Sending mail from a CL program

You need to notify someone when a batch job finishes. The shortest route is SNDSMTPEMM, an ordinary CL command that requires nothing to be installed.

DCL VAR(&TIME) TYPE(*CHAR) LEN(6)
RTVSYSVAL SYSVAL(QTIME) VAR(&TIME)

SNDSMTPEMM RCP((operations@company.com))            +
           SUBJECT('Month end close completed')     +
           NOTE('Processing finished at ' *CAT &TIME)

The time comes from RTVSYSVAL on QTIME, a six-character value in HHMMSS form.

To attach a file from the IFS, add ATTACH, with the path, the MIME type and the transfer method: IBM's page says type and method must be given. *PLAIN and *TXT are those for a text file; for a binary file IBM indicates *OCTET and *BIN.

SNDSMTPEMM RCP((operations@company.com))     +
           SUBJECT('Close report')            +
           NOTE('Summary attached.')          +
           ATTACH(('/home/batch/close.csv' *PLAIN *TXT))

Example: the batch that reports how it went

Mail that arrives only when everything went well is worth nothing: nobody notices the mail that did not arrive. The useful one distinguishes the two outcomes.

PGM

  DCL VAR(&TIME) TYPE(*CHAR) LEN(6)

  CALL PGM(PRODLIB/CLOSE)
  MONMSG MSGID(CPF0000) EXEC(DO)
    RTVSYSVAL SYSVAL(QTIME) VAR(&TIME)
    SNDSMTPEMM RCP((operations@company.com))                      +
               SUBJECT('MONTH END FAILED')                        +
               NOTE('Stopped at ' *CAT &TIME *CAT                 +
                    '. Job log needs checking.')
    RETURN
  ENDDO

  RTVSYSVAL SYSVAL(QTIME) VAR(&TIME)
  SNDSMTPEMM RCP((operations@company.com))            +
             SUBJECT('Month end completed')           +
             NOTE('Finished at ' *CAT &TIME)

ENDPGM

The RETURN inside the DO is what stops the success mail going out right behind the failure one. Without it both arrive, and the second erases the first in the reader's head.

Worth putting the outcome in the subject rather than the body: people checking mail on a phone see only that.

Releases. SNDSMTPEMM is present on every release still in support. The real constraint is not the version but the configuration: SMTP started and the profile present in the system directory. Checked with WRKACTJOB SBS(QSYSWRK) and, depending on DIRTYPE, with WRKDIRE and WRKNAMSMTP or with WRKSMTPUSR.

Sources

• IBM Support — SNDSMTPEMM command instructions
• IBM Documentation — Send SMTP E-mail Message (SNDSMTPEMM)