Send/Not Send to a List based on a third value

Question

We have an email that will be sent to a list once a week. That email pulls in outside xml feed of current product info.

Automating this is easy but what if I want to stop the email send for a given week because there is no new xml data? (without manually going into the UI and pausing the schedule.)

a) if I populate a general data extension with a bit value (1 or 0) can I query that value in the automation to send or not send to a list?

b) I thought I could negate the UI automation and just do an API send to a list according to my own server schedule. Then I could use my own server side script to determine if an email should be sent that week to the list. -My Problem is I can't find API code that lets me send a specific email to a specific list. I only see triggered sends that sends to subscribers one-by-one.

I don't favor one idea over the other. I simply don't see away to dynamically SEND/NOT SEND to a list without updating a field for each individual subscriber.

Any input is appreciated.

Answer 1

You could create a custom setting (Setup > Develop > Custom Settings) that would allow you to turn on/off the email for the week before sending. The code might start out like this:

global class SendMessages implements Database.Batchable<SObject>, Database.Scheduleable {
    integer queryLimit;
    global SendMessages() {
        queryLimit = Test.isRunningTest()? 200: (SendMessages__c.getOrgDefaults().SendMessages__c? 0: 50000000);
    }
    // Your other code here
}

This constructor will set the query limit to 0 if no message is to be sent, 200 if it is a test method call, and 50,000,000 otherwise. This would allow you to keep the schedule and send the message weekly as appropriate.

Answer 2

You can create a custom webservice method that your server could call to kick off the batch class that sends emails. This reduces the number of API calls you need to two (one to log in, one to kick off the batch process).

global class BatchStart {
    global webservice void sendEmails() {
        Database.executeBatch(new SendMessages());
    }
}

Answer 3

You could use a custom object with a long text area to store the previous week's XML data (assuming you're gathering it from a resource in Apex Code), query that XML data and compare it to the current week's XML data, and if they are equal, not call the batch class. It might look like this:

global void execute(Database.SchedulableContext sc) {
    String thisWeekData = RemoteCall.getXMLData();
    try {
        XML_Data__c lastWeek = [SELECT Id, XML_Data__c FROM XML_Data__c ORDER BY CreatedDate DESC LIMIT 1];
        if(lastWeek.XML_Data__c == thisWeekData) {
            return;
        }
    } catch(exception e) { /* Ignore query error */ }
    // Assume we have constructor to store data
    Database.executeBatch(new SendMessages(thisWeekData));
}