Message templates

The message template system allows you to build custom templates for in-app notifications and emails sent by Canopy. Canopy uses a subset of the Jinja2 templating language for building dynamic content in the messages.

Configuration

A message template takes the following values:

• Title

• Message type

• Template content: plain text and/or rich text (HTML)

A number of default message templates are shipped with Canopy, which can be modified by Administrators and Technical Managers via the list at Templates → Messages.

The following screenshot shows a message template being edited for plain text content:

The following screenshot shows the rich text variant:

If you want to disable a particular message, add (DISABLED) to the end of the template’s Message type. Message types are strings used to look up templates. Therefore changing the text to something other than a supported value will effectively disable it. However, we recommend using a sensible tag to ensure it can be easily enabled again in the future.

Templating language

Message templates are written in the Jinja2 templating language. It allows for the dynamic replacement of variable strings with context-specific values, such as inserting a report lead author’s name, among other functions.

Context objects and their fields

The following table contains all context objects and their fields, which are available to templates.

Object field	Type
asset.asset	String
asset.description	String
company.account_manager	User object
company.abbreviation	User object
company.name	String
contact.email	String
contact.external_id	String
contact.name	String
example.asset	String
example.example	String
example.rating	String
example.title	String
example.tool	String
finding.assets	List of asset objects for the finding
finding.cvss2_score	String
finding.cvss2_vector	String
finding.cvss3_score	String
finding.cvss3_vector	String
finding.examples	List of example objects
finding.rating	Finding rating string (Options: Critical, High, Medium, Low, Info)
finding.status	Finding status string (Options: Open, Partially Resolved, Resolved, Out-Of-Scope, False Positive)
finding.title	String
finding.tool	String
phase.all_findings	List of all findings
phase.assets	List of asset objects for the phase
phase.company	Company object
phase.description	String
phase.end_date	Date
phase.findings	List of finding objects for the phase
phase.id	Integer
phase.location	String
phase.location_notes	String
phase.project	Project object
phase.reference	String
phase.report_due_date	Date
phase.sponsor	Contact object
phase.start_date	Date
phase.status	Phase status string (Options: New, Scheduled, Active, Completed, Suspended, Cancelled)
phase.technical_lead	User object
phase.title	String
phase.type	Integer
portal.last_sync	Date and time
portal.name	String
portal.url	String
project.company	Company object
project.end_date	String
project.id	Integer
project.reference	String
project.report_due_date	String
project.status	Project status string (Options: New, Scheduled, Active, Completed, Suspended, Cancelled)
project.start_date	String
project.title	String
report.authors	List of User Objects
report.due_date	Date
report.id	Integer
report.lead_author	User Object
report.project	Project object
report.reference	String
report.title	String
scheduleentry.activity	String
scheduleentry.end_date	Date
scheduleentry.phase	Phase object
scheduleentry.start_date	Date
sow.expiry_date	Date
sow.id	Integer
sow.reference	String
sow.status	Statement of Work status string (New, Open, Pending, Won, Lost, Cancelled)
sow.title	String
userprofile.email	String
userprofile.external_id	String
userprofile.landline	String
userprofile.name	String

Custom fields can also be accessed as defined in Canopy on clients, projects, phases and findings, and will be output as strings.

Usage examples

To access a single field, for example the phase reference of the current phase, you can simply use the following syntax:

{{ phase.reference }}

The following example shows how to output a list of assets associated with the phase for a message template linked to a phase (e.g. email.phase_scheduled):

{% for asset in phase.assets %}
  * {{asset.asset}}
{% endfor %}

The following example shows how one can output the assets associated with all findings (e.g. email.phase_progress_update message template):

{% for finding in phase.findings %}
  * {{finding.title}} ({{finding.rating}} {{finding.status}})
    {% for asset in finding.assets %}
    * {{asset.asset}}
    {% endfor %}
{% endfor %}

Email message templates

Currently all message templates are templates for email messages. This could change in the future.

This section covers topics specific to message templates for emails.

Email subject fields

The template for an email’s subject is defined by the first line of the message template, which starts with “Subject:”. That line and all subsequent empty lines are removed from the template to make the template for the email body. For example:

Subject: Update for phase {{phase.reference}}

Phase {{phase.title}} ({{phase.reference}}) is now {{phase.status}}.

