DNN attach file to Notification

Question

I am using DNN 9 and I want to send a notification with an attachment file, but seems that DNN doesn't allow to do that.

Is there is a way (or any workaround) to do that?

Here is the DNN code of the NotificationsController

and here is my code that calls the DNN code

//...
Notification dnnNotification = new Notification
{
    NotificationTypeID = notification.NotificationTypeId,
    From = notification.From,
    Subject = notification.Subject,
    Body = notification.Body
};
NotificationsController.Instance.SendNotification(dnnNotification, portalId, dnnRoles, dnnUsers);

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered May 22 '19 at 22:52

You cannot attach a file to a notification in DNN. BUT, you can add custom notification actions to a notification type. These actions result in links added under the notification (like the default "Dismiss" action to mark the notification as "read").

In order to send a notification, you need to create a NotificationType to associate that to. The NotificationTypeAction are added to the type. So whenever you send a notification of a certain type, the actions go with it.

You could create a NotificationTypeAction and name it "Download Attachment". When a user clicks the link, it will call a custom api service. That service could serve up the file.

Here is some sample code in which I create a custom type with 1 custom action:

public void AddNotificationType()
{
    var actions = new List<NotificationTypeAction>();
    var deskModuleId = DesktopModuleController.GetDesktopModuleByFriendlyName(Constants.DESKTOPMODULE_FRIENDLYNAME).DesktopModuleID;

    var objNotificationType = new NotificationType
    {
        Name = Constants.NOTIFICATION_FILEDOWNLOAD,
        Description = "Get File Attachment",
        DesktopModuleId = deskModuleId
    };

    if (NotificationsController.Instance.GetNotificationType(objNotificationType.Name) == null)
    {
        var objAction = new NotificationTypeAction
        {
            NameResourceKey = "DownloadAttachment",
            DescriptionResourceKey = "DownloadAttachment_Desc",
            APICall = "DesktopModules/MyCustomModule/API/mynotification/downloadfile",
            Order = 1
        };
        actions.Add(objAction);

        NotificationsController.Instance.CreateNotificationType(objNotificationType);
        NotificationsController.Instance.SetNotificationTypeActions(actions, objNotificationType.NotificationTypeId);
    }
}

Then use code like the following to send the notification:

public void SendNotification(UserInfo userToReceive)
{
    // Get the notification type; if it doesn't exist, create it
    ModuleController mCtrl = new ModuleController();
    var itemAddedNType = NotificationsController.Instance.GetNotificationType(Constants.NOTIFICATION_FILEDOWNLOAD);
    if (itemAddedNType == null) 
    { 
        AddNotificationType();
        itemAddedNType = NotificationsController.Instance.GetNotificationType(Constants.NOTIFICATION_FILEDOWNLOAD);
    }


    if (itemAddedNType != null)
    {
        Notification msg = new Notification
        {
            NotificationTypeID = itemAddedNType.NotificationTypeId,
            Subject = "A file is ready to download.",
            Body = alertBody,
            ExpirationDate = DateTime.MaxValue,
            IncludeDismissAction = true,
        };

        List<UserInfo> sendUsers = new List<UserInfo>();
        sendUsers.Add(userToReceive);

        NotificationsController.Instance.SendNotification(msg, itemModule.PortalID, null, sendUsers);
    }
}

For a full tutorial on DNN Notifications, I highly recommend subscribing to DNNHero.com and watching this 3-part series which comes with sample code.

https://www.dnnhero.com/Premium/Tutorial/ArticleID/265/DNN-Notifications-Introduction-Part-1-3

DNN attach file to Notification

1 Answers1