Setting a Scheduled Task

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Functions

For details about basic introduction and operation methods of the Task Schedule function, see Task Schedule.

Setting a scheduled task includes four procedures as shown in the following figure.

This article will introduce the settings items in these four procedures.

Log into FineBI as the admin, and click Manage > Task Schedule > Task Management > Add Tasks to create a new scheduled task.

Note:

If ordinary users want to set a scheduled task, the admin needs to assign them the using permissions of Task Schedule in Manage. For details, see Scheduled Task Management.

The Basic Setting interface is displayed as follows:

Task Name

Enter the name of the scheduled task.

• Task Name cannot be empty.

• Task Name cannot be the same as the names of other set scheduled tasks, otherwise, a prompt will pop up: The task name already exists.

• Task Name can only contain letters, Chinese characters, numbers, underscores, hyphens, dots, and parentheses.

• The name of the ongoing task cannot be modified.

Default User Group

The purpose of setting the default user group is to send notifications based on the user group members in the fourth step of File Process. Default User Group can be empty.

Click Edit, and you can add default user group members based on User, Dept., and Role.

Click OK to successfully add.

The final user group is the union of the three without duplicates.

There are two ways to add users.

• Platform: Users come from the FineBI system.

• Custom User: Users come from Server Dataset. However, the column data of the selected dataset needs to be the username in the platform, otherwise the task execution will fail.

Dispatcher Object

There are four types of Dispatcher Object: Report Template, Multiselect report template, BI Template, and No Dispatcher Object.

This section only introduces the settings when Object Type is BI Template.

1. No Dispatcher Object

When selecting No Dispatcher Object as Object Type, you can only set Dispatcher Result which is generally used for enterprises to send announcements.

2. Report Template

When selecting Report Template as Object Type, you can select a single FineReport template for pushing, saving, and viewing the execution results of the report.

3. Multiselect report template

When selecting Multiselect report template as Object Type, you can select multiple FineReport templates, but only can use the email to push the execution results of the report.

• The settings for multi-select report templates and single report templates are basically the same. You can configure Set Parameter, File Name, and Accessory Archive separately for each template, and drag and drop to adjust the order of templates.

• If Formula Judgment or Custom Class Judgment is used in the execution condition, and it is related to the template content, only the first selected template is supported.

• In File Process, the Processing method only supports Email Notification, and if a formula is used in the title or body of the email, only the first selected template is supported.

4. BI Template

When selecting BI Template as Object Type, you can select a single FineBI dashboard.

Choosing a Template

The template cannot be empty, you can select the dashboard created in the FineBI project.

Filter Settings

Allow adding filter conditions to the selected dashboard. For example, for the selected dashboard RFM Customer Analysis Model, you can add filter conditions to filter data belonging to 2012.

Note:

1. Filter Setting can be used to filter tables in Public Data, not in My Analysis. This function does not take effect if you select tables in analysis subjects.

2. The account that sets Task Schedule needs to have authorization for the table to filter the table's fields in Filter Setting.

3. If you select Client Notification as Processing Method, Filtering Setting only takes effect on scheduled result links and does not on custom links.

4. The filtering conditions only filter the display results and do not take effect on the alert conditions, that is, warn first, and filter later.

Scheduling Result

Note:

1. If the value of Default User Group in Task Schedule > Basic Setting is empty, the Schedule Result function will be grayed out and unavailable.

2. If you select Generate Result (Except for General Result) Separately Based on User in Default User Group, but you do not have permission to use the tables used in BI Template, you will fail to preview the template.

If you select Generate Result (Except for General Result) Separately Based on User in Default User Group, independent results will be generated for all members in Default User Group.

After this button is selected, different data results can be sent to different users based on the set row and column permissions.

File Name

The name of the generated result file, including the result report and attachments (Excel, Word, PDF), supports formula input, such as ${now()}.

If you do not enter the name, the generated report and attachment names will use the template name (without suffix).

Attachment Archiving

Selectable attachment types include excel and pdf.

If you tick the option in Accessory Archive, attachments in different formats will be generated after the scheduled task is completed.

The attachment content is the content of the selected template. And the attachment is saved in the schedule folder under the directory %BI_HOME%\webapps\webroot\WEB-INF.

File Processing

Allow configuring the logic of File Process, defaulting to Remaining only 1 times.

If Cleaning at the end of the task is selected, all result files (including CPR files and attachments) will be cleared after the task is completed.

