Software: VisualCron 5.8. on Windows Server 2008.

Jobs were exported from a server with VisualCron 5.6.9 that was running on Windows Server 2003.
A number of difficulties were experienced when attempting to get the exported jobs to run successfully once imported to the new server with VisualCron 5.8.

Only after we ignored the imported jobs and tasks and just re-created them did they run without failing.

All appears to be good until we try to prevent specific jobs from running.

VisualCron Triggers are in place so that when one job completes, the next will automatically start (upon completion of the prior one).
With 5.6.9 we could simply "Inactivate" a job and that job with it's one underlying task would not run.
With this latest install, once the prior job completes, the following Inactive job will automatically change to Active and run.
It still happens if i switch off the trigger.

At this stage, I have no way of running one job without all other jobs that would usually follow also running.
At the moment, I have to be ready to kill services.

Suggestions?
Thanks
Dom

Hi Dom,

your post is somewhat confusing to me 😕

If we put it down to one line, is your problem the following:

1. I can't deactivate a Job
2. Nothing happens when I deactivate a Job
3. A Job is run even though it is deactivated

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1. I can't deactivate a Job - Correct, I can't de-activate jobs.
2. Nothing happens when I deactivate a Job. - When I have selected the "Inactivate" option, the job still runs.
3. A Job is run even though it is deactivated - correct.

Thanks
Dominic

Inactivating a Job does not Stop a Job. You should use Stop Job to stop a Job. Inactivate prevents a Job from being started.

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Yes, understood.
Preventing a Job from running is exactly what I want to do.
The problem is that Inactivate is not preventing the job from running.

We have about 25 jobs that usually run one after another.
Sometimes it is necessary to just run job on it's own and not all 25.
To prevent the job that would usually follow from also running we'd historically use "Inactivate" so it wouldn't start.

I can't understand why i can't prevent a job from running by using Inactivate.

Thanks
Dominic

End of the day here. I can arrange a Webex session tomorrow if you wanted to see for yourself?

Alternatively, any other information I can give you that might contribute to a diagnosis, please let me know.

Thanks
Dominic

We tried to reproduce this by creating two Jobs:

1. Job 1 "Starter". A simple job with no Tasks
2. Job 2 "Start me". A simple job with not Tasks and using a "Job completed" VisualCron Trigger on "Starter" job

We inactivated Job 2 and ran Job 1. Job 2 was not started. We activated Job 2 again and ran Job 1. Now Job 2 was started.

Please let us know if this was what you meant?

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Yes, that is a basic replication.

Each Job contains one execute task to update data in a report.

Let me know if there is any more info.

My suspicion is that exporting the Jobs from our prior version of VisualCron is causing the issue.
I may wipe the slate clean and start again with a fresh install and set up jobs from scratch without importing them.

Regards
Dominic

Yes, please do that - if you are able to perform the same operation we did - which should work.

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I have created two simple test jobs both without tasks.
Test 1 and Test 2.

Test 2 has a VisualCron trigger set so that it will kick off once Test 1 Completes.
I Inactivate Test 2.

I then run Test 1 and it runs and unfortunately Test 2 immediately follows.

So my problem still occurs.

It does not make sense. It does not run for us (job 2). And, an important part is that "last run" is not updated in the file you exported on job number 2. Like the job number 2 has never been run at your and as well - which seems logical to me.

There must be something else, and you need to verify some other ways that, Job 2 is running.

Try it again and verify:

1. that last run is updated on job 2
2. check the log file as well if job 2 is run there

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The Last Run date on screen updates to an identical date and time for both Job 1 and Job 2.


Interesting that the log file indicates it was trying to start Test Job 2 but it was already running.

The Log file from last week's test run:

16/09/2011 7:48:04 PM Info Job started: Test Job 1
16/09/2011 7:48:04 PM Info User "VisualCron Default Admin" - Ran Job: Test Job 1
16/09/2011 7:48:04 PM Info Skipping Condition check because the Job was run manually.
16/09/2011 7:48:04 PM Info Job: Test Job 1 had no Tasks.
16/09/2011 7:48:04 PM Info Job started: Dependant Job to follow
16/09/2011 7:48:04 PM Info Job: Dependant Job to follow had no Tasks.
16/09/2011 7:48:04 PM Info Job was not started because it was already running (Dependant Job to follow)
16/09/2011 7:48:04 PM Info Job was not started because it was already running (Test Job 2)
16/09/2011 7:48:04 PM Info Job was not started because it was already running (Test Job 2)
16/09/2011 7:48:04 PM Info Job completed: Test Job 1
16/09/2011 7:48:04 PM Info Job completed: Dependant Job to follow

Repeating the test this morning:

19/09/2011 11:42:07 AM Info Job started: Test Job 1
19/09/2011 11:42:07 AM Info User "VisualCron Default Admin" - Ran Job: Test Job 1
19/09/2011 11:42:07 AM Info Skipping Condition check because the Job was run manually.
19/09/2011 11:42:07 AM Info Job: Test Job 1 had no Tasks.
19/09/2011 11:42:07 AM Info Job started: Dependant Job to follow
19/09/2011 11:42:07 AM Info Job: Dependant Job to follow had no Tasks.
19/09/2011 11:42:07 AM Info Job was not started because it was already running (Dependant Job to follow)
19/09/2011 11:42:07 AM Info Job was not started because it was already running (Test Job 2)
19/09/2011 11:42:07 AM Info Job was not started because it was already running (Test Job 2)
19/09/2011 11:42:07 AM Info Job completed: Dependant Job to follow
19/09/2011 11:42:07 AM Info Job completed: Test Job 1

Something is strange with your setup.

