Date attributes are a special case in Asset Bank in that it is possible to configure rules that are automatically triggered on the date defined in the value of the attribute.

Each rule is triggered automatically per item on a certain date, according to the value of the attribute on the asset. A common example would be to automatically send an email to users when an asset is close to its expiry date.

Rules on datepicker attributes are run at midnight on trigger dates, and rules on datetime attributes are run at the exact time when one or more item datetime attributes trigger the rule.

You will notice that in Admin > Attributes >Manage Attributes any date attributes, will have an 'edit rules' link alongside them:

Clicking this link takes you to the Attribute Rules page, where you can manage any existing rules configured for that attribute, or create new ones. There are 2 types of rule available:

Send email rule

An email is sent a given number of days before or after the set date. For example, this may be used to send an alert to a group of users when an item is near its expiry date.

Click on the 'Add a new Send Email rule' on the Attribute rules page to take you to the Add Send Email Rule page.

Here you can define whether the rule is enabled, a name for the rule, when the email will be sent, the message in the email and who the email should be sent to. Please note, the final option of the 'Other recipients' list, "Email the last user who approved the asset" refers to the approval of the asset during upload (i.e. it does not relate to approval of downloads).

Change attribute value rule

Change the value of another attribute of the item when the set date is reached. For example, this may be used to control the Active status for an item for given user groups, to make Activation date and Expiry date work.

Click on the 'Add a new Change Attribute Value rule' on the Attribute rules page to take you to the Add Change Attribute Value Rule page.

Again, you can define whether the rule is switched on (tick the enabled box) and a name for the rule. You can also specify which attribute you want to change the value of, and the value that it should be set to.

Attribute changes can optionally be applied to all parent/child assets, however, if a parent or child asset already has a value for the underlying attribute (for example, if they already have an expiry date set for them), then the change will not be applied to that asset.

The 'Action on assets' field gives you the choice of a number of additional actions that you can perform when the rule is triggered, such as restricting the asset, or marking it as sensitive.