1.6 Managing tasks

You can use the task management features of JP1/AO to check the status and progress of tasks, and control task processing.

The following figure shows the general procedure for automating operating procedures, and how it relates to task management.

Figure 1‒9: Flow of operating procedure automation (task management)

Tasks that have finished processing can be moved manually or automatically from the Tasks list to the History list in a process called archiving. Older task histories moved to the History list can be deleted manually or automatically.

The operations you can perform in relation to task management are listed below.

Tip

Of the operations available in the Tasks window, the following can be performed by debug tasks:

Managing task progress
Stopping tasks
Forcibly stopping tasks

For details on how to work with debug tasks, see the JP1/Automatic Operation Service Template Developer's Guide.

Check task statuses

You can check the status and progress of executed tasks. The status of a task changes as the task is processed, transitioning through statuses such as In Progress and Completed.

You can view the status of tasks executed by the logged-in user in the task summary area. In the Tasks window, you can view the status of all tasks in a list, and check the progress of tasks. You can also check the progress of the flow of a selected task in the Flow area.

Provide input to tasks in Waiting for Input status (response entry)

You can enter a response when a task requires input from a user.

When a task requires a user to make a decision or selection, it enters Waiting for Input status. You can identify tasks in this status by checking the task summary, the Dashboard window, or the tasks list.

You can configure JP1/AO to notify users by email when a task enters Waiting for Input status. To use this email notification feature, you need to specify SMTP server settings, user IDs, and other information. If you link with JP1/IM, you can use JP1 events to report that a task has entered Waiting for Input status.

Manage schedules: You can suspend, resume, and cancel tasks that are in Waiting or Suspended status. You can only perform schedule management for tasks in these statuses. To stop a task that has already been executed, you need to perform the operation that stops task execution.

Stop task execution

You can stop a task that is in progress.

When you stop execution of a task, steps that are already in progress will continue processing. Steps that had not started executing are left unexecuted and the task enters Failed or Completed status. Note that if you stop a task that is waiting a user response, an error will occur when the user enters a response in the window.

Forcibly stop task execution

You can forcibly stop a task that is in progress.

When you forcibly stop a task, the task stops after the processing of the step that is in progress is stopped. At this time, the task enters Failed or Completed status. When a task is forcibly stopped, the execution result of the plug-in is not applied to the value of service properties.

If you forcibly stop a task when a content plug-in is in progress, the process tree that is being executed on the target device is immediately forcibly stopped, and command execution results are not guaranteed. For details on how the system operates when the plug-in that is in progress is a basic plug-in, see the topic for each basic plug-in in the manual JP1/Automatic Operation Service Template Reference.

Note that if you forcibly stop a recurring task, subsequent executions of that task are not affected.

Re-execute tasks

Tasks that have stopped processing (tasks in Completed, Failed, or Canceled status) can be executed as a different task with another task ID.

Note that JP1/AO sets Immediate execution as the schedule type for re-executed tasks. Change the schedule type as needed.

Retry tasks

You can try a task again from a failed step, or from the step after the failed step.

You can retry a task with the same property values and task ID as the original. After retrying a task, you can check the history of the retried task in the task log and the public log.

Move (archive) tasks

You can move finished tasks whose result you have viewed to the History list.

JP1/AO is configured to regularly move tasks to the History list.

Delete task histories

You can delete task histories that are no longer of use.

Note that JP1/AO is configured to regularly delete task histories.

Output (export) task lists: You can output lists of tasks and task histories to a file in CSV format. You can then use this file to compile and analyze task statistics, or use it for record-keeping.

Organization of this section