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USING
JOBABOT Depending
on your installation Jobabot may start when you double click on the
REFLECTION icon. Regardless
Jobabot can be started or stopped from the REFLECTION tool bar by
clicking on the Jobabot face Click on
the Jobabot face
From
this panel all functions of Jobabot are accessed.
Lets take a tour using the above illustration as a guide. VIEW
GROUP Starting
at the top left had section of the screen is a drop box with a file name
'980428.TDL' the eight numbers are a date in the format YYMMDD and the
TDL is short for Today's Log, moving down there is a group of buttons
under the title 'View" Note that TODAYS LOG is selected.
The bottom half of the panel is the text box where you can view
TODAYS LOG file "980428.TDL'. The log files are presented in
'REVERSE ORDER' So we see ' Log opened:' at the bottom of the screen, in
this way the latest events will automatically be visible. DROP
BOX SELECTOR To
make a selection from the drop box click the small down pointing arrow
to the right of the box. In
the example above the selector is in the top left part of the screen and
contains the letters '980428.TDL". When you click, a larger box
drops down over the view section below and displays a list of file
names. clicking one of these file name make that file the current
selection. If there are
more selections than can be displayed you must use the slide bar on the
right side of the window or the page down/up or up/down cursor keys to
find the selection you want. You
may not type numbers
and/or letters to find the file or create a new one. TODAYSLOG This
selection allows the display of TDL files, each day as Jobabot goes
about it's business it writes to a log file all of the important
information about the jobs it is working on.
With this selection made, the drop box selector will show only
TDL files. JOBLOG This
selection allows the display of all files with the extension name LOG.
Most of these files are job logs, that is they contain
information about each job. Where
today's log shows activity about all jobs for single day, job logs
contain information only about one job but for all dates.
Each job you create and run in Jobabot will have a job log named
after ft. In the example above the display shows 'todays log' Reading
the log you see entries for two jobs named: DAILY and BKPMIS, both of
these jobs have job logs named DAILY.LOG and BKPMIS.LOG respectively.
These logs contain more detailed information about each job run,
if something didn't go right with one of your jobs you should look in
the job log for more information. You
may receive a warning message in TODAYS LOG to look in the JOB LOG in
connection with a specific job. In
this case the warning message will give you a numeric error level.
Single place error levels are usually not fatal to your job,
double place errors indicate a more serious condition that may cause
your job to fail when it runs, while three place codes usually means
that Jobabot can't find requested input files for your job. For
each occurrences of one of these errors Jobabot adds an additional unit
to the total error code, the error message you receive in TODAYS LOG
will express the sum of the error codes.
For example a level one error is a (1) a level 2 error is a (1
0), and a level 3 error is a (I 00) so if you have three of each errors
Jobabot will report an error code of (333).
Errors are written in the loge with a stared (*) line above and
below to make R easy find them in the log. Example: * JOB
CONTROL This selection displays the raw job control data, you can view and edit this information using the Job Control Edit Panel. This choice is just an easy way to quickly review the settings JOB files that you have previously defined.
Top
center of the screen is the Housekeeping group, these controls set the
parameters for Jobabot's Housekeeping function.
Housekeeping is how Jobabot refers to R's automated process of
checking on jobs, writing submission scripts, running programs,
downloading output, and rescheduling jobs etc.
When Jobabot does housekeeping ft writes down everything ft does
in a log and displays ft for you when the housekeeping routine is
completed. MANUAL
/ AUTOMATIC Jobabot
has two modes for control of the housekeeping routine, Manual means that
the routine is only performed when you click OK.
Automatic allows Jobabot to run the routine at a regular interval
and during a time of day of your choosing. DO
EVERY, MIN / HOUR, START, STOP These
four controls tell Jobabot when and how often to do the housekeeping
routine. Do Every: must be
a whole number this parameter works in conjunction with the MIN/HOUR
control to tell Jobabot how often to do the housekeeping.