For a phase with reference P-123, an email generated with the above template would have the following subject Update for phase P-123.

The last line of the template will be rendered to form the body of the email.

The subject can be specified in either the plain text or rich text content. When both are present, the former is used.

Plain text and rich text

If a message template has both plain text and rich text content, both will be rendered and included in the email. The version that the email recipient sees depends on their email client settings. See also the section on email subjects.

If only rich text content is specified, a default plain text message of “This is an HTML email.” is included. This message can be customised by changing the RICH_TEXT_EMAIL_PLAIN_TEXT_DEFAULT setting in Canopy’s admin section. This setting is created the first time that an email is sent with only rich text content.

Supported message templates

The message templates below are currently supported in Canopy.

Each section describes the use of the template, who the recipients of rendered messages are, and (importantly) the context data provided to the template when it is being rendered. If applicable, it also describes generated attachments.

Note

All email recipients can be modified by the user sending the email in the Canopy UI.

email.comment.new.report

The template for emails sent periodically to notify users of new comments on reports that they are involved with.

Recipients

A separate email is sent to all authors (including the lead author) of all reports for which there are new comments, excluding the comment author.

Context data

reports

List of reports on which there are new comments.

recipient

User profile of the recipient of the email.

email.phase_completed

A template for emails that are manually sent from the phase view UI, for Completed phases.

Recipients

• To

  • Phase sponsor

  • All contacts associated with the phase

• CC

  • Phase manager

  • Technical lead on the phase

  • The client’s account manager

Context data

phase

Phase object from which the email is sent.

current_user

User profile of the Canopy user sending the email.

email.phase_progress_update

A template for emails that are manually sent from the phase view UI in Canopy, for Active phases.

Recipients

• To

  • Phase sponsor

  • All contacts associated with the phase

• CC

  • Phase manager

  • Technical lead on the phase

  • The client’s account manager

Context data

phase

Phase object from which the email is sent.

current_user

User profile of the Canopy user sending the email.

email.phase_scheduled

A template for emails that are manually sent from the phase view UI in Canopy, for Scheduled phases.

Recipients

• To

  • Phase sponsor

  • All contacts associated with the phase

• CC

  • Phase manager

  • Technical lead on the phase

  • The client’s account manager

Context data

phase

Phase object from which the email is sent.

current_user

User profile of the Canopy user sending the email.

email.phase_starting

A template for emails that are manually sent from the phase view UI in Canopy, for Active phases.

Recipients

• To

  • Phase sponsor

  • All contacts associated with the phase

• CC

  • Phase manager

  • Technical lead on the phase

  • The client’s account manager

Context data

phase

Phase object from which the email is sent.

current_user

User profile of the Canopy user sending the email.

email.phase_suspended

A template for emails that are manually sent from the phase view UI in Canopy, for Suspended phases.

Recipients

• To

  • Phase sponsor

  • All contacts associated with the phase

• CC

  • Phase manager

  • Technical lead on the phase

  • The client’s account manager

Context data

phase

Phase object from which the email is sent.

current_user

User profile of the Canopy user sending the email.

email.report.due_today

The template for emails sent to inform report lead authors of reports that are due on the day.

Recipients

• To

  • Due report’s lead author.

Context data

report

Report that is due today.

recipient

Report lead author’s user profile.

email.report.generated

The template for emails sent to inform report authors that a report has been generated.

Recipients

A separate email is sent to:

• The Canopy user that initiated the report generation.

• All Technical Managers of all phases included in the generated report.

Context data

report

Report that was generated.

recipient

User profile of the email recipient.

email.report.overdue

The template for emails sent periodically to notify lead authors of an overdue report.

Recipients

A separate email sent to the lead author of each overdue report.

Context data

report

Report that is overdue.

recipient

Report lead author’s user profile.

email.report.overdue_summary.account_managers

The template for emails summarising overdue reports, sent periodically to account managers.

Recipients

The account manager of the client that will eventually receive the report.

Context data

reports

List of reports that are overdue.

recipient

User profile of the account manager of the report’s client.

email.report.overdue_summary.technical_managers

The template for emails summarising overdue reports, sent periodically to Technical Managers.

Recipients

A separate email is sent to each active Technical Manager Canopy user.

