[HOWTO] Show detailed ticket history in staff replies that looks good

khoffman

I wanted to have the entire history of the ticket sent with each reply. Thanks goes to PhilEvans for pointing out how to do this. He didn't mention specifics, so I thought I'd post it here for easy pasting into your email_staffreply group template.

First, open the /admin area, go to Settings, and then Tickets. Scroll all the way to the bottom. Change "Assign Post List Variable to Staff Replies" to Yes.

Now, go to Templates, and start editing the email_staffreply template. Immediately after

Code:

<{if $ishtml == true}>

add the following (before the font tag):

Code:

<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="all" href="<{$swiftpath}>index.php?_ca=css" />

This includes the style sheet from the web site.

Now, after the /fieldset ends in the HTML part of the template, add the following:

Code:

<!-- TICKET HISTORY -->
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" width="100%" class="tborder" style="">
<thead>
<tr>
<td class="tcat" width="1" align="left" nowrap><img src="<{$themepath}>space.gif" width="4" height="21"></td>
<td class="tcat" width="100%" colspan="" align="left" nowrap><{$language[vtconversation]}></td>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>

<{foreach key=key value=post from=$postlist}>
<tr class="row1"><td align="left" valign="middle" colspan="2">

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%">
<tr><td colspan="2" height="1" class="ticketline"><img src="<{$themepath}>space.gif" width="1" height="1" border="0" /></td></tr>
<tr><td width="200" align="left" style="PADDING: 4px;"><span class="ticketpostname"><{$post[fullname]}></span></td>
<td align="right">
<{if $post[creator] == "staff"}>
<img src="<{$themepath}>img_staff.gif" align="absmiddle" border="0" />
<{elseif $post[creator] == "thirdparty"}>
<img src="<{$themepath}>img_thirdparty.gif" align="absmiddle" border="0" />
<{elseif $post[creator] == "recipient"}>
<img src="<{$themepath}>img_recipient.gif" align="absmiddle" border="0" />
<{else}>
<img src="<{$themepath}>img_user.gif" align="absmiddle" border="0" />
<{/if}>
&nbsp;</td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2" height="1" class="ticketline"><img src="<{$themepath}>space.gif" width="1" height="1" border="0" /></td></tr>
</table>

</td></tr>

<tr class="rowpost"><td align="left" valign="middle" colspan="2">

<table border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1" width="100%">
<tr><td width="1" align="left"><img src="<{$themepath}>icon_emailopen.gif" align="absmiddle" border="0" /></td>
<td align="left" width="100%"><span class="smalltext"><{$language[vtpostedon]}><{$post[date]}></span></td></tr>
<tr><td align="left" valign="top" colspan="2">
<hr class="tickethr" size="1">
<span class="mediumtext"><{$post[contents]}></span>

<{if $ticket[hasattachments] == "1" && $post[attachmentcount] > 0}>
<BR /><BR /><fieldset class="swiftfieldset"><legend><{$language[vtattachments]}></legend>
<{foreach key=attachkey value=attachment from=$post[attachments]}>
<span class="smalltext"><a href="<{$swiftpath}>index.php?_m=tickets&_a=getattachment&ticketid=<{$ticket[ticketid]}>&attachmentid=<{$attachment[attachmentid]}>"><img src="<{$themepath}><{$attachment[icon]}>" border="0" align="absmiddle" />&nbsp;<{$attachment[filename]}></a> (<{$attachment[attachmentsize]}>)</span><BR />
<{/foreach}>
</fieldset>
<{/if}>

</td></tr></table>

</td></tr>
<{/foreach}>

</td></tr></tbody></table>

<!-- END TICKET HISTORY -->

If you want the information included in the text part of the emails then add something like the following at the very end of the template (immediately before the last if)

Code:

<{foreach key=key value=post from=$postlist}>
======================================================================
Comment by <{$post[fullname]}> <{if $post[creator] == "staff"}>[Staff]<{elseif $post[creator] == "thirdparty"}>[3rd Party]<{elseif $post[creator] == "recipient"}>[Recipient]<{else}>[User]<{/if}> on <{$post[date]}>:
<{$post[contents]}>

<{/foreach}>

You will notice that in the HTML email the history looks exactly like how it looks when the user views the ticket when they're logged in (with the nice blue gradient at the top). Well, that's because the code was taken from the viewticket template. (Thanks again to PhilEvans for pointing this out).

