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maintaining job history

aces

Does anyone knows if there is a way we can track job history after it end? Either output it into an XML files or something like that.

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Adam Stoller

There was a post regarding something like this within the last two weeks - please search this forum and see if you can find it.

--fish
Senior Consultant, Quotient Inc.
http://www.quotient-inc.com

Migrateduser

Dump it in a database (the most reliable and functional way), have the last externaltask before the endtask write the XML somewhere with iwgetwfobj -o (and then you will need something to parse the XML for users), or the fastest, cheapest, most intuitive way for users - just add a dummytask with a reasonable timeout before the endtask. Certain techniques won't work if users manually kill jobs or other under circumstances.

Adam Stoller

Use of a dummytask is the *worst* choice because it leaves the tasks within the system and having too many tasks in the system will hurt performance.

--fish
Senior Consultant, Quotient Inc.
http://www.quotient-inc.com

Migrateduser

I think if the timeout is reasonable, depending on your implementation (how many jobs, how many tasks per job), it may be the best solution. I usually put the timeout in iw.cfg so it can be easily changed. And you can always run a script or manually remove the archived jobs. Actually I think it is a pretty nice solution, the other ones can be so complicated.

There are also third party tools (something like WorkflowReporter comes to mind).

So, ghoti, what is the "best" solution?

27395.pdf

ConcatFullName.ssd.zip

Migrateduser

I think the best solution is where TeamSite archives job history for you. Oh wait, that doesn't exist. People have been asking for this for years. What's taking so long for it to evolve into the product?

Dave Smith
Sr. Software Engineer
Nike, Inc.
(503) 671-4238
DavidH.Smith@nike.com

Migrateduser

Yes that is clearly the best solution and shouldn't be hard for them to implement. But them maintaining the history would probably consume precious resources (at least on Windows) which would add to the existing performance problems.

And Smitty, do you think they'll build it if it won't get companies like Nike to buy any more TeamSite licenses?

Adam Stoller

Have you seen my profile spotlight on this site?
See my response to "Feature that should be added to an Interwoven product" ...

--fish
Senior Consultant, Quotient Inc.
http://www.quotient-inc.com

Migrateduser

I think they could make it configurable so that we control how many jobs are archived - that should be easy enough to make flexible. Or if they allow us to save all jobs for the last X number of days.

As far as Nike being able to cause any change, I don't think we have that kind of clout. I'm not sure what motivates Interwoven to do what they do, or choose to not do what they don't do. I am disappointed that the documentation still stinks and that there seems to be so little interest in making the workflow experience better.

Dave Smith
Sr. Software Engineer
Nike, Inc.
(503) 671-4238
DavidH.Smith@nike.com

Interactive_Process.zip

Migrateduser

Never would have guessed you for a Singin' in the Rain kinda guy. I guess there is a sensitive side in there somewhere. Smiley Wink

Dave Smith
Sr. Software Engineer
Nike, Inc.
(503) 671-4238
DavidH.Smith@nike.com

Adam Stoller

[Smitty]: Never would have guessed you for a Singin' in the Rain kinda guy. I guess there is a sensitive side in there somewhere. Smiley Wink

I've always enjoyed good tap dancing. Donald O'Connor and Gene Kelly were great ... <i>Moses supposes his toeses are roses, but Moses supposes erroneously, for Moses he knowses his toses aren't roses, as Moses supposes his toeses to be.</i> Or the now late Gregory Hines in such movies as Tap and White Knights ...

However - in keeping with this thread - a true Audit trail could be implemented any number of ways, but most likely with an external DB - as long as there is an established schema for representing the actions taken, when, by whom, etc. for storing the data, then you have a wide-open field for being able to generate reports based on that data. All Interwoven needs to do is make sure all the data is captured in a meaningful way and provide one simplistict reporting script with [good] documentation on how the schema was designed so that customers can write their own reporting scripts.

--fish
Senior Consultant, Quotient Inc.
http://www.quotient-inc.com

Edited by ghoti on 02/25/04 06:41 AM (server time).

Migrateduser

Yes but realistically Interwoven isn't going to do this any time soon, so what practical alternatives are available. DummyTask is the easy one. Adding a wrapper to all ExternalTasks to populate the database with updated job status is probably next easiest, but you would still have to write the UI components. Another alternative would be to use event logging or some kind of scheduled process to populate the database. It just seems like overkill if the requirements are not extreme.

Migrateduser

We do just this thing with our Jobs.

Our DCR's have a hidden field called "Approval Trail". We use external tasks in the workflow to parse the DCR and append the users approval comments directly to the DCR. Later, the users can select the DCR and use a drop down option to run a custom perl code to get the value in the "Approval Trail field".

You could also use a database instead, but, this was worked well and doesn't create any performance issues.

Let me know if you're interested. I don't mind sharing code.

I think there should be a code share area on the site for users to contrubute snippets.

Migrateduser

we're working on a code share capability. it's in the plans for the next 60 days. stay tuned.

lissa

aces

Can you share the code with us?
Also, regarding John's idea about using the event logging, I looked at event log, it collects a lot other paths and information. Don't you have to parse it first before popluate in the database. That is if my understanding to event logging is correct. Thanks.

Migrateduser

I don't have an answer but in general I think using event logging may be a bad idea. I would probably go with a scheduled process that runs iwgetwfobj -r (which could really affect performance) and updates the database based on that rather than event logging.

Migrateduser

I'll warn you. I'm a messy coder and it's gonna be ugly.

I have attached a workflow, a custom task that writes to the DCR, and a callout to display the approveal trail.