This page is for data modellers, application designers and system administrators. It explains how to create a task plan, which will run one or more tasks.

Overview

When working with data, applications and IT systems, there are routine processes that you need to run. PhixFlow makes it easy for you to set up and manage these processes using task plans, to which you add tasks.

See Also

• Using Tasks and Task Plans
• Task
• Training module 14 Creating Tasks and Task Plans

Running Task Plans

You can run a task plan:

• manually, using the property tab toolbar button  Start.
• automatically at a scheduled date and time, using the Scheduled check box and related Schedule section.
• by linking it to an application action, in the action properties → Run Task Plan section; see Table-Action.
  When the user clicks something in the application, such as a button or a data row, the task plan runs.

When a task plan runs, its tasks are run in the order they are listed.

You can optionally set up a list of users who will receive an email about the outcome of running the task plan.

Task Plan Properties

For information about the properties toolbar, and about the sections Parent Details, Analysis Models, Description and Audit Summary, see Common Properties.  We recommend you always add a Description that explains the purpose of the item you are creating. 

For a full list of all the PhixFlow property tabs and windows, see Properties, Windows, Menus and Toolbars.

The property tab toolbar includes the  Start button. Click this to manually run the task plan.

Basic Settings

Tasks

This section has a toolbar with standard buttons. The grid contains a list of of tasks in the task plan. To create a task and add it to the list:

1. Click  Create New. PhixFlow displays a list of task types; see Types of Task.
2. Select a task type.
3. Complete the task properties; see Task.

To remove tasks, use the toolbar button  Delete.

Schedule

This section is displayed when Basic Settings → Scheduled is ticked. Specify the day and time on which the task plan runs.

In the fields, you can enter:

• an explicit value: 6
• a range: 9-12
• a repeating group: 5/10
  This is equivalent to 5,15,25,35 etc.
• a comma-separated list of single values, ranges or repeating groups: 1,3-5,10,20/5
• a wild card to mean all values: * 
  Note: You cannot use a wild card in the Seconds field.
  
  

Send By Email

You can set up an automated email to be sent with the results of a task plan run.

Emails are generated in an outbound queue and are sent by a separate email demon process. If the demon cannot send the emails immediately, for example, because the email server is down, the email demon process will try to re-send periodically until:

• either it succeeds
• or it exceeds a timeout period.

Field	Description
Email From	Enter the email address from which the generated email will appear to be sent.
Subject Expression	Enter a PhixFlow expression to create the email subject. The expression must evaluate to a plain text string; see Expressions and PhixScripts. Use the internal variables _errors, _warnings, _messages, _suspended  and _taskPlan.
Email as HTML	Untick  to send the body of the email as plain text. If Message Expression contains any HTML tags, they will appear as text in the email.  Tick to send the body of the email as HTML. If Message Expression contains HTML tags, they will be used to format the email text.
Message Expression	Enter a PhixFlow expression to create the message body of the email. Email messages can have unlimited characters. The expression must evaluate to a plain text string; see Expressions and PhixScripts.. When Email as HTML is ticked, the string can include HTML tags, for example to format text or provide links. Use the internal variables _errors, _warnings, _messages,  _suspended and _taskPlan.
Notification	This section has a toolbar with standard buttons. The grid contains a list of the notification rules that belong to the task plan. To create and add a notification to the list, cick  Create New. PhixFlow opens the properties tab for a new User Notification Rule. In Basic Settings →  Email As select one of: TO CC BCC  Optionally add an expression to specify the conditions under which the email is sent. To specify sending an email based on logged messages, use the internal variables:  _errors: to send an email if there are any errors, or more than a specified number of errors  _warnings: to send an email if there are warnings _messages: to send an email if there are any messages _suspended: If you have ticked Suspend on Failure, you must send an email to someone who can resolve the issue that caused the task plan to fail. In the Users section, click  Users to open a list of users. Drag users from the list into the grid.  Click  Apply and Close to save and close the user notification rule. To remove a user notification rule from the task, use the toolbar button  Delete.

Advanced