Now, does anyone know how to increment a variable in the template language so I can limit the number of history entries to 5?

xian · 22-05-2006, 12:16 PM

I appreciate the work that went into this post, much thanks. But is there any way to format the text version so that it looks good? It looks like the data is stored in XML in the DB or something, because my replies have:

><br />
><br />
> Ticket Details<br />
> ===================<br />
> Ticket ID: FST-433899<br />
> Department: General<br />
> Priority: Medium<br />
> Status: Open<br />
><br />
><br />
<br />
<br />
-- <br />

Is there a way to do search/replace from inside the template? Could I edit the cached PHP without worrying about breaking something? Is there a template language reference?

Shouldnt the staff replies (I saw another post about this) normally include the previous converstaion by default? Its crazy that we have to go through templates to do something every email client in the world has by default.

kaviar · 30-05-2006, 02:10 AM

Hi,

Has anyone got this working for 3.0.90? Mine doesn't want to show the history.

Cheers

kbandrews · 05-06-2006, 08:48 AM

I haven't been able to get this to work. This really should be an included option, along with allowing you to easily set the number of previous tickets you want to include. Just including the last one would often be enough I think.

elaconethosting · 06-06-2006, 06:57 AM

Does this actually work?

thor · 06:31 PM

No luck with me either using .90. I just get a blank table with the header row.

Edit: From what I can tell, $postlist is empty.


<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" width="100%" class="tborder" style="">
<thead>
<tr>
<td class="tcat" width="1" align="left" nowrap><img src="http://helpdesk/supportsuite/themes/admin_default/space.gif" width="4" height="21"></td>
<td class="tcat" width="100%" colspan="" align="left" nowrap></td>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
</td></tr></tbody></table>

***Varun Shoor*** · 07-06-2006, 11:57 PM

$postlist hasnt been tinkered with in .90, Are you sure its not something else? Is the setting enabled under Admin CP > Settings > Tickets

Regards,

Varun Shoor

Tom Sommer · 09:03 AM

Why is <{$post[contents]}> filled with HTML data? That makes it virtually impossible to use it in the plain text part of the template.

Also, one could wish there was an easy way to indent the $postdata with ">" in order to signify the ticket history

thor · 09-06-2006, 04:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Varun [K]

$postlist hasnt been tinkered with in .90, Are you sure its not something else? Is the setting enabled under Admin CP > Settings > Tickets

Regards,

Varun Shoor

Thanks Varun, I didn't think of checking that. I don't remember changing it, but I'll ask my staff as well.

Thanks again

xian · 16-06-2006, 02:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tom Sommer

Why is <{$post[contents]}> filled with HTML data? That makes it virtually impossible to use it in the plain text part of the template.

My gripe exactly. Have you found a way around this? Luckily 95% of my emails are single replies, but it would be nice to have the option.

The only other thing is the "Q" icon, but it would be nice if that included a message like:

On 06/12/2006 Bob Dole said:
> Dole in 2008!
> Thanks.
> Bob.

Instead of just the message. Anyone know how to do this?

khoffman · 17-06-2006, 03:15 PM

Just to make it clear, here is the entire contents of my email_staffreply template. Like varun said you have to enable filling the contents of $postlist in the Admin CP Ticket settings.

Note that this also includes part of the code for having a logo at the top and to automatically log them in, so you'll need to remove that if you don't want to use it.

