QATrack+ email settings

QATrack+ has the ability to send email notifications when tests are at action or tolerance levels. In order for this to function you need access to an SMTP server that can send the emails for you.

In order to override the default settings, in your local_settings.py file you should set the following variables appropriately.

Email host settings

  • EMAIL_HOST should be set to the SMTP host you are using (e.g. ‘smtp.gmail.com’ or ‘smtp.mail.your.hospital’)
  • EMAIL_HOST_USER this is the default username of the account to access the SMTP server
  • EMAIL_HOST_PASSWORD this is the default account of the account to access the SMTP server
  • EMAIL_USE_TLS set to True to use secure connection when connecting to the server
  • EMAIL_PORT set to the port number to connect to the smtp server on (25 if EMAIL_USE_TLS is False, 587 if True)
  • EMAIL_FAIL_SILENTLY set to False to see error tracebacks when sending an email fails. (should only be used for debugging)

Note that EMAIL_HOST_USER and EMAIL_HOST_PASSWORD can be set to None or “” if no authentication is required.

An example of these settings for a secure connection is shown here (for gmail):

EMAIL_HOST = "smtp.gmail.com"
EMAIL_HOST_USER = 'randle.taylor@gmail.com'
EMAIL_HOST_PASSWORD = 'my_very_secure_password'
EMAIL_USE_TLS = True
EMAIL_PORT = 587

and for an unsecured connection:

EMAIL_HOST = "MYHOSPITALSMTPSERVER"
EMAIL_HOST_USER = None
EMAIL_HOST_PASSWORD = None
EMAIL_USE_TLS = False
EMAIL_PORT = 25

Notification specific settings

These settings allow you to override the default notification settings in your local_settings.py file:

  • EMAIL_NOTIFICATION_USER allows you to use a diferent user from the default set above (set to None to use EMAIL_HOST_USER)
  • EMAIL_NOTIFICATION_PWD password to go along with EMAIL_NOTIFICATION_USER
  • EMAIL_NOTIFICATION_SENDER name to use in the email “From” address
  • EMAIL_NOTIFICATION_SUBJECT_TEMPLATE allows you to override the default template to use for rendering the email subject line (see below)
  • EMAIL_NOTIFICATION_TEMPLATE allows you to override the default template to use for rendering the email body (see below)

An example of these settings is shown here:

#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Email and notification settings
EMAIL_NOTIFICATION_USER = None
EMAIL_NOTIFICATION_PWD = None
EMAIL_NOTIFICATION_SENDER = "Your Custom Name Here"
EMAIL_NOTIFICATION_SUBJECT_TEMPLATE = "my_custom_subject_template.txt"
EMAIL_NOTIFICATION_TEMPLATE = "my_custom_html_email.html"

Email & Subject templates

Emails are generated using the Django template language with the following context available:

  • test_list_instance The TestListInstance object containing information about the test list and unit where the tests were being performed.
  • failing_tests a queryset of all tests that failed.
  • tolerance_tests a queryset of all tests that are at tolerance level.

To create your own templates, use the examples below as a starting point and save them in the qatrack/notifications/templates/ directory and set the filenames for the TEMPLATE settings above.

An example subject template is shown below

{{test_list_instance.work_completed|date:"DATE_FORMAT"}} - {{test_list_instance.unit_test_collection.unit.name }}, {{test_list_instance.test_list.name}} - {% if failing_tests %} Tests at Action: {{failing_tests.count}} {% endif %} {% if tolerance_tests %} Tests at Tolerance: {{tolerance_tests.count}} {% endif %}

An example plain text email template is shown belwo

=== Notifications for {{test_list_instance.test_list.name}} ===

Test List : {{test_list_instance.test_list.name}}
Unit      : {{test_list_instance.unit_test_collection.unit.name}}
Date      : {{test_list_instance.work_completed }}

{% if failing_tests %}
Failing Tests
=============
{% for test_instance in failing_tests %}
    Test  : {{test_instance.unit_test_info.test.name}}
    Value : {{test_instance.value_display}}
    Ref.  : {{test_instance.reference}}
    Tol.  : {{test_instance.tolerance}}
{% endfor %}
{% endif %}

{% if tolerance_tests %}
Tests at Tolerance
==================
{% for test_instance in tolerance_tests %}
    Test  : {{test_instance.unit_test_info.test.name}}
    Value : {{test_instance.value_display}}
    Ref.  : {{test_instance.reference}}
    Tol.  : {{test_instance.tolerance}}
{% endfor %}
{% endif %}