Application Integration Guide > Rapid Automation > Rapid Automation

Rapid Automation

The term "Rapid Automation" refers to a generic technology that is able to include and process various automation solutions in AE. The solutions are realized through RA Solutions. RA agents make the functions of an RA Solution accessible.

Please contact Automic Support if you are interested in using an RA Solution.

RA Solutions

Each RA Solution has its own individual function but there are some similarities in all RA Solutions. The corresponding RA agent requires specific settings. Therefore, an RA Solution includes a template for the Agent object that should be used. Connection data can be specified in one or several Connection objects. The RA Solution also includes the required object templates. The same is true for Job objects. Each RA Solution includes one or several job types that can be used to call the relevant functions.

The contents of agent, Connection and Job objects depend on the particular RA Solution.

RA Solutions are supplied as JAR files and can be loaded to the AE databaseA database is an organized collection of data including relevant data structures. by using the utility AE.DB Load. The utility reads the JAR file and creates the following objects in system client 0000:

RA Solution object in the folder "RA_SOLUTIONS"
Template for the Agent object in the folder "TEMPLATE"
One or several templates for Connection objects in the folder "TEMPLATE"
One or several templates for Job objects in the folder "TEMPLATE"

The utility AE.DB Load automatically enters the new templates into the variable UC_OBJECT_TEMPLATE.

Object type	Structure of the name
RA Solution	The name of the RA Solution.
Agent	The AGENT.name of the RA Solution.
Connection	The CONN.name of the RA Solution.technical name of the connection.
Job	The JOBS.name of the RA Solution.technical name of the job type.

The utility AE.DB Load can also be used to load later versions of an RA Solution. The former version is automatically replaced in the AE database.

You can delete an RA Solution from the AE system by deleting the corresponding RA Solution object in client 0 (folder: RA_SOLUTIONS). The object including its entries is not moved to the Recycle Bin but is completely removed from the AE database.

For Rapid Automation agent documentation, see the Automic Hosted Documentation.

RA Agent

An RA agent can only connect to one RA Solution. If you intend to use several RA Solutions, you need a separate RA agent for each solution.

An Agent object must be created in system client 0000 before the RA agent is put into operation. Use the supplied agent template for this purpose. An Agent object contains the Connection objects that should be used for logging on etc. Create these Connection objects by using the supplied templates.

When the RA agent starts, it checks whether the RA Solution has already been stored locally. If not, it requests the RA Solution's JAR file from the Automation Engine. The RA agent unpacks it in the folder "cache" (the path has been specified in the INI-file parameter cache_directory=). The name of the created subfolder is the RA Solution object's latest modification date. While starting, the system checks whether this time stamp complies with the AE database's time stamp. If they differ from each other because a later version has been loaded to the AE database, the RA agent retrieves the JAR file and replaces the local RA Solution.

RA Jobs

RA jobs include two object type-specific tabs. The first one is the RA tabwhich includes the options for report creation and transfers. The name of the second tab is preset by the RA Solution. It includes the RA job's specific configurations. Possible attributes that apply to all the RA Solution's job types are displayed in a separate subtab. In this case, the tab includes two subtabs instead of one.

A traffic-light symbol is displayed in the tab whose content is preset by the RA Solution. It displays the connection status to the RA agent:

Green - A connection has been established.
Yellow - A request is being sent.
Red - There is no connection, the request has failed or a timeout has occurred.

Note that a positive connection status (green traffic-light symbol) will only be displayed if a valid RA agent has been specified. In the following cases, it cannot be displayed:

Agent group has been specified.
No agent has been specified.
An invalid agent has been selected (for example, an RA FTP agent has been selected in an RA VMWare job).
The selected agent is inactive.

No Login objects are required in RA jobs. Login data is stored in the agent object.

Open the RA Solutions help by clicking "Solution Help" in the RA job's Solution tab (RA Banner job) or FTP tab(RA FTP job).

Setting and Reading Job Attributes

For attributes that are also available in other Job objects (such as the archive keys or cost centers), you can set or read the same names with :PUT_ATT, GET_ATT and AE.DB Change.

You can also set and read the attributes of the tab that is preset by the RA Solution via script. To change these attributes using the utility AE DB Change, see the relevantdescription.
A tooltip text displays the attribute names in the UserInterface. Another method to retrieve the attribute names including their values is to run the following command in the AE database (replace the JOBNAME by the job's actual object name):

select OCV_VName,ocv_value from OCV,oh where OCV_OH_Idnr=OH_Idnr and oh_name='JOBNAME'

To run this command, you can also use an SQLI-type VARA object.