Contact actions

Contact actions allow to execute scripts for contacts. In addition, it is possible to display a form on the contact page or above the detail search in scope of a contact action. They are assigned to persons or companies of customer groups.

Contact actions can be either automatically executed when a certain event occurs or be executed manually by a user in the Web Client.

The following types of actions are available:

• Automatic actions: Action executed automatically when a contact is created, modified or deleted, or when a contact relation is created or deleted.
• Manual actions: Action available on the contact or detail search page for manual execution. It is shown in the Activities box in the upper right corner of the Web Client. Manual actions on the contact page apply to the current contact. Search actions apply to the checked results of the open detail search results tab.

Manual actions can include a form, which is displayed at the top of the page and needs to be filled out to perform the action.

The availability of the action can be determined by script. If the condition script returns true, automatic actions are executed and manual actions are shown in the Web Client.

Users need the permission Execute activities for the customer group in order to perform manual and search actions.

Examples for contact actions are actions to update contact data from an external system, or to create a case based on certain parameters which are entered in the action form.

Settings for contact actions

The following settings are available for contact actions in the Basic tab.

• Internal name: Mandatory. The technical name of the contact action.
• Type: Mandatory. The usage of the contact action. Possible values are:
  • Creation action: Executed automatically when a contact is created.
  • Update action: Executed automatically when a contact is updated, i.e. its data is modified, or comments or attachments are added or removed.
  • Deletion action: Executed automatically when a contact is deleted.
  • Relation action: Executed automatically when a relation to the contact is created or deleted.
  • Manual action: Executed manually on the contact page of the Web Client.
  • Search action: Executed manually for detail search results in the Web Client. The contact action is available when the tab with of the person or company from the customer group which has the action assigned is selected.
• Condition script: Optional. The script of the type Contact condition or Search condition for contacts which is executed to determine if the action is performed or not. For automatic actions, the action script is only executed if the condition script returns true. Manual and search actions are only displayed if the condition script returns true.
• Action script: Mandatory except for manual actions with form. The script of the type Contact action or Search actions for contacts which is executed.
• Used in customer groups: Read-only. Shows the customer groups which have the action assigned.
• Localized name: Mandatory. The localized name of the contact action. Displayed in the Web Client for manual and search actions.
• Localized description: Optional. The localized description of the contact action. Displayed as tooltip in the Web Client for manual actions and search actions.

Settings for actions forms

For manual and search actions, the Form tab is available. It allows to select a form which should be displayed when executing the action (optional). The following settings are available:

• Action form: Optional. The action form which is displayed when the user clicks the action. The action script is executed after saving the form.
• Form condition script: Optional. Script of the type Action form condition, which determines if the form is shown.
• Form prefill script: Optional. Script of the type Action form prefill, which prefills form fields with certain values.
• Required fields: Optional. Select the fields which should be required in the form.

Basic tasks

Using contact actions

Please perform the following steps to use a contact action:

1. Create a script of the type Contact action or Search action for contacts, see Action scripts. This can be done either on the Scripts page or by entering the desired name in the Action script selector and choosing the create option.
2. If needed, create a script of the type Contact condition or Search condition for contacts, see Action scripts. This can be done either on the Scripts page or by entering the desired name in the Condition script selector and choosing the create option.
3. Create a contact action on the Contact actions page.
4. Assign the contact action to a customer group on the Customer groups page, see Customer groups.

Managing contact actions

Contact actions are managed on the Contact actions page of the Web Admin Suite. The following actions are available:

• Create a new contact action: Click the New action button above the list of contact actions or duplicate an existing contact action by clicking the Duplicate icon of an action. Provide the required settings in the Basic tab (see Settings for contact actions), and define an action form in the Form tab if needed (only manual or search actions, see Settings for actions forms).
• Edit a contact action: Click the Edit icon or contact action's row and update the desired data in the Basic tab (see Settings for contact actions) and Form tab (see Settings for actions forms).
• Deactivate a contact action: You can deactivate contact actions by clicking the Deactivate icon. If you deactivate a contact action, you cannot assign it to customer groups anymore. If the action is already assigned to a customer group, it is ignored, i.e. an automatic action is not executed, and a manual or search action is not shown in the Web Client.
• Activate a contact action: You can activate contact actions which are deactivated by clicking the Activate icon.
• Delete a contact action: You can delete a contact action which is not assigned to any customer group by clicking the Delete icon.

Advanced tasks

Working with contact action scripts

The following scripts are relevant for contact actions:

• Contact action: Main script executed when a manual and automatic action is performed.
• Search action for contacts: Main script executed when a search action is performed.
• Contact condition: Script which determines if a manual action is shown in the Web Client, or if an automatic action is executed. Must return true or false.
• Search condition for contacts: Script which determines if a search action is show in the Web Client. Must return true or false.
• Action form condition: Script which determines if an action form is displayed for a manual or search action. Must return true or false.
• Action form prefill: Script which prefills the action form with certain values.

You can find details about programming action scripts in Action scripts.