Generally when Do Every is expressed in hours values from 1-8
are the most useful, when using minuets expression of less than 30
min. may not be of much use except in testing, you may however wish
to use 90 Min. f6r 1-1/2 hours and the like. START
and STOP are expressed in 24Hour clock all places must be present and no
more. Jobabot will not run
automatically run housekeeping outside of the times listed in these
parameters, if the current time plus the Do Every MIN/HOUR number is
greater than the STOP time Jobabot will schedule the next housekeeping
at the START time. Don't
expect Jobabot to perform on the hour or half hour as the time for the
next housekeeping is computed from the exact time that the last
housekeeping was completed. CHECK Contained
within the Housekeeping group is the check group, these check boxes are
options that can be selected or deselected with the click of a mouse. ON
EXIT, When
On Exit is checked Jobabot performs an "extra' housekeeping when
you click OK, even if the next one is not scheduled for hours later or even if
the current time is not within the start and stop times. LOG
OFF When
Log Off is checked Jobabot will log off the host at the end of each
housekeeping cycle. When ft is not checked Jobabot does not log off and leaves
the host at the last ISPF screen it was
using, the advantage is that you may use the same host session while
Jobabot is in between Housekeeping. HIDE When
Hide is checked Jobabot will hide the Jobabot Control panel during
housekeeping. NEW
JOBS When
New Jobs is checked Jobabot will include the processing of submitting
new jobs during housekeeping. SUBMITTED When
Submitted is checked Jobabot will check on jobs previously submitted
during housekeeping. DOWNLOAD When
Download is checked Jobabot will attempt to download output from
completed jobs. This control may be grayed (inactive) if your Jobabot doesn't
have this feature.
Just
below the Housekeeping group is the message area.
On the example is the message: Next
Housekeeping @ 12:44:28
PM When
you change the Start, Stop, or Do Every numbers and click in one of the
boxes; the next housekeeping time is computed and displayed in the
message area. If you have
manual checked, the message is: Next housekeeping when you click OK. DATE
/ TIME Under
the red and green Jobabot logo the current date and time is displayed,
if you are Using Jobabot in the manual mode only the date is displayed. OK The
OK button saves the current
Jobabot settings and will hide the current windows and do a housekeeping
(or NOT) depending on the
setting in the CHECK GROUP. For
example if you have HIDE, ON EXIT,
LOGOFF, and AUTOMATIC selected and click OK Jobabot will, hide the
control panel, do a housekeeping, log off the host system, save your
last settings and continue running in the background and wake up at the
next scheduled housekeeping time. CANCEL This
button stops the Jobabot and does not save your current settings,
nothing else happens regardless of what is selected.
When Jobabot is running in the background you can stop Jobabot
from the REFLECTION tool bar by clicking on the stop-a-bot icon or
from the REFLECTION menu by selecting
SCRIPT then STOP. EDIT
JOBS Clicking
on this button takes you to the Jobabot JOB CONTROL functions, this will
be covered in depth in the ext section. SYSTEM
ID This button pops up the Password and UserlD setup : You
may change any currently defined system by selecting it, making the
changes and clicking OK. You
can add a new SYS: simply by typing in the information and clicking OK. Note:
The SYS: letter does not have to agree with the actual system
letter. You may have a need
to define a SYS: that uses the same HOST logon l(i.e. TSOK) but, for a
different user ID. This is
especially true if Jobabot is being run on a standalone machine and is
running jobs for several users, projects, or departments. Automation
with Jobabot Job Control You
can get to the Job Control functions by
clicking on the Click
on a.jpb name to select that job. For
a new job simply type the new name in the space provided.
Note that you may DELETE jobs from this panel.
Clicking OK takes you to the Job Control Editor for the job you
have selected or the new job you are creating. JOB
CONTROL EDITOR
From
this screen you can control all aspects of how JOBABOT runs your job. Starting
from the top left of the screen; the parameters that control your job
are: NEXT
RUN This
date tells Jobabot when to run your job.
If this date is today or if this date has passed Jobabot will try
to run your job. If this date is in the future Jobabot will pass over your
job. Jobabot looks at each
job every time the housekeeping function is performed, so if you change
this date to today's date or some past date in the middle of the day
Jobabot will try and run that job as part of the next housekeeping
routine. NOTICE:
the NEXT RUN date information must be entered in as MM DD YY and
each box that hold a parameter must have exactly two characters i.e. 01
not simply 1, you will also get an error for an extra space or other
extra character. If you
wish to put a job on hold you can use 00/00/00 and Jobabot will ignore
your job. When
your job runs with a zero return code Jobabot reschedules your job for
next month or day automatically. MONTHLY
TARGET DAY This
box contains the date of the month that Jobabot is to start running your
job. For monthly jobs that number should be from 1 to 28 because
not all months have 29, 30, and 31st days.
