We have just downloaded VisualCron and are considering replacing our old Scheduling tools with it. We are very happy with the functionality, but are having trouble with error handling and notification of status.

The programs we are scheduling are VB.NET programs with error handling already in them. When we are hitting errors, VisualCron does not see it as an error. Are there some ways we should code our error routines to fail out correctly and still notify VisualCron of the failure, so it can be put in the email body of the notification? How does it errors and how does it get standard output?

An application is considered failing when an exit code other than zero is returned. In the case of VB.NET you can use the following code:

Environment.Exit(-1) for example.

Standard output is read from Console.Write/WriteLine function.

Standard error is read from Console.Error.Write/WriteLine function.

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Thanks. I will try this out. Are there any best practices for sending email status notifications? In my experiments, I put the current task result and status in the body of the email. Some have worked and some show running when it isn't. I think this is a timing thing. Should you notify on the task or the job?

It depends. But in your case you could set it on the Task and use the Complete Notification.

Also, when using any Variables use the Active parameter instead of pointing to an Id. Like this:

{TASK(Active,StdOut)}

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