) commented

@metroecho - hey there! Glad to see you are still working with CRM Core.

It's pretty easy to do mass mailings with CRM Core. Here's a brief overview of how you would set up a mass mailer on top of contacts.

1) Install rules and mailsystem. If you want your messages to look pretty, install mimemail or mailchimp as well.

2) Create a rules component for sending an HTML email. Add variables for the contact and what not.

3) Implement the rules component as a views bulk operation.

4) Apply the VBO to a list of contacts. You now have a checkbox that lets you send emails to people.

Try that out and let me know what you think. Trellon will be releasing a distro at Drupalcon Portland that does exactly this.

metroecho’s picture

metroecho commented

I will follow the instructions. Thanks for the work you have done with this module. I think this CRM is the way to go, it changes everything for Drupal and makes it a first class business tool and unsurpassed when Ledger, Sheetnode, and e-commerce are all tied together. I have made a site for the republican party here in Douglas County Ga. (all for free), that incorporates CRM core, and mass email sending (still working on it). I am also trying to convince the State to let us build a central site plus local county sites that tie databases from all the county sites. The goal is to make the sites social media interactive and have a more open government. Well that's my goal, getting the republican party to be more open may take some grass roots support and influence. The plan is to build these systems for free and get financing form the voters, local business, etc. in order to pay for service and training. Making it simpler for more people to be involved with government will keep the foxes out of the hen house, so I invite any developers to add input and participate with these sites.

http://grassroots.pw/
http://www.douglascountyrepublicans.com/
http://metroecho.org/

metroecho’s picture

metroecho commented

Thanks for the advice VBO works great with CRM ... I am now trying to see if I can schedule a series of five to ten emails to be sent to a list of contacts one every so many days... I have been trying with different settings all day to no avail... any suggestions ?
Rules and Views integration and periodic integration ?

rerooting’s picture

rerooting commented

http://drupal.org/project/views_rules is very promising! You can perform actions on a group of users based upon a view that can be dynamic as you want.

I would also offer views_rules as a path towards creating a 'smart groups' type functionality for crm_core.

For a simple case, just make sure that you fetch entities by property or id (VBO) and loop through them with a send mail action. You will want to set scheduling - you can even do this via VBO. This video should be very helpful along these lines

http://nodeone.se/en/introducing-rules-scheduler

Happy rules-ing!

metroecho’s picture

metroecho commented

Thanks, I saw that nodeone video this morning those are all great help. I just made a message at http://drupal.org/node/1650604#comment-7416092 that explains what exactly and why its a valuable tool to have. I have a view set up of nodes of a type, and it will sort by taxonomy... "intro mail", "how Drupal will work for accounting" etc. and then hopefully send a timed series of mail over time.

The plan is to set a rule with a loop that will send the selected taxonomy of nodes one by one, each timed by the loop action. The view could have input variables to select a CRM contact and have the field_contact_email propagate for each of the nodes as they are sent over weeks. Then it would not hurt to have a View of what was sent and to whom.

Does that sound like I am going in the right direction ?

I can't get the rule (component) to show up on the view. I have VBO, Views Rules, and views_periodic_execution all set up. This is new to me, so I am just learning out how these tools work... but wow they are great tools.

Anonymous’s picture

Anonymous (not verified) commented

@metroecho - watch Trellon's blog next week for announcements regarding our new distro. It will have very practical examples of how to do this.

metroecho’s picture

metroecho commented

Great I will cool my jets and wait for next week. I am going stir crazy trying to understand this. It will be nice to take a break and stretch my legs. Still its been good to finally get a small grip on rules and views integration. Am I wrong to be so convinced that Drupal is now what Windows was in the 80's? I use it as a day in day out business tool for everything. I think its only a matter of time when professionals in accounting and management take note and Drupal will replace almost all the forms in which we use computers. Thanks for all the work you have done I will keep an eye on the blog.

metroecho’s picture

metroecho commented
Anonymous’s picture

Anonymous (not verified) commented

Good things come to jet pilots and those who wait.

But yeah, you will be impressed with what we are putting out, and it includes many practical examples of how to really make CRM Core do amazing things.

muschpusch’s picture

muschpusch commented

Good things come to jet pilots and those who wait.

Muschpusch is waiting full of excitement like a teenager for his favorite popband....

metroecho’s picture

metroecho commented

Any news of scheduled emails, should I continue trying to pull this off with VBO, Rules, etc. I have not noticed any postings to the blog. On a separate subject, can two Drupal sites (separate databases) snyc contact info with feeds or must a CSV be downloaded first ?

Anonymous’s picture

Anonymous (not verified) commented

@metroecho - Dragging our feet on releasing the distro I talked about in my previous email. Perfectionism has been rearing it's ugly head, and am focused on getting the details right.

Just to be clear, the approach we are taking in the distro is to use CRM Core with mailhandler and VBO for all mail sending.

Send me a PM if you want to see a copy of the code in it's current state.

metroecho’s picture

metroecho commented

Sounds great it will receive and send mail, life is great you simply wish and it becomes so ! You are in fact making the core of what is the central product of the company I created three years ago. I just can't do the programing (yet), but this is what Drupal will become the one system that will rule them all, and free as beer. You must be a saint, great job, thanks.

metroecho’s picture

metroecho commented
metroecho’s picture

metroecho commented

For receiving emails mailhandler works great, for sending I have used the Printer, email and PDF versions, the only problem is that it does not store the message, time, sender, recipients... etc if a view could be created of each send event somewhat as its recorded in Recent log messages when a node is sent, this would make for a complete and very useful mail system.

metroecho’s picture

metroecho commented
Issue summary: View changes

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Anonymous’s picture

Anonymous (not verified) commented
Issue summary: View changes
Status: Active » Closed (works as designed)