add section to add list of attachments for sending email in email workflow

[xshadowlegendx]

Summary

under the email body, there is a button to add email attachments. the attachment can be a link or file from the Directus file library and the link can insert sth like {{$trigger.payload.file_url_from_a_field}}, then when the flow is triggered, it will download those files and attach it to the email

Basic Example

No response

Motivation

an email workflow is one of the important tasks for staff to use to create some data and able to send attachments along. another use case is job application form submission, for example, sending the job application email to HR with a resume attached or generally building any form that requires sending some file via email

Detailed Design

Directus already used NodeMailer to send email and NodeMailer supports sending attachments out of the box so for the backend we can update the email workflow API to accept a list of attachments, read those files' URLs to download them, and attach them to the email.

for the web UI under the email body section, add a button to add attachments, each attachment has a remove button and a dropdown to select whether to choose the same file from the Directus file library or enter the file URL, the manually enter file URL part can also use the {{$trigger.payload.file_url_from_a_field}} syntax to inject file URL dynamically and if the injected URL is file from Directus, it will download from Directus otherwise just download from other server assuming it is allowed.

there should also be validation on the frontend and backend to ensure the user does not attach too many files and check for maximum total size since we should keep email content light as well

Requirements List

Must Have:

• button to add an attachment
• button to remove attachment
• able to add multiple attachments
• add an attachment by entering the file download URL
• get file URL dynamically from trigger payload
• download those files and add them as email attachments

Should Have:

• file attachment can be chosen from the Directus file library
• validate maximum file attachment allowed
• validate total maximum attachment size

Could Have:

Won't Have:

Drawbacks

Directus already has many great features and made user and developer experiences great but I think this is a another great feature to have and implementing this would give Directus ++ more points in user experience

Alternatives

this feature can be implemented using Run Script with someone who knows some code but this could be another great feature for a user who has little to no coding knowledge and can just create the email flow, fill in some title, subject, recipient, body and lastly nice button to click to add attachments and also simplify processing of building form to submit and send email alert

Adoption Strategy

this will be an add-on feature that will not introduce any breaking changes I think and I would like to contribute to this feature as well if this is approved and allowed

Unresolved Questions

No response