adding switch in Django settings to facilitate turning off XMPP alerts

gracedb/alert.py

@@ -287,6 +287,13 @@ def issuePhoneAlert(event):
 
 def issueXMPPAlert(event, location, alert_type="new", description="", serialized_object=None):
     
+    # Check settings switch for turning off XMPP alerts
+    if not settings.SEND_XMPP_ALERTS:
+        log.debug(("XMPP alert type '{atype}' for event {gid} not sent "
+            "because XMPP alerts are turned off").format(
+            atype=alert_type, gid=event.graceid()))
+        return
+
     nodename = "%s_%s" % (event.group.name, event.pipeline.name)
     nodename = nodename.lower()
     nodenames = [ nodename, ]

settings/default.py

@@ -43,6 +43,8 @@ USE_LVALERT_OVERSEER = True
 LVALERT_OVERSEER_PORTS = {
     'lvalert.cgca.uwm.edu': 8000,
 }
+# Set to false to prevent XMPP alerts from being sent out
+SEND_XMPP_ALERTS = True
 
 EMBB_MAIL_ADDRESS = 'embb@gracedb.ligo.org'
 EMBB_SMTP_SERVER = 'localhost'