Scheduler

The VA Assist Task Scheduler provides a facility for scheduling various tasks to occur at startup, shutdown, or scheduled times.  To open the scheduler window, select "Scheduler..." in the "Workspace" menu. The tasks that can be automated include: Import Export Synchronize Management Queries Newer Editions Load Editions Load Components Version Components External Programs Java Programs in the Workspace Messages Delay Saving the Workspace Shut Down VA Assist New Version Check Admin Tasks VA Assist Enterprise Only Scheduling a new task To schedule a new task, select "New" in the "Task" menu of the scheduler window and then select the type of task to be scheduled.  This opens the scheduler wizard, displaying the wizard pages specific to that type of task.  Edit an existing task To edit an existing task, select the task in the scheduler window, then select "Edit" in the "Task" menu.  Alternately, double click on the task in the scheduler window.  Either method causes the scheduler wizard to be opened showing the details of the selected task.

Run a task

In addition to a task automatically running at a specified time, you can run a task immediately by selecting "Run" in the "Task" menu.  This executes the task immediately without altering the next time that the task is scheduled to run. 

You can also select the task from the Workspace "Run Task" menu. This is a convenient way to run tasks that have not been scheduled.

Cancel a task

When a task is running in the background, it can be cancelled by selecting "Cancel" in the "Task" menu.  This stops the task from running at the current time, but if the task is scheduled to repeat, reschedules the task to run at the next appointed time.

Enabling/Disabling a task

Disabled tasks will not be executed at their scheduled time, appear in a different color in the scheduler window, and have "[Disabled]" appear in the "Frequency" column of the scheduler window.  To disable a task, select the task in the scheduler window and then select "Disable" in the "Task" menu.  To disable all tasks, select "Disable All" in the "Task" menu.  To enable a task, select "Enable" in the "Task" menu.   To enable all tasks, select "Enable All" in the "Task" menu.

Deleting a task

To permanently remove a task from the scheduler window, select the task in the scheduler window and then select "Delete" in the "Task" menu.  To permanently remove all disabled tasks, select "Delete All Disabled" in the "Task" menu.

Exporting/importing tasks

To export one or more tasks to a file that can be transferred from one machine to another, select the tasks in the scheduler window and then select "Export" in the "Task" menu.

To import a set of tasks that had previously been exported, use the "Import" command in the "Task" menu.

Triggering a task from the command-line

Tasks can also be triggered from the VA Java command line using the -task command-line option. The task to be run should be specified by name. If the task name contains spaces, the spaces should be replaced with underscores. The command line that you would use to startup VA Java would look something like this:

C:\VAJava\ide\program\IDE.EXE -task=SomeTaskName

or:

C:\VAJava\ide\program\IDE.EXE -task=Some_Task_Name

Using task chaining (e.g., scheduling one task after another), one could use this feature to "script" VisualAge and drive it from a batch file. For example, one might create a series of tasks that would do the following:

1. Load the latest editions of your projects
2. Version those projects
3. Export those projects and trigger your external build process
4. Exit VisualAge