Code:

<{if $ishtml == true}>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="all" href="<{$swiftpath}>index.php?_ca=css" />
<table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr><td>
    <table width="100%"  border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
      <tr>
        <td width="52%" align="left"><a href="https://secure.efoldering.com/"><img src="https://secure.efoldering.com/images/eFolder-logo-image.gif" border="0"></a></td>
        <td width="48%" align="right" valign="bottom"><span class="smalltext"><a href="https://secure.efoldering.com/">[Web Portal]</a> <a href="<{$swiftpath}>?group=efolder&_m=tickets&_a=viewticket&ticketid=<{$ticket[ticketid]}>&u_email=<{urlencode value=$ticket[email] }>&u_login=1">[Support Center]</a></span> </td>
      </tr>
    </table>
</td></tr>
<tr><td>
    <table width="100%"  border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
      <tr>
        <td height="2" bgcolor="#3894E5"><img src="<{$themepath}>space.gif" width="1" height="2"></td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td height="6" bgcolor="#83BFF5"><img src="<{$themepath}>space.gif" width="1" height="6"></td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td height="5" bgcolor="#C3E3FF"><img src="<{$themepath}>space.gif" width="1" height="5"></td>
      </tr>
    </table>
</td></tr>
</table><BR>
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size="2"><{$contentshtml}>
<BR><BR>
<fieldset style="margin-bottom: 6px; color: #333333;FONT: 11px Verdana, Tahoma;PADDING:3px;">
<legend><{$language[ticketdetails]}></legend><BR>
<{$language[articketid]}><{$ticket[fticketid]}><BR>
<{$language[ardepartment]}><{$ticket[department]}><BR>
<{$language[arpriority]}><font color="<{$priority[frcolorcode]}>"><{$ticket[priority]}></font><BR>
<{$language[arstatus]}><font color="<{$status[statuscolor]}>"><{$ticket[status]}></font><BR>
</fieldset>
</font>

<!-- TICKET HISTORY -->
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" width="100%" class="tborder" style="">
<thead>
<tr>
<td class="tcat" width="1" align="left" nowrap><img src="<{$themepath}>space.gif" width="4" height="21"></td>
<td class="tcat" width="100%" colspan="" align="left" nowrap><{$language[vtconversation]}></td>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>

<{foreach key=key value=post from=$postlist}>
<tr class="row1"><td align="left" valign="middle" colspan="2">

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%">
<tr><td colspan="2" height="1" class="ticketline"><img src="<{$themepath}>space.gif" width="1" height="1" border="0" /></td></tr>
<tr><td width="200" align="left" style="PADDING: 4px;"><span class="ticketpostname"><{$post[fullname]}></span></td>
<td align="right">
<{if $post[creator] == "staff"}>
<img src="<{$themepath}>img_staff.gif" align="absmiddle" border="0" />
<{elseif $post[creator] == "thirdparty"}>
<img src="<{$themepath}>img_thirdparty.gif" align="absmiddle" border="0" />
<{elseif $post[creator] == "recipient"}>
<img src="<{$themepath}>img_recipient.gif" align="absmiddle" border="0" />
<{else}>
<img src="<{$themepath}>img_user.gif" align="absmiddle" border="0" />
<{/if}>
&nbsp;</td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2" height="1" class="ticketline"><img src="<{$themepath}>space.gif" width="1" height="1" border="0" /></td></tr>
</table>

</td></tr>

<tr class="rowpost"><td align="left" valign="middle" colspan="2">

<table border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1" width="100%">
<tr><td width="1" align="left"><img src="<{$themepath}>icon_emailopen.gif" align="absmiddle" border="0" /></td>
<td align="left" width="100%"><span class="smalltext"><{$language[vtpostedon]}><{$post[date]}></span></td></tr>
<tr><td align="left" valign="top" colspan="2">
<hr class="tickethr" size="1">
<span class="mediumtext"><{$post[contents]}></span>

