Support : Publications : Chronolog Archives : Issue 4, 2005

Matching Dialog Alerts to Your Needs

Hundreds of Alerts are set up on the Dialog system each day. More and more customers are saving themselves time by automatically having updates on news, products, or competitor activities sent to them via Alerts. Alerts automatically deliver information via e-mail, fax, or postal delivery from virtually any source as soon as it is published to our databases, or by a schedule customized to your choosing.

The default formats for Alerts are text and HTML. HTML Alerts have the benefit of being attractively formatted and can include Dialog eLinks to electronic fulltext sources. Moreover, the Dialog Electronic Redistribution and Archiving Service (ERA) lets you distribute (REDIST) print or electronic copies of search results to other employees or departments within your organization, or store the results (ARCHIVE) in an in-house system.

In response to customer requests, Dialog now offers additional formats that help you integrate Alert results into the workflow. This article highlights some of the new features available for Alerts so that you can match Dialog Alerts to your needs.

Why Alerts in XML Format?

Alerts in XML format can be set up and delivered quickly via e-mail from any file on Dialog that offers Alerts. XML format is useful because it can be assimilated into other applications such as portals, customer relationship management (CRM) and knowledge management tools. With DialogLink 5, an Alert in XML format can also be transformed into fully formatted Microsoft® Word or Excel reports. Dialog eLinks are also available in XML Alerts, where appropriate.

Sample: To set up an Alert in XML format to deliver the first 50 records by e-mail and be able to redistribute them to 100 users in your organization, use the following PRINT statement (e.g., PRINT Sx/Format/Range XML ADDR address):

PRINT S4/FULL/1-50 XML REDIST 100 ADDR ADEMAIL

Why Set Up A Customer E-Mail Alert?

The new Custom E-mail Alerts format provides more control over the appearance of HTML Alerts and lets you easily create Microsoft® Word reports from the results. Templates in the DialogLink 5 template library provide attractive formatting. You can also use your own templates to tailor your Alerts to include only the fields you are interested in and provide a hyperlinked table of contents in the beginning for easy navigation to records of interest. In addition, the Dialog Custom Solutions group is available for help with templates.

Sample: To set up a Custom E-mail Alert using the NewsRoom template delivered by e-mail, use the following PRINT statement (e.g., PRINT Sx/Format/Range XSLT Template_Name Address):

Print S4/FULL/ALL XSLT NewsRoom_Alert_TOC Ademail

Once the Alert is set up, you can customize the results and create a report by dragging and dropping the Alert onto the DialogLink icon on your desktop. Just click OK in the box that displays and the report will open in Word, fully formatted and ready for final editing, or to be saved and redistributed. Click the thumbnails below to see Figures 1 and 2.

View Figure 1. Drag & Drop

View Figure 2. Customized Word Report

Other Special Alerts Features

Additional features let you better identify your Alerts, distribute them throughout your organization and maintain copyright compliance.

• Use ERA (Electronic Redistribution and Archiving) when you are archiving content in a database application such as a bibliographic management tool. ERA provides both archiving and redistribution rights to maintain copyright compliance.
  
  
• Limit the maximum size of your Alert or attachment — Use EDIT ADDRESS NAME in DialogClassic Web to select the maximum size of e-mails. Larger sets will come as a link in the e-mail. Sizes range between 1 MB and 3 MB.
  
  
• Use descriptive names to keep track of your Alerts, especially if you have many Alerts set up. Names up to 30 characters help identify the Alert: COMPANY_ADVERSE_REACTION_REPORTS
  
  
• Receive your Alert within the e-mail message or as an attachment.
  
  
• Set up multifile Alerts in any databases with Alert capability.

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