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Adding files to inactive task

JoshProx

How do I dynamically attach files to an inactive task. I have an external task which generates a list of dependent files which I want to attach to an inactive "Submit" task. Is there a better way for achieving the same thing

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ISCBorisB

How do I dynamically attach files to an inactive task?

You don't. Files attached to a task object are de facto attached to the job to which the task belongs.
All you have to do is make your CGI/external task attach identified Files to self

kaalraa

How do I dynamically attach files to an inactive task. I have an external task which generates a list of dependent files which I want to attach to an inactive "Submit" task. Is there a better way for achieving the same thing

A file can be attached to the job through any cgi/external task. Logically it is said to attach files to the task.. but in actual it gets associated with the job.

ISCBorisB

A file can be attached to the job through any cgi/external task. Logically it is said to attach files to the task.. but in actual it gets associated with the job.

Andy once made a [post=89949]good comment[/post] on that stuff

JoshProx

Thanks for your feedback. I am attaching the files in my external task. I am having a loop where I am adding the files to the task. I am getting a strange problem where only the last file get added to the workflow file list. What can be ther reason for that....I am also tried printing $task->GetError which shows as blank.

Adam Stoller

Thanks for your feedback. I am attaching the files in my external task. I am having a loop where I am adding the files to the task. I am getting a strange problem where only the last file get added to the workflow file list. What can be ther reason for that....I am also tried printing $task->GetError which shows as blank.

Without seeing your code - there's little we can do to remotely debug it.

JoshProx

This is how I am adding dependent files to the workflow task. I am outputting a flat file with dependent file paths when generating a template and I use that flat file for reading the dependent file list.

debug ("Attaching dependent files in the ToyotaProd workarea");
if (-e $dcrfile.".txt")
{
open FILE, "$dcrfile.txt" or die "Unable to open $dcrfile.txt $!";
while ()
{
my $line = $_;
debug ("Adding the File to the file list - $line");
$task->AddFile($line, "Adding dependent file to file list for submission");
}
close FILE;
} else
{
$task->CallBack(1, "ERROR ADDING DEPENDENT FILES TO FILELIST FOR SUBMISSION");
exit -1;
}

ISCBorisB

...
while (<FILE>) {
  chomp(my $line = $_);
  debug ("Adding the File to the file list - $line");
  $task->AddFile($line, "Adding dependent file to file list for submission");
}
...

On a side note, it's not a very good idea to issue "die" command without transitioning in the External Task.
The end result is invariably a hung workflow. Something like the following would be better

if (open FILE, "$dcrfile.txt") {
   my @alist = map{chomp; $_} <FILE>;
   $task->AddMultipleFiles(\@alist, "Adding dependent file to file list for submission");
   close FILE;
} 
else {
   $task->CallBack(1, "Unable to open $dcrfile.txt $!");
};

JoshProx

Thanks for the feedback, that really helps. I've noticed that if the file is already existing in the workflow, then AddFile and AddMultipleFiles both fail and stop adding files from that point onwards. That might be the reason why my files are not getting added as it was the case for some of my test dcrs where dependent files were generated with same name.

That's the error which I am seeing in logs -
ERROR:00017: Item already exists

Is there a way to check if the file is attached before adding it to a task?

JoshProx

In my external task currently I am creating a unique list before adding. But that can also fail if the task will be executed again if there is a rejection in my approval task. One way is to loop through each and every file in GetFiles() but that's awkward.
Is there a way to avoid custom coding in here -
if (open FILE, "$dcrfile.txt")
{
my @arrFiles = map {chomp; $_} ;
close FILE;
debug ("Adding dependent files to the DCR");
undef %saw;
@arrUnique = grep(!$saw{$_}++, @arrFiles);
$task->AddMultipleFiles(\@arrUnique, "Adding dependent file to file list for submission");
my $error = $task->GetError();
debug ("Error after adding the files : $error");
} else
{
$task->CallBack(1, "ERROR ADDING DEPENDENT FILES TO FILELIST FOR SUBMISSION");
exit -1;
}

nipper

Yup you have hit a lovely "feature" of Teamsite. I tend to use a system call to iwaddtaskfile and parse the return output. That is *significantly* slower than the PM however.

ISCBorisB

In my external task currently I am creating a unique list before adding. But that can also fail if the task will be executed again if there is a rejection in my approval task. One way is to loop through each and every file in GetFiles() but that's awkward.
Is there a way to avoid custom coding in here -
if (open FILE, "$dcrfile.txt")
{
my @arrFiles = map {chomp; $_} ;
close FILE;
debug ("Adding dependent files to the DCR");
undef %saw;
@arrUnique = grep(!$saw{$_}++, @arrFiles);
$task->AddMultipleFiles(\@arrUnique, "Adding dependent file to file list for submission");
my $error = $task->GetError();
debug ("Error after adding the files : $error");
} else
{
$task->CallBack(1, "ERROR ADDING DEPENDENT FILES TO FILELIST FOR SUBMISSION");
exit -1;
}

It's a good practice to make all auto-attachments after content has been approved (usually right before submittask).
It is almost always possible to accomplish within the *traditional* Editor-Author-Approvers-Submit-Deploy Cycles.
If for some obscure reason you absolutely need all Files attached before approval then you'd have to check upfront

Adam Stoller

You could try something like this perhaps:

my %files;
foreach my $f ($task->GetFiles()){
    $files{$f} = q();
}

if (open FILE, "$dcrfile.txt") {
my @newFiles;
    foreach my $f (<FILE>){
        chomp($f);
        if (!defined($files{$f})){
            push(@newFiles, $f);
        }
    }
    close FILE;
    debug ("Adding dependent files to the DCR");
newFiles, "Adding dependent file to file list for submission");
    my $error = $task->GetError();
    debug ("Error after adding the files : $error");
} else {
    $task->CallBack(1, "ERROR ADDING DEPENDENT FILES TO FILELIST FOR SUBMISSION");
    exit -1; 
}

If you need to be able to handle looping within the same script, then adjust the above as so:

...
        if (!defined($files{$f})){
            push(@newFiles, $f);
$files{$f} = q();
        }
...

JoshProx

Thanks for the feedback guys....I did something like that to check for existing files.....I thought AddMultipleFiles/AddFile should handle cases like "File already exists" instead of throwing error....

Adam Stoller

Thanks for the feedback guys....I did something like that to check for existing files.....I thought AddMultipleFiles/AddFile should handle cases like "File already exists" instead of throwing error....

Yeah - that would have been nice - and in fact there's probably at least one feature request about that (from around 4 or 5 years ago ;-) but alas ....