<{if $ticket[hasattachments] == "1" && $post[attachmentcount] > 0}>
<BR /><BR /><fieldset class="swiftfieldset"><legend><{$language[vtattachments]}></legend>
<{foreach key=attachkey value=attachment from=$post[attachments]}>
<span class="smalltext"><a href="<{$swiftpath}>index.php?_m=tickets&_a=getattachment&ticketid=<{$ticket[ticketid]}>&attachmentid=<{$attachment[attachmentid]}>"><img src="<{$themepath}><{$attachment[icon]}>" border="0" align="absmiddle" />&nbsp;<{$attachment[filename]}></a> (<{$attachment[attachmentsize]}>)</span><BR />
<{/foreach}>
</fieldset>
<{/if}>

</td></tr></table>

</td></tr>
<{/foreach}>

</td></tr></tbody></table>

<!-- END TICKET HISTORY -->

<{else}><{$contentstext}>

<{$language[ticketdetails]}>
===================
<{$language[articketid]}><{$ticket[fticketid]}>
<{$language[ardepartment]}><{$ticket[department]}>
<{$language[arpriority]}><{$ticket[priority]}>
<{$language[arstatus]}><{$ticket[status]}>

<{foreach key=key value=post from=$postlist}>
======================================================================
Comment by <{$post[fullname]}> <{if $post[creator] == "staff"}>[Staff]<{elseif $post[creator] == "thirdparty"}>[3rd Party]<{elseif $post[creator] == "recipient"}>[Recipient]<{else}>[User]<{/if}> on <{$post[date]}>:
<{$post[contents]}>

<{/foreach}>

<{/if}>

tm2000 · 20-06-2006, 12:30 AM

Here is the CSS needed - may be a couple extra classes... Works great on Yahoo, MSN, AT&T WebMail.. Everything except GMail

THANKS to khoffman for making this work!!!

Code:

<{if $ishtml == true}>
<style type="text/css">
<!--

.tcat
{
	background: #80A9EA url(http://support.360ods.com/themes/client_default//tablebg.gif) repeat-x top left;
    COLOR: #FFFFFF;
	FONT: 12px Verdana, Tahoma;
}

.tabletitlerow
{
	BACKGROUND: #80A9EA url(http://support.360ods.com/themes/client_default//tabledescbg.gif) REPEAT-X TOP LEFT;
    COLOR: #113265;
	FONT: 11px Verdana, Tahoma;
}

.contenttableborder
{
	background: #D1DCEB;
	color: #FFFFFF;
}
.tborder
{
	background-color: #FFFFFF;
	color: #000000;
	border: 1px solid #6393DF;
}
.mediumtext
{
    FONT-SIZE: 12px;
    COLOR: #333333;
    FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica;
}

.smalltext
{
    FONT-SIZE: 11px;
    COLOR: #333333;
    FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica;
}

.ticketpostname
{
    FONT-SIZE: 18px;
    COLOR: #333333;
    FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica;
}
.ticketsubject
{
	COLOR: #333333;
    FONT-SIZE: 12px;
    FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica;
	FONT-WEIGHT: bold;
}

.row1
{
	BACKGROUND-COLOR: #EDF4FF;
	COLOR: #000000;
    FONT-SIZE: 11px;
    FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica;
}

.row2
{
	BACKGROUND-COLOR: #F7FAFF;
	COLOR: #000000;
    FONT-SIZE: 11px;
    FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica;
}

.row3
{
	BACKGROUND-COLOR: #FFF8E9;
	COLOR: #000000;
    FONT-SIZE: 11px;
    FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica;
}

.tborder
{
	background-color: #FFFFFF;
	color: #000000;
	border: 1px solid #6393DF;
}

.ticketline
{
	BACKGROUND-COLOR: #96B9F0;
}

.tickethr
{
	BACKGROUND-COLOR: #D1DCEB; COLOR: #D1DCEB; BORDER: 0; HEIGHT:1px; MARGIN-TOP: 0; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 8; 
}

.tbordererror
{
	background-color: #FFFFFF;
	color: #000000;
	border: 1px solid #E82A2A;
}

.errorbox
{
	background-color: #FFEAEA;
	color: #333333;
    FONT-SIZE: 11px;
    FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Arial;
}
.tcat
{
	background: #80A9EA url(http://support.360ods.com/themes/client_default//tablebg.gif) repeat-x top left;
    COLOR: #FFFFFF;
	FONT: 12px Verdana, Tahoma;
}

