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External Task Help

summergs

Hello,
I am trying to send my ipl the values of my TAG_info from the wft. I created the following but cant seem to get it to work. Anyone have any ideas??
(TS5.5.2, Windows2000)

Many thanks in advance!

#------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Create perl command (this is a section in the WFT)
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------
my @arguments= "";
my $arg = "";
@arguments= ($projectNumber,( __VALUE__('contributor_1'),( __VALUE__('contributor_2')),( __VALUE__('contributor_3')),( __VALUE__('approver_1')),( __VALUE__('approver_2')),( __VALUE__('approver_3 '))));
my $perl_command = "$iwhome/iw-perl/bin/iwperl $iwhome/local/config/wft/default/project_assignment_task.ipl";
for my $arg ( @arguments ) {
$perl_command .= '"' . $arg . '"';
}

#------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Insert command in external task
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------
__INSERT__("<command v='$perl_command'/>");

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Comments

Adam Stoller

Have you enabled workflow debugging so that when you try to instantiate the workflow you get the "yellow & green" page? If not - I suggest you do that so that you can see exactly what the command is getting resolved into.

If that looks okay - then the next thing to do is look at the script your calling and see how it's attempting to process the arguments being provided...

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

Dwayne

I generally prefer not to put my external task arguments onto the command line. Instead, I create one or more task variables, and read the arguments from there. It greatly simplifies the logic in the task handler. You also don't need to worry about the symantics of escaping spaces, quotes, etc.

As far as why your specific situation is failing, I'm with Fish. I didn't see anything immediately obvious "jump out" at me, so perhaps turning on debugging would help. Also details of just what symptom you're seeing would be helpful.

--

Current project: TS 5.5.2/6.1 W2K

summergs

The debug command line looks ok to me.

<command v='C:/PROGRA~1/INTERW~1/TeamSite/iw-perl/bin/iwperl C:/PROGRA~1/INTERW~1/TeamSite/local/config/wft/default/project_assignment_task.ipl"HO662_51""ebs-uqtgahdhyjo\editor1"""""""""""'/>

At this point, the only thing the external perl script does is open (file), print(file), and close(file).

Can you explain a bit more how you create your variables? (and read them in the external perl script)

Thanks!

Edited by summergs on 09/02/04 08:37 AM (server time).

Dwayne

I believe I see your problem. There's no space between the end of your perl script and the list of arguments. So the perl interpreter is failing to find the perl script.

--

Current project: TS 5.5.2/6.1 W2K

summergs

Ugg.. you nailed it. Thanks!
I remain very interested in creating varibles in wft to be read by external perl. When you get a chance could you tell me where I can find more info about this?

THANKS!

Adam Stoller

Search on DevNet for the Workflow Tutorial Supplement - read it.

Read the workflow manual as well - specifically parts dealing with workflow and task variables.

Read the perldoc information on TeamSite::WFworkflow and TeamSite::WFtask - familiarize yourself with the functions available.

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

summergs

I have read those, reckon I need to reread! Thanks!

Dwayne

To use your example:

Your WFT file fragment might look something like this (I don't remember your variable names - guessing) :


<externaltask name="blah" ...>
    more task definition stuff here
    <command v="__INSERT__($perl_cmd);" />
    <variables>
        <variable key="contrib1" value="__TAG__('contributor_1');" />
        <variable key="contrib2" value="__TAG__('contributor_2');" />
        <variable key="contrib3" value="__TAG__('contributor_3');" />
        <variable key="editor1" value="__TAG__('editor_1');" />
        <variable key="editor2" value="__TAG__('editor_2');" />
        <variable key="editor3" value="__TAG__('editor_3');" />
    </variables>
</externaltask>

And then your external task handler might look something like this


use TeamSite::WFtask;

my ($jobid, $taskid) = @_;
my ($cont1, $contr2, $contr3, $edit1, $edit2 $edit3);
my $task = new TeamSite::WFtask($taskid);

if($task->IsValid()) {
    $contr1 = $task->GetVariable("contrib1");
    $contr2 = $task->GetVariable("contrib2");
    $contr3 = $task->GetVariable("contrib3");
    $edit1 = $task->GetVariable("editor1");
    $edit2 = $task->GetVariable("editor2");
    $edit3 = $task->GetVariable("editor3");
}

Current project: TS 5.5.2/6.1 W2K

summergs

Sweet! Thanks!!

summergs

Could you tell me where the documentation is on the <variables> tag?