Jobabot will stop running trying to use one of these dates in a
short month. You may choose
not to have Jobabot reschedule your job at all by
using 00 for this parameter, this is useful if you want Jobabot to
run your job on specific dates, you can define a job control file for
each time you want Jobabot to run the job and use 00 so that Jobabot
will delete the job control file after the job has run., All of these
files may use the same script. For
daily jobs the token DD can be used here, this causes Jobabot to
reschedule the job for the next days date after ft runs.
NOTE: The rescheduling will not work properly if your job does
not start and end all in the same day. CURRENT
GENERATION When
Jobabot encounters a month and/or year token [MM], [YYI, "MM] or [MMYY]
ft looks at this parameter to determine what the values should be.
Each job may use a different value for the 'Current
Generation". This can
be useful to recreate user files that a monthly job may need.
For example you can setup three jobs all running the same script
but the current generations in each job control file could be defined as
1) three month in the past 2) six
months in the past, and 3) 1 year in the past.
When these jobs run Jobabot will reschedule the jobs for next
month and advance the current generation by one month. TIME-24 In
the example this is set for 1 min. after midnight, Jobabot will waft to
run your job after the time of day listed here.
Time-24 is not considered in conjunction with the date, that is
even if the date is well in the past Jobabot will still not try and run
your job until after the time of day in Time-24. PREFIX(S The
first prefix listed here should be the user id that the job will be run
under. Jobabot looks at
secondary userID's only in the case of input files when writing a
submission script. You can
use as many as you need here each one should be separated with a slash
rexample: BCSS305/UCHXO45/BCV32 CHECK
FOR FILE This
is one of the most powerful features of Jobabot and can give you a real
'edge' in getting your monthly data on time.
This parameter allows Jobabot to run your job only when the file
listed is present on the system. This
can be used to check for system files or user files and you can check
for just one file or if you check the check box labeled: Check
on a long list of files You
can have Jobabot check on up to twelve files or more before it runs your
job. To create the list
click the button labeled:
EDIT on the same line. You
will then see the 'edit list' screen:
This
screen has only twelve slots for fi/e names (the whole screen is not
shown) if you need more you can edit the file in your word processor and
add as many as you need. This
fi/e names use tokens (of course) and have some additional syntax rules
that allow you to do define some additional useful specifications
regarding what Jobabot should do when checking for these riles. FILE
CHECKJNG SYNTAX: PREFIX.XXX.XXX.[MMYY] Jobabot
will check for one file under the first listed user ID in the
"PREFIX" for the MM and YY parameters listed in the current
generation for this job. 4/SYSTEM.XXX.XXX.*.XXX Jobabot
will not run your job until at least 4
matching files exist on the system. O/USERID.XXX.XXX.[MMYY-3].XXX Jobabot
runs your job only if this file does not
exist. If
the file is present on the system Jobabot will reschedule your job
for next month (or day if a day job) #/356/USERID.XXX.WK[###].SAS Your
job will run when a file with a [###] greater than 356
exists on the system #/I
678/SYSTEM.XXX.G[####]VOOO This
is a system generation named file works the same as the previous
example, in both cases Jobabot tracks the last used number. SCRIPT The
script name is normally the same as the Jobabot 'Job' name but it can be
different, don't use extensions here just the first name of the script
that the job is to use. SYSTEM The
single system letter as defined in the 'System ID' editor, only one
letter. Jobabot will logon
to the system defined with the user id and password for each job as
necessary. #
OF TRYS This
slot can contain a simple numeric value like 3
for 'try three times then give up and reschedule for tomorrow"
or a time of day to 'give up' expressed in the 24
hour clock syntax. DOWNLOAD Jobabot
can download your results from the host system to your PC automatically,
just list the name of the file here.
All of the same rules apply
to filenames as with for 'check for file'.
Including. Download
a long list of files See
check for file. EDIT See
check for file. SPAWN This
feature is for additional automation with Jobabot, the name of a program
is inserted here. This program will be called when the job is complete
and the data is downloaded to your PC. Further automation is often done
using the Excel spread sheet to format the data and the email client to
distribute the report.
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