JobListRequestFilter - time interval

Hi,

we are pulling inbound fax details through JobList web service by polling at constant interval. We use JobEntryWindow filter to filter the faxes between StartDateTime and EndDateTime. Does this interval include StartDateTime and EndDateTime? or is it like greater than StartDateTime and equal to EndDateTime?

In other words, if suppose a job's entry time is t2 and my polling cycle is as follows

Poll Cycle1 = t1 to t2

Poll Cycle2 = t2 to t3

Then in this case, will the job be pulled in both the cycles?

Thanks.

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Comments

skamens

It would be a good idea to verify, but we believe the semantics of the JobEntryWindow are that it will find jobs whose entry time is greater than or equal to the start time, and less than the end time.

So if j is the entry time of a job, and the window is from t1 to t2, you would get that job if t1 ≤ j < t2.

A couple of other notes:

The granularity of the job entry time is actually to the minute, so you shouldn't worry about seconds or fractional seconds in your queries.
Another approach that might work is to save the last JobId that you retrieved, and the JobEntryTime for that job, then use that last job as the StartJobId of the next request, using that job's JobEntryTime as the start time of your window. Then you'll be sure not to miss any.

nithiiy

thanks. you are right about the time window.

I am trying to figure out a way to retrieve all inbound faxes without missing any of them. With following variables could you please suggest a fool proof method?

1. Our clock running faster than Easylink.

2. No inbound faxes for long period of time during which Easylink flushes out old job ids. So we loose reference to the last JobID.

skamens

Nothing is 100% foolproof, but here are some ideas:

If you rememember the last JobId you retrieved, and the time that our system gave you, then you can use that JobId as the StartJobId, and that time as the StartTime. Since you'll be using the same time as we gave you, you can be confident that they will be consistent.
It takes a long time for your Job ID's to be flushed out - usually on the order of 30 days. I can't imagine you wouldn't have any faxes for 30 days... In the worst case scenario, you could add something to periodically ask for all faxes since time 0 (i.e. the beginning of time) just to make sure you have them all.

nithiiy

my concern is to get all inbound faxes by polling at constant interval and don't miss anything and i don't get the same fax multiple times (duplicates). so, i am expecting the system to provide a way to accomplish this.

1. can i just use only the EntryTime Easylink gave me for the last job id as StartTime? why do i have to combine it with the last JobID in the filter?

2. how do i identify the last job id in JobListResult if there are more than one job in the result?

3. when you mean flushing,

a. do you say a JobId will re-appear only after 30 days and that any Job will be retained for 30 days?
(OR)
b. you will just delete all jobs every 30 days?

skamens

You probably need to have some way of dealing with duplicates anyway, but you can do as much as you can to avoid it.

The reason to use both the EntryTime from the last job and also the StartJobId is because you might have multiple jobs with the same EntryTime (remember the resolution is a minute). This way you wouldn't get duplicates if you already received and processed a bunch of jobs with the same entry time.

The JobList result comes back in sorted order (I think it's sorted by time and then by job number), so the last one in the result is the one you want.

Job ID's wrap and are potentially reused in 3-6 months on our system (it varies depending on traffic and system configuration). Your own jobs are retained for a configurable amount of time, which for inbound faxes is generally 30 days. So your jobs would be purged after that time, and then a few months later that job ID would be reused for another job.

nithiiy

I am still not convinced using both EntryTime and JobID. I think I need JobID only if Easylink won't give me all faxes for a time t1. isn't it?

for example, if I try to receive fax from Easylink from time t1-t2 then t2-t3...etc where t1<t2<t3... and if I ensure (t2-t1)>=1 minute and (t3-t2)>=1 minute, then I don't need JobID. isn't it?

Amish Shah

How can I get only inbound jobs? At presnet, it returns me all the faxes which we sent as well in my joblist. Can you tell me the filter for that?

Amish Shah

I think, by setting up,

JobList_Filter[0].ServiceType = "F2M";

We can get only inbound fax.

Can you tell us, how do we test inbound fax? What is our test account fax number or how can we receive inbound fax?

skamens

If you can provide your email address, we can check and see if you have an inbound number on the test system.

You can email the information to apiforums at easylink dot com.