Scheduling Background Tasks (Developer/Administrator)

The application runs reports as background tasks that are placed on a "queue" to be run in order. You can also set up other tasks to run in the background. The TaskMan Windows service polls the list of Active Background Tasks and executes any new task that is posted to the queue with a status of READY.

SQL Server Agent must be running on the database server in order to perform background processing.

For more information about TaskMan, see the Infor SyteLine Administration Guide or the Reporting Guide.

Create a Background Task

1. Create a new record on the Background Task Definitions form.
2. Specify a task name (for example, RunCustomerOrderReport) and description.
3. Specify an executable:
   • For a report, specify the name of the report (for example, CustomerOrder) in the Executable Name field and the type of executable (RPT) in the Executable Type field.
   • For a stored procedure, specify the procedure name in the Executable Name field and select SP in the Executable Type field.
   • For an executable program, specify the program name and path (for example, c:\Infor\myprog) in the Executable Name field and select EXE in the Executable Type field.
   • For an IDO method, specify the method name (in the format IDO.Method - for example, MyProgID.SLSites.MyTestMethod) in the Executable Name field and select IDOMTH in the Executable Type field.
4. Click the buttons on the form to specify any report options or excluded tasks.
5. Save the record.

Your new background task can be called from any form as an event handler.

Check to See if the Task is Running

When TaskMan starts a task, it updates the Started field in the Status Information group box. If the Completed field is blank, the task is still running.

Also, you can see which tasks are currently running by opening the Active Background Tasks form.

View Details About the Completed Task

After TaskMan has completed the task, even if it fails, you can view details about its execution on the Background Task History form. Details include:

• Task description
• Return status
• User who submitted the task
• Messages triggered by the task

Returning Error Information from an Executable

To get information back to TaskMan from an executable, use any of these methods in the EXE:

• Put a message in the ProcessErrorLog table. These messages appear in the Task Messages tab on the Background Task History form.
• Print the error message in a file called
  
  taskman-install-directory\Output\task-name_task-number.txt
  
  (for example, C:\Program Files\Infor\SyteLine\Output\APChecks_435.txt) TaskMan will use this as an error message in the Background Task History.
• Return an integer error code. TaskMan puts the EXE return code in the BGTaskHistory table, with return code 0 indicating success.

Related Topics

Modifying Forms to Submit Tasks to the Background Queue