Understanding scheduling options
Using Visualization Platform, users and administrators can perform basic and advanced scheduling tasks.
Basic scheduling options include:
*Specifying when the design runs, if running the design just once
*Creating a schedule for running the design on a recurring basis
Advanced scheduling options include:
*Submitting a scheduled job when an event occurs
*Specifying privileges on the generated document to share it with other users
*Setting up a job completion or failure notification
*Specifying options for document distribution
*Specifying options for printing the document
This section describes the basic and advanced scheduling options available using Visualization Platform. Options available only to an administrator are labeled as such.
Scheduling options
Basic scheduling options include specifying job priority, when to run the job, and which version of the design file to run, as shown in Figure 3‑1.
Figure 3‑1 Viewing basic scheduling options
Advanced scheduling options include specifying a time zone, scheduling based on an event, and specifying a job‑retry policy, as shown in Figure 3‑2. The Resource Group option shown in Figure 3‑2 is available only to an administrator.
Figure 3‑2 Viewing advanced scheduling options
Table 3‑1 describes the available scheduling options and whether they appear for jobs that use basic or advanced scheduling.
Table 3‑1 Scheduling options
Option
Description
Basic
Advanced
Job name
Enables you to provide a name for the scheduled job.
✓
✓
TimeZone
Enables you to select a time zone based on which a scheduled job runs.
 
✓
Scheduling options—Right now
Enables you to run the job immediately.
✓
✓
Scheduling options—Once
Enables you to run the job once, at a future specified date and time. The default date is the current date.You can use the calendar option # to select a new date. The default time is 10 minutes later than the current time.
✓
✓
Scheduling options—Recurring
Enables you to run the job at regular intervals. You can select the interval in Recurring, specifying the day of the week and the time of day.
✓
✓
Scheduling options—Advanced
Enables you to specify a custom schedule using Job Schedule Builder.
 
✓
Scheduling options—Wait for event
Enables you to set a system event as the criteria for running a job and type a name for the event. You can also select an event type.
 
✓
Scheduling options—File event
Enables you to specify a full path to an operating system file or folder as the event criteria. Do not use a relative path. Visualization Platform runs the event-based job when it finds the file or folder. If the item does not exist, Visualization Platform waits until the item appears before running the job.
 
✓
Scheduling options—Job event
Enables you to specify that a job runs after a scheduled job succeeds or fails. You can select the name of a scheduled job as the event criteria. Visualization Platform runs the event-based job when the scheduled job completes. If a job meets the event-based criteria, Visualization Platform runs the event-based job.
 
✓
Scheduling options—Custom event
Enables you to specify a web service that Visualization Platform monitors. Visualization Platform communicates with the web service and runs a custom event‑based job when the web service returns a signal to Visualization Platform. To specify a custom event, you must create a web service application and deploy it in the Visualization Platform environment. For more information about configuring custom events, see Managing Volumes and Users.
 
✓
Priority
Enables you to specify a priority level for the scheduled job.
✓
✓
Resource Group (Administrator only)
Enables an administrator to select a particular resource group to run a job. The default resource group for running designs is Default BIRT Factory.
 
✓
Retry failed jobs
Enables you to specify a retry policy for a failed job. When scheduling a job, you can specify that Visualization Platform run the job again if it fails. The volume‑level job retry policy specifies the default policy for all jobs on the volume. When you schedule a job, you can accept or override this policy by setting one of the options described in Specifying a job retry policy.
 
✓
Executable version
Enables you to specify the version of the BIRT design to run when there are multiple versions.
✓
✓
Running a job
You can schedule a job to run immediately or at a later scheduled time. You can set a specific time or base it on a system event. If you create a job that uses event‑based criteria and schedule the job to run immediately, the job does not run until the event occurs. If you create a job that uses both a system event and a scheduled time, the job runs when both conditions are fulfilled.
For example, you can schedule a job to run at 4:00 p.m. on Monday if file \\server2\mydocuments\document.xls exists. If the file does not exist at that time, the job remains in the job queue until the file exists. Then, the job runs. If BIRT iHub is not functional when the conditions to run the job are fulfilled, the job runs when BIRT iHub restarts.