Action label

The Action label defines the operation to perform on a specific BMC Remedy AR System form. The Action label/value pair is required in the incoming email so that the parser can generate valid instructions. Valid actions are Submit, Query, Modify, and a user-defined value. If no value is given for the label, the email is only logged and no actual execution takes place. An alias for Action is Instruction.

Valid values for this label are in the following table, and explained in detail after the table.

Submit action

By using the Submit action in an email, users can enter values for field labels, and submit a new record. You can see an example of a template with a Submit action in Sending a submit instruction to the Email Engine.

Query action

The Query action lets you search for existing entries. To increase server performance, you can configure a limit to how many matches are returned in the message. If a request exceeds the configured search match limit, an additional message is provided that indicates what the limit is. (See the definition for "Limit Number of Items Returned" on the AR System User Preference form in Setting-the-General-tab.)

For sample templates with Search (Query) actions, see Using templates with outgoing email.

Modify action

The Modify action enables you to modify existing entries, but due to the nature of this command and the security implications, the command can be executed only under the following conditions:

• The message containing the modify action must be sent from an AR System administrator to the user.
• The user can only change field values and cannot add new actions or modify existing actions when replying to the email that contains the modify action. The user must not modify the modify key included in the email.
• The sender or the user of the email must supply a valid Security Key.

• The incoming mailbox must be configured to allow modifications. For more information, see Configuring-BMC-Remedy-Email-Engine-for-modify-actions.
• In the outgoing mailbox, make sure the Delete Outgoing Notification Messages field is set to No. You cannot modify a record by email if you delete outgoing email messages.

The Email Engine inserts the following special label and value into the email if the email contains a Modify action:

The encrypted value contains information, which the Email Engine uses to determine the following items:

• The Request ID of the email being sent
• The AR System server to which the email was submitted
• Form name

For more information, see Using workflow to modify requests and Sending a Modify instruction to the Email Engine.

User-defined instruction

A user-defined instruction is a text string that the BMC Remedy AR System administrator determines and that is used as a value for an Action label. A user-defined value can consist of any text, as long as it is defined in the AR System Email User Instruction Templates form for user-defined instructions. For more information, see Sending incoming email with user instructions.