Therefore, when the set scheduled task needs to use the scheduled task attachment, such as ticking Email Notification, FTP Upload Attachment, and Custom Attachment Processing in Use Attachments in the File Process step, the result file will be cleaned up and cannot be found. At the same time, when you access Timed Result Link, an error will also occur: Sorry, you cannot view the page, Index: 0, Size: 0. To access, please contact the administrator.

Note:

When the number of generated result reports exceed 10, a prompt will pop up when you click the next step: There is {number} sets of result files expected to be generated, which may cause the calculation to be too large. Do you want to continue? If you click Continue, you will jump to the next step for setting the scheduling cycle.

Interface is as follows:

Start Time

Set the start time for the scheduled task to run.

Start Time supports two types of configurations:

• Immediate execution after configuration: Execute immediately after the scheduled task is set up.

• Set Start Time: Execute the task after the specified start time, allow setting the seconds precision.

Frequency

1. Only Execute Once

The task will only be executed once.

2. Fixed Interval

The execution interval can be set in minutes, hours, days, or weeks.

3. Detailed Frequency Setting

Set the execution frequency in the format of month, day, hour, and minute, which can be freely combined.

Note:

1. After the detail frequency is set, there is no need to tick the box beside the frequency, and all frequencies will take effect.

2. The Delete button below Frequency is not displayed by default. Delete only appears when one or more detail frequencies are ticked.

3. If a scheduling task has multiple detailed frequencies set, the next run time displayed on the Task Management page will be based on the first detailed frequency, but the actual execution time will still be determined by all the detailed values.

If the set detail frequency is not triggered, a pop-up window will prompt: The following execution frequency cannot be triggered. Please check the frequency setting and ensure that there is no conflict with the task start time and end time.

4. Expression Setting

Set the execution frequency through the expression form.

You can manually enter the cron expression, or click View Preset Expressions to directly select the corresponding expression.

Click View Preset Expressions to expand the predefined expressions. Click the text explanation, and the corresponding cron expression will be displayed and saved in the text box above.

If the execution frequency set in Expression Setting cannot be triggered during task execution, a pop-up window will prompt: Format Error.

End Time

End Time includes four settings options: End of the task once it has been executed, Indefinite, Set End Time, and Extra Repeats.

The setting options for End Time will vary depending on the selected Frequency.

For details, see the table below:

Execution Condition

Execution condition refers to the judgment before executing a scheduled task.

The task will only be executed if the condition is met. If not, it will not be executed or will be delayed for a period of time before being verified and executed.

Error Interruption

Interruption Upon Template Error is used to prevent the scheduled delivery of incorrect data to business users when there are problems with the dashboard.

This function is not selected by default. If Interruption Upon Template Error is selected, the execution of the scheduled task will be interrupted if any component error messages in the BI dashboard are detected. For example,

Error messages occur during queries, which is caused by an overloaded system.

The database returns error messages.

The dataset is inactive.

The dataset has never been updated.

Error messages occur with the dataset, and data inside is deleted.

The detail table does not support the N:N relationships.

Note:

The execution of the scheduled task will not be interrupted if the following situations occur.

1. Dashboard components are deleted.

2. Display issues occur on dashboard images.

3. Dashboard web component content is inaccessible.

4. Dashboard filter components are highlighted in red.

Task Restart

Task Restart is a preventive measure designed to automatically restart scheduled tasks that may be interrupted during execution, such as network issues causing email sending failures, and failure to meet execution conditions.

If a scheduled task is interrupted during execution and automatic restart is set, the task will be restarted according to the automatic restart settings until it succeeds or reaches the maximum number of restarts set.

Task Restart is disabled by default.

Restarting a scheduled task follows these rules:

• If Snapshot Generation fails, the corresponding attachment sending will not be executed.

• The restart strategy applies to three types of judgments: condition judgment, snapshot generation, and attachment sending. Each aspect is judged one by one, and if any of them fails, it will be determined whether the restart strategy has been taken.

• During restart, the principle of task minimization is followed: if snapshot generation succeeds, but attachment sending has issues, only the attachment sending needs to be restarted, and only the items that failed to send previously (email, FTP, or custom attachment processing) need to be resent.

There are multiple processing methods in the File Process interface:

Note:

1. When you select No Dispatcher Object as Dispatcher Object, only four processing methods are supported: Platform Notification, Email Notification, SMS Notification, and Client Notification.

2. When you select Multiselect report template as Dispatcher Object, only one processing method is supported: Email Notification.