Adam Stoller

It's in the workflow documentation but you have to dig a little bit for it - most of the best coverage for it is in the coverage of the iwwf.dtd.

In the 5.5.2 WF documentation it starts around page 108

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

summergs

Thanks!

Dwayne

There really isn't much to them, other than what you see in the sample. All of your <variable> tags need to have two values, "key" and "value". Keys need to be unique, as there's no way to find, say, the 3rd key of the same name.

All <variable> tags need to be wrapped inside a <variables> container

You can have task variables (which I have shown here) or job variables, which are defined before any of the tasks in the job specification file. The syntax is identical, however. You even access them the same, except that you'd use a TeamSite::WFworkflow object, instead of a TeamSite::WFtask object.

They're very useful for communicating to external task handlers, and also for communication between tasks. For instance, if one external task handler needs to change it's behavior based on something that another external task handler did, then the controlling handler can set a job variable at runtime that the dependent task can read.

--

Current project: TS 5.5.2/6.1 W2K

summergs

Thanks for taking the time to explain this. I am a little frustrated with Interwovens documentation. I was not successful in getting the <variable> to work, so I have been trying to dig into the books (not much luck). Do you know if this works with TS5.5.2 on Windows2000?

Adam Stoller

Yes - <variables> and <variable> have worked [the same way] since Workflow was first introduced in TS4.0

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

summergs

Ok, thanks. Do you see anything wrong with this?

<externaltask name="Local_Group_Add"
owner="__TAG__('iw_user');"
start='t'
lock="f">
<areavpath v='/default/main/Projects/WORKAREA/work'/>
<successors>
<successorset description="Done">
<succ v="Author_Work"/>
</successorset>
</successors>
__INSERT__("<command v='C:/PROGRA~1/INTERW~1/TeamSite/iw-perl/bin/iwperl C:/PROGRA~1/INTERW~1/TeamSite/local/config/wft/default/project_assignment_task_variables.ipl'/>");
<variables>
<variable key="contrib1" value="__TAG__('contributor_1');" />
<variable key="contrib2" value="__TAG__('contributor_2');" />
<variable key="contrib3" value="__TAG__('contributor_3');" />
<variable key="approv1" value="__TAG__('approver_1');" />
<variable key="approv2" value="__TAG__('approver_2');" />
<variable key="approv3" value="__TAG__('approver_3');" />
</variables>
</externaltask>

Snippet from IPL:
use TeamSite::WFtask;
my ($jobid, $taskid) = @_;
my ($contr1, $contr2, $contr3, $edit1, $edit2 $edit3);
my $task = new TeamSite::WFtask($taskid);
$contr1 = $task->GetVariable("contrib1");
open(FILE, ">c:\\AAAfilelocation.txt");
print FILE "<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\"?>\n";
print FILE "<substitution>\n";
print FILE "\t<option label=\"" . $contr1 . "\"/>\n";
print FILE "</substitution>\n";
close(FILE);
if($task->IsValid()) {
$contr1 = $task->GetVariable("contrib1");
$contr2 = $task->GetVariable("contrib2");
$contr3 = $task->GetVariable("contrib3");
$edit1 = $task->GetVariable("approv1");
$edit2 = $task->GetVariable("approv2");
$edit3 = $task->GetVariable("approv3");
}

Dwayne

I didn't see anything obviously wrong. Are you certain that 'contributor_1' is defined in a TAG_info() block?

Is the WFT compiling, and you're just not getting the correct value in the XML file you're generating?

What Imight suggest you try is to comment out the CallBack call in your external task handler. That way, the script will still run, but the task will remain active. You can then use iwgetwfobj TASKID (where TASKID is of course the numeric ID of this task.) That will dump the XML for the task, so that you can see what values are being stored in the variables.

--

Current project: TS 5.5.2/6.1 W2K

Adam Stoller

I'm with Dwayne here - I'd need to see the full WFT (or better, the job description file generated from the WFT) and the full Perl script in order to figure out what was going wrong -- not to mention of course would be a more detailed explanation of what you are seeing as going wrong (you're asking us what's wrong with the code, but you're not telling us what's not working)

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