.tabletitlerow
{
	BACKGROUND: #80A9EA url(http://support.360ods.com/themes/client_default//tabledescbg.gif) REPEAT-X TOP LEFT;
    COLOR: #113265;
	FONT: 11px Verdana, Tahoma;
}

.contenttableborder
{
	background: #D1DCEB;
	color: #FFFFFF;
}
.tborder
{
	background-color: #FFFFFF;
	color: #000000;
	border: 1px solid #6393DF;
}
.redtext
{
    FONT-SIZE: 11px;
    COLOR: red;
    FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Arial;
}
.swiftfieldset { margin-bottom: 6px; color: #267DDC; BORDER: 1px SOLID #CCCCCC; -moz-border-radius: 4px 4px 4px 4px; padding: 4px}
.swiftfieldset, .swiftfieldset td, .swiftfieldset p, .swiftfieldset li { FONT: 11px Verdana, Tahoma; }
-->
</style>
<!--<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="all" href="<{$swiftpath}>index.php?_ca=css" />-->
<table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr><td>
    <table width="100%"  border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">

.....  
then the rest of the code per Post.....

khoffman · 11-07-2006, 08:50 AM

I couldn't find a workaround for gmail either. I'd be interested if anyone else has experience in getting around gmail's smart filtering. (Perhaps using javascript to write the CSS? I haven't tried it.)

eiden · 11-07-2006, 09:12 AM

This guide contains a lot of useful info/tips on how to design HTML emails:
http://www.mailchimp.com/resources/h...ail_design.pdf

Look at pages 11 and 29.

This is what the guide says about GMail:

Extremely aggressive spam filters. And very, very little CSS support. It strips embedded CSS, (even if you
keep the CSS out of the <HEAD> tag). It also strips every “class” code that it finds (such as in <span
class=”header”>). To get CSS to work in Gmail, you’ll need to use inline styles.

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version Email this Page	Search this Thread: Advanced Search
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Send Complete History in Staff Replies	puppy	SupportSuite, eSupport and LiveResponse	0	12-12-2006 09:56 PM
Kayako SupportSuite v3.04.10 Stable Build	Varun Shoor	News and Announcements	2	06-10-2006 09:41 PM
Email replies in ticket history	kumann	SupportSuite, eSupport and LiveResponse	0	07-09-2006 11:28 AM
Ticket replies by staff	kumann	SupportSuite, eSupport and LiveResponse	1	01-09-2006 06:02 AM
v3.00.27 Stable Available	Varun Shoor	News and Announcements	1	05-12-2005 09:21 PM

kaviar Offline Member Posts: 112 Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Brisbane, Australia	30-05-2006, 02:10 AM Hi, Has anyone got this working for 3.0.90? Mine doesn't want to show the history. Cheers

kbandrews Offline New Member Posts: 7 Join Date: Jun 2006	05-06-2006, 08:48 AM I haven't been able to get this to work. This really should be an included option, along with allowing you to easily set the number of previous tickets you want to include. Just including the last one would often be enough I think.

elaconethosting Offline New Member Posts: 17 Join Date: Mar 2006	06-06-2006, 06:57 AM Does this actually work? Regards, JJ Elaconet Hosting: www.elaconethosting.com

Tom Sommer Offline New Member Posts: 2 Join Date: Jun 2006	09-06-2006, 08:54 AM Why is <{$post[contents]}> filled with HTML data? That makes it virtually impossible to use it in the plain text part of the template. Also, one could wish there was an easy way to indent the $postdata with ">" in order to signify the ticket history Last edited by Tom Sommer; 09-06-2006 at 09:03 AM.

khoffman Offline New Member Posts: 14 Join Date: May 2006	11-07-2006, 08:50 AM I couldn't find a workaround for gmail either. I'd be interested if anyone else has experience in getting around gmail's smart filtering. (Perhaps using javascript to write the CSS? I haven't tried it.)