APPX Background Processing on a Windows Server

This document will demonstrate the setup of APPX background processing when APPX is installed on a Windows server.

Overview

Background processes refers to the ability of APPX to spawn another session to run a report or finish other processing. This will free the foreground session immediately and allow the user to do something else. If you run somethign in backgroud that requires any user interaction, APPX wil behave as if the user pressed the END key.

Steps

APPX Designer

  • Modify the JOB's OUTPUT process type to have Separate Task (Sep. Task) checked as shown in the figure below.
  • JOB-OUTPUT-001.gif

APPX Server

If all you wish to do is submit an APPX JOB's OUTPUT process to the background, you do not need to set the APPX_BG_SCRIPT environment variable, nor do you need to have an appx_submit.cmd batch file. If however you wish to take specific action based on one of the arguments APPX passes to the appx_submit.cmd script , then you should set APPX_BG_SCRIPT=appx_submit.cmd and create an appx_submit.cmd file that can act on the 8 argument pairs that are past. They are (-image, -session, -mode, -notify, -date, -priority, -queue, and -user) These configuration files (appx.env file containing APPX_BG_SCRIPT environment variable, and appx_submit.cmd batch script) need to be placed on the APPX Windows server.

  • Place the following inside your appx.env file, which should be in %APPXPATH or C:\Appx\data\appx.env

APPX_BG_SCRIPT=appx_submit.cmd

The appx_submit.cmd Windows batch file

The appx_submit.cmd file is a Windows batch file that you can parse the 8 argument pairs that APPX passes it.

  • The appx_submit.cmd command should contain

::APPX_SUBMIT.CMD
:: A Typical Argument list will be 8 Arguments passed from APPX
:: -image, -session, -mode, -notify, -date, -priority, -queue, and -user
:: Windows will break on the equals sign giving us 16 arguments in total
:: We will ignore all but the -image and -session pairs to submit
:: an APPX session with syntax that will be similar to
:: c:\APPX\Appx.exe -session=BY2Z7JDC

:: If you were to view each argument passed to APPX_SUBMIT.CMD with the
:: following loop:

:: FOR %%A IN (%*) DO (
:: echo %%A >> c:\Appx\arglist.txt
:: )

:: You would likely see something like this in arglist.txt
:: -image 
:: C:\Appx\Appx.exe 
:: -session 
:: BY2Z7JDC 
:: -mode 
:: SPOOL 
:: -notify 
:: Yes 
:: -date 
:: 2009031201020202 
:: -priority 
:: 1 
:: -queue 
:: A 
:: -user 
:: Administrator

:: The following command should execute APPX with the session data as
:: an argument
::

%2 %3=%4

APPX Run Time

  • On the JOB's output disposition screen select SUBMIT to BG.
  • JOB-OUTPUT-002.gif
  • NOTE: If you do not wish to present a Disposition screen, you can specify background processing in ILF code:
    • SET --- SUBMIT PROCESS = Y

Bugs:

  1. Fixed - Bug Description 1.
  2. OPEN - Bug test - Test bug. Not valid.

Comments:

Read what other users have said about this page or add your own comments.



-- JoeOrtagus - 10 Mar 2009
Topic attachments
ISorted ascending Attachment History Action Size Date Who Comment
GIFgif JOB-OUTPUT-001.gif r2 r1 manage 38.9 K 2009-03-10 - 20:13 JoeOrtagus JOB OUTPUT - Notice the Sep. Task value is checked.
GIFgif JOB-OUTPUT-002.gif r1 manage 24.3 K 2009-03-10 - 20:13 JoeOrtagus JOB OUTPUT - Notice Submit to BG button
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