WFFM Asynchronous/Batched Send Email Message Save Action

Question

We have a client that makes use of the Send Email Message Save Action with WFFM 8.1 r 150323. The problem is that the mail server responsible for sending the email is horribly slow. While this is a problem in and of itself, I was curious if there was a solution to get around the deficiency.

It seems that there are two options:

1. Find a built-in option to solve the problem.
2. Modify the processMessage pipeline to replace SendEmail with a custom sender that kicks off a Sitecore Job which sends the email.
3. Modify the processMessage pipeline to replace SendEmail with a custom sender that stores the required information, and implement an agent which reads these and processes unsent messages in bulk.

I don't think a built-in solution exists, but it's worth a try. Barring a small miracle, does anyone have a preference for the custom processMessage idea, or another solution?

Answer 1

Since WFFM 8.0 Update-3 the module no longer uses the "remoteWfmService" web-service and instead uses the event queue via the Core database to communicate. From the release notes:

The WFFM security for multiserver configuration has been improved. Sitecore EventQueue is now used and the "remoteWfmService" web-service has been removed.(24829)

This change brings with it the ability to perform a Save Action on the CM server, effectively meaning that the Send Email action is deferred and processed at a later stage, allowing all other save actions to process and the form submission to continue as normal.

Assuming you have followed the installation guide correctly, in particular section "1.2.2 Configuring the CD server", one of the steps listed is:

In the \Website\App_Config\Include\Sitecore.Forms.Config file,

• Add the following node to the section: <setting name="WFM.IsRemoteActions" value="true" />

Now on your Send Email Save Action ensure that Client Action is not checked.

If this field is checked, it will cause the Save Action to run immediately on the CD server. Leaving it unchecked means it is added to the Event Queue and processed by the CM server.

You can read more in the save action item fields document:

Client Action

This field is only used in the staging environment. If this check box is cleared, this save action is transferred from the Slave to the Master server and is performed there. If this check box is selected, a save action is performed on the Slave server.

This should ensure that the form submission occurs immediatelty and any delays due to the mail server are not visible to the user.

Answer 2

Out of the box

I think you're right. I don't know of any way to make WFFM Save Action run async either.

Override SendMail

I wouldn't create a job. I would probably just override SendEmail to fire off the message async, like described (among other places) here: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/8747483/proper-way-to-asynchronously-send-an-email-in-asp-net-am-i-doing-it-right

In essence, something along these lines:

using (var smtpClient = new SmtpClient())
{
    await smtpClient.SendMailAsync(message);
}

Custom sender, processor, bulk and so on

This, I believe, would be overkill. But there is an out-of-the-(Windows)-box solution you could consider.

Use the local SMTP service available on any Windows machine. Configure it to act as a relay to the real SMTP service (the slow one). The built-in one stores mails locally, and will dispatch them as quickly as it can. In essence doing the steps you considered yourself.

See also:

• How to Create a SMTP Server on Your Computer
• How to Install and Configure SMTP Server on Windows Server 2012 R2