I see 2 Jobs except Test Job 1:

1. Dependant Job to follow
2. Test Job 2

Maybe you cloned the first Job or did something special here?

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Right-click within the jobs pane gives me the option to Add Job.
I name it Test Job 2 leaving all defaults unchanged.
I select the Triggers tab and then "Add" to add a trigger for test Job 2 to run once Test Job 1 has Comleted.
No other changes.

I have since created additional test jobs 3, 4 and 5 and noticed that once i delete the triggers for test jobs 4 and 5, VisCron still thinks the triggers are in place as the jobs still run after Jobs 1, 2 and 3.

Maybe once the triggers have been created attempts to remove the triggers afterwards are not working. Perhaps the file these triggers get written to does not completely clear the trigger?
The only way i can prevent Test Job 4 and 5 from running now is to delete them (when i kick off Job 1, 2 or 3).

Regards
Dom

If I close VisualCron and then re-open, Test Jobs 2,3,4 and 5 will run twice.

19/09/2011 5:49:57 PM Debug Updating login status for: 7acc6eca-0638-4405-84db-962c1646b2dc
19/09/2011 5:49:57 PM Debug Server time: 19/09/2011 5:49:57 PM
19/09/2011 5:51:56 PM Info Job started: Test Job 1
19/09/2011 5:51:56 PM Info User "VisualCron Default Admin" - Ran Job: Test Job 1
19/09/2011 5:51:56 PM Info Skipping Condition check because the Job was run manually.
19/09/2011 5:51:56 PM Info Job: Test Job 1 had no Tasks.
19/09/2011 5:51:56 PM Info Job started: Dependant Job to follow
19/09/2011 5:51:56 PM Info Job: Dependant Job to follow had no Tasks.
19/09/2011 5:51:56 PM Info Job was not started because it was already running (Dependant Job to follow)
19/09/2011 5:51:56 PM Info Job was not started because it was already running (Test Job 2)
19/09/2011 5:51:56 PM Info Job started: Test Job 3
19/09/2011 5:51:56 PM Info Job started: Test Job 2
19/09/2011 5:51:56 PM Info Job: Test Job 3 had no Tasks.
19/09/2011 5:51:56 PM Info Job: Test Job 2 had no Tasks.
19/09/2011 5:51:56 PM Info Job completed: Dependant Job to follow
19/09/2011 5:51:56 PM Info Job completed: Test Job 1
19/09/2011 5:51:56 PM Info Job started: Test Job 4
19/09/2011 5:51:56 PM Info Job: Test Job 4 had no Tasks.
19/09/2011 5:51:56 PM Info Job started: Test Job 3
19/09/2011 5:51:56 PM Info Job completed: Test Job 3
19/09/2011 5:51:56 PM Info Job started: Test Job 5
19/09/2011 5:51:56 PM Info Job: Test Job 3 had no Tasks.
19/09/2011 5:51:57 PM Info Job started: Test Job 5
19/09/2011 5:51:57 PM Info Job: Test Job 5 had no Tasks.
19/09/2011 5:51:57 PM Info Job completed: Test Job 2
19/09/2011 5:51:57 PM Info Job: Test Job 5 had no Tasks.
19/09/2011 5:51:57 PM Info Job started: Test Job 4
19/09/2011 5:51:57 PM Info Job completed: Test Job 4
19/09/2011 5:51:57 PM Info Job: Test Job 4 had no Tasks.
19/09/2011 5:51:57 PM Info Job completed: Test Job 5
19/09/2011 5:51:57 PM Info Job completed: Test Job 3
19/09/2011 5:51:57 PM Info Job completed: Test Job 5
19/09/2011 5:51:57 PM Info Job started: Test Job 5
19/09/2011 5:51:57 PM Info Job: Test Job 5 had no Tasks.
19/09/2011 5:51:57 PM Info Job started: Test Job 5
19/09/2011 5:51:57 PM Info Job: Test Job 5 had no Tasks.
19/09/2011 5:51:57 PM Info Job completed: Test Job 4
19/09/2011 5:51:57 PM Info Job completed: Test Job 5
19/09/2011 5:51:57 PM Info Job completed: Test Job 5
19/09/2011 5:52:13 PM Debug Saving Jobs

I see, we are getting closer to the error now. There is a bug here. The problem is that the deactivation of the event is not passed along all the way.

To reset state you currently need to stop the service. We will fix the bug now but until then you need to restart service if you decide to deactivate this Trigger.

Thank you for the report!

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Re-starting the Service does appear to resolve the issue.
I had previously tried shutting down VisualCron but not i'd not considered re-starting the service.
I think this was an issue for 5.7.9, 5.8.0 and also 5.8.1.

Will it be long before you are able to provide an indication of when the bug fix might become available?

Thanks
Dom

Also, thanks for the assistance in diagnosing the nature of this issue.

The restart of service is only a temporary solution. For example, here it was happens:

You have Job 1 and Job 2. Job 2 is watching Job 1. Now, you want to activate the Trigger on Job 2. The trigger is deactivated and saved - however the process that is watching is still there - active. So, when restarting the service the process will die and Job 2 is now deactivated.

So restarting is only a temporary solution - not a permanent fix. You need to do this each time you have deactivated a Trigger.

We have fixed this now and we hope that we will release it some day this week. It will be released along with beta functionality of the new loop functions. So, it might take some time until we get a final release. However, if you don't use loops the goal is that the release should be stable for normal usage.

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