Here’s a question for people…
We have access to the Rules UI within the mail template. So we can, theoretically, extend the Rules system to do things that aren’t currently available.
However…
The Rules engine is contained within the router on the server (hence why Rules don’t work with direct to client POP/IMAP mail).
So, if I extend the Rules UI so that it has some extra capability, is it possible to get it triggered? Will the Rules engine trigger whatever code I place in the mail template? Or will it just ignore it?
Anybody tried this yet? Or are any of the Loti able to shed some light? Might save me several days/weeks of forehead to wall interfacing 
Stephen Lister
Subject: Thanks for the help everyone (Was: Extending the Rules system…)
Subject: Extending the Rules system…
I’m pretty sure the resulting rules are just @formulas that are evaluated by the router. I’m pretty confident you could tokenize just about any formula you wanted and get it to work.
If rules don’t work that way, then some poor programmer at Westford probably did a lot of unnecessary work.
Subject: Extending the Rules system…
I have managed to successfully add some new things in the Rules UI and make it work on the clientside - this is because the rules are actived in an agent that triggers before new mail arrives. This will have the effect of exactly what You describe - the POP/IMAP mailusers will not be able to use the new rulefunctions.
But, regarding the rules engine/function on the server - I doubt that this can be easily changed without risking the fact to crash the server. I wouldn’t recommend change this.
hth
Subject: RE: Extending the Rules system…
I wasn’t even considering trying to change the server-side engine
Is this an agent you wrote yourself that you’re referring to, or do you mean that the Rules system is activated by a “Before Mail Arrives” agent? If the second - could you tell me which agent this is please?
And any other insights, tricks and traps that you may have would be greatly appreciated as well. I have to do this in the next week, and any info I can get that will save me time and effort will be invaluable.
Stephen Lister
Subject: RE: Extending the Rules system…
It seems that there isn’t an agent that will take care of the rules. I don’t really know what made my changes work - but all conditions for the ruleshandling seems to be located in the (RulesDlg) | Mailrule form. I only changed a couple of conditions in the form and they seem to be working correctly/as expected.
hth