Context data

reports

List of reports that are overdue.

recipient

User profile of the recipient Technical Manager.

email.report.pr_required

The template for notification emails sent to potential report PR reviewers, when a report becomes available for review.

Recipients

A separate email is sent to each Canopy user who has been granted the PR reviewers role.

Context data

action_user

User profile of the user that requested the PR.

report

Report that is available for PR review.

recipient

User profile of the recipient reviewer.

email.report.qa_required

The template for notification emails sent to potential report QA reviewers, when a report becomes available for review.

Recipients

A separate email is sent to each Canopy user who has been granted the QA reviewers role.

Context data

action_user

User profile of the user that requested the PR.

report

Report that is available for QA review.

recipient

User profile of the recipient reviewer.

email.report.synced.distributionlist

The template for emails sent to contacts on a report’s distribution list, to notify that a report has been synced to a Canopy portal, and is available for download.

Recipients

A separate email is sent to each contact on a report’s distribution list, for each report that was synced to a Canopy portal.

Context data

report

Report that was synced to the portal.

portal

Portal that the report was synced to.

recipient

Contact being notified of the available report.

email.report.workflow.*

Templates for emails sent a report’s workflow state changes. This applies to all of the following message template types:

• email.report.workflow.accept_pr

• email.report.workflow.accept_qa

• email.report.workflow.approve_pr

• email.report.workflow.cancel

• email.report.workflow.complete

• email.report.workflow.create

• email.report.workflow.redo_pr

• email.report.workflow.reject_pr

• email.report.workflow.reject_qa

• email.report.workflow.request_pr

• email.report.workflow.request_qa

• email.report.workflow.reset

Recipients

The lead author of the report that transitioned in its review workflow.

Context data

report

Report that transitioned.

action_user

User profile of the Canopy user that triggered the workflow transition.

recipient

User profile of the report’s lead author.

email.scheduler.new_assignment

The template for emails sent to Canopy users, to notify them of being assigned to project phase via the scheduler.

Recipients

The Canopy user that was assigned to project phase on the scheduler.

Context data

phase

Project phase that the recipient has been assigned to.

entry

Schedule entry that was created.

Attachments

• An iCalendar file, created from the schedule entry information, which the recipient can import into their calendar software.

email.scheduler.phase_updated

The template for emails sent to Canopy users, to notify them of the rescheduling of a scheduled phase or their assignment thereto.

Recipients

A separate email is sent to each Canopy user whose scheduled assignment changed because of the rescheduling.

Context data

phase

Project phase that the recipient has been assigned to.

entry

Schedule entry that was created.

Attachments

• An iCalendar file, created from the updated schedule entry information, which the recipient can import into their calendar software.

email.scheduler.project_updated

The template for emails sent to Canopy users, to notify them of the rescheduling of a scheduled project. This likely implies the rescheduling of associated project phases, and all user assignments to those project phases.

Recipients

A separate email is sent to each user that is assigned to any phase of the rescheduled project.

Context data

project

Project that was rescheduled.

entries

List of schedule entries for the user that was affected by rescheduling the project.

Attachments

• An iCalendar file, created from the schedule entries, which the recipient can import into their calendar software.

email.sow.generated

The template for emails sent to inform interested users that a SoW has been generated.

Recipients

A separate email is sent to:

• The Canopy user that initiated the SoW generation.

• All Canopy users that have permissions on the SoW that was generated.

Context data

sow

SoW that was generated.

recipient

User profile of the email recipient.

email.sow.synced.distributionlist

The template for emails sent to contacts on a SoW’s distribution list, to notify that a SoW has been synced to a Canopy portal, and is available for download.

Recipients

A separate email is sent to each contact on a SoW’s distribution list, for each SoW that was synced to a Canopy portal.

Context data

sow

SoW that was synced to the portal.

portal

Portal that the report was synced to.

recipient

Contact being notified of the available report.

Message template plugins

Canopy ships with the following plugins that can be used:

Plugin name	Description	Related documentation (where applicable)
email auto-cc	The email auto CC (and BCC) plugin allows users to set default CC/BCC email addresses, and optionally link these to message templates. This allows users to control default recipients of emails (e.g. notify your SOC when a test is due to start).	Email auto-CC

For custom plugin development, see Writing plugins.