The Cactusoft Email Search Agent is an optional extra for Parodia which lets your site visitors specify criteria for jobs they wish to be emailed with. The system combines some ASP scripts on the web site with an executable program which runs on the server or on any other machine connected to the internet. How it works The exe application calls two pages on the web site, one which passes all the search profiles and the other which passes other information for use in the email, such as header and footer text and the subject line. The exe application then works through the list of profiles, running searches against the web database and formatting the results into an email which it sends to the candidate. Each job has a direct link to the job on the web site so recipients can click on the link to apply for the job just as they would while searching on the site.
Executable programs are faster and more reliable than web scripts, especially for longer processes.
But ASPs have the advantage of being permitted to run on shared web servers by web hosts. They are also easier to modify and customize since full source code is available. It then connects to the site owner's mail server to send each mail to the candidates. The exe settings are stored in a text file which the application reads when it loads. The ASPs tie into the config.asp file on the web site and can be easily modified to reflect changes in the database fields or search criteria used by the web site.