Filtering Tasks

Use the Filter function in the Process Monitoring to restrict the number of records displayed in the Tasks list. To filter tasks you can use any of their parameters. You can also filter for deactivated tasks. Deactivated tasks are not displayed by default to prevent slow performance. For more information, see Including or Excluding Deactivated Tasks.

After you have defined your filter criteria, you can also save them as custom filters for easy reuse.

The system is delivered with predefined filters: My tasks, ABEND, My tasks, ACTIVE, My tasks, BLOCKED and My tasks, WAITING. These predefined filters cannot be deleted.

Two buttons in the task list toolbar are relevant for the filter function:

  • Filter

    This button shows/hides the filter pane, where you can add your filter criteria.

  • Unfiltered

    The name of this button depends on the following:

    • If no filter is selected, the button reads Unfiltered.

    • If a filter is selected, the button displays the name of the filter.

    Both the predefined filters and your own custom filters are available in this button's dropdown list.

Tips:

  • After you have defined your filter criteria, save them as Custom filter for easy reuse. See Saving Custom Filters.
  • When you set a filter, the URL contains those filter settings too. This is why you can share filtered lists with other users. You can also bookmark them to be able to access them quickly next time. See Bookmarking and Sharing Links.
  • The Automic Web Interface stores your filter settings in your user settings. If you set a filter or if you select a custom filter and then leave this view, if you log out and back in, or if you share the list with other users, the filter layout is kept as you defined it.
  • Read Using AWI Combo Boxes first to learn how to use the combo boxes that allow you to apply filters to the list of Tasks

This page includes the following:

Displaying or Hiding the Filter Pane

Click the Filter button on the Process Monitoring toolbar to open the Filter pane. Click it again to close it.

The first time you open the filter, it displays the three default filter criteria only (Task Name, Task Type and Status). These options are always visible and you cannot remove them from the pane.

Setting the Appropriate List View

The list of Tasks can be displayed in two different views. You change the list view clicking on the Show as list and Show hierarchy buttons on the Process Monitoring toolbar.

When you apply filters, think of the type of list view that is currently selected.

  • List view

    All tasks are listed without indicating which ones are parents and which ones are children. Tasks that have been started individually (not from within other objects like Workflows or Schedules) are considered as parents. Therefore, they are displayed in this list.

  • Hierarchical view

    Tasks are displayed in collapsible nodes indicating the parent/child relationship between them.

In the Show as list view, the filter applies to both parent and children. In the Show hierarchy view, the filter applies to parents only.

Adding Filter Criteria

Do the following:

  1. In the Tasks list, click the Filter button to open the filter pane. The pane shows the default filter criteria.
  2. If you need to apply different ones, click Add Filter Criteria
  3. Select a criterion from the list.

  4. The new filter section is added.

    • If it is an input field, the focus is on it so that you start typing immediately.
    • If it is a combo box that allows bulk selection and it displays All, this means that selecting nothing is the same as selecting all entries in the list.
  5. Continue adding criteria. When you are done, click the Filter button at the bottom of the pane to apply them.

Saving Custom Filters

You can save your favorite filters for future reuse. Custom filters are saved per user. If you save one under a particular user and then log in to as a different user, it will not be available.

To Save a Custom Filter

  1. Add and define the filter settings.
  2. Click the arrow on the Custom Filter button to expand the available options.

  3. You have two options to provide a name for the filter:

    • The first entry on the list lets you save the filter with a name suggested by the system. Click it if you want to use it, select this option.

    • Select Save custom filter as... and enter the name of the filter in the dialog that is displayed.

  4. Click OK. The filter is now available in the Custom filter dropdown list.

To Modify a Custom Filter

  1. Click the arrow on the Custom Filter button.
  2. Select the filter you want to modify.
  3. On the Filter pane modify the filter settings.
  4. Click the Filter button at the bottom of the pane.

  5. To save the modified filter, click the arrow on the Custom Filter button again. You have two options:

    • To save the modified settings as a new filter, select Save custom filter as... and enter a new name for the filter.

    • To overwrite the existing custom filter with your new settings, click Save as "<name of custom filter>" .

To Duplicate/Rename/Delete a Custom Filter

  1. Click the arrow on the Custom Filter button.
  2. Select the custom filter.

  3. To display a sub menu with the Duplicate/Rename/Delete options, do one of the following:

    • Right-click the selected entry.

    • Click the three dots that are displayed when the entry is selected.

Wildcard Characters in Custom Filters

Use wildcards before and after your filter criterion and save it as custom filter. This creates a dynamic filter that always results in all the tasks that match the search criterion. You ca do this with all filter options that use names as filter criterion, namely, Task Name, Agent Name, Archive Key, Current Sync Usage (the name of the Sync object), Task Alias, User Object.

Example: You set a filter for Task Name and enter *JOBS* as filter criterion to get a list of all tasks with the string JOBS somewhere in their names. You then save it as custom filter. This custom filter always result in the most recent list of tasks containing this string in their names.

Filter Options

Task Name

Enter the name or part of the name of the tasks you are searching for.

This field uses implicit wildcards at the beginning and at the end of your search string. For example, entering ABCDE actually triggers the search for *ABCDE*.

Note: Implicit wildcards are used only if there are no other wildcards in the search phrase. If you put a wildcard * in the middle of the search phrase, the wildcards at the beginning and end of the phrase do not apply.

Example: You enter KEYWORD1*KEYWORD2 in Task Name. The results will only show the tasks that start with KEYWORD1 and end with KEYWORD2. To display the task that contain KEYWORD1 and KEYWORD2 in the middle of their names, you should use the *KEYWORD1*KEYWORD2* phrase.

You can also enter wildcard characters (* and ?) within the search string. Using a ? to replace a single character does not remove the implicit * at the beginning and at the end.

Task Type

  • Executable objects

    Take the following into account:

    • Events

      Event tasks are mostly in Sleeping status. They are triggered when the intervals or conditions defined in the Event object apply, in which case they are visible on the list of Tasks with status Active. When their processing is finished, they go back to the Sleeping status and are no longer available on the list.

      To see them, filter the list by Status selecting Active: Sleeping.

    • Remote Tasks

      The RemoteTaskManager monitors and controls operations started outside the Automation Engine in systems such as SAP or PeopleSoft. You can filter them as follows:

      • Select Executable Objects: Remote Task Manager.

        The remote tasks are displayed on the list as children of the Remote Task Management task. Their type is JOBD (dynamic job).

      • Select Runtime Objects: Dynamic Job option to display the JOBD tasks only.

  • Runtime Objects

    These tasks are containers for the execution of grouped tasks, tasks that should execute recursively, and so on. Runtime objects are visible on the list only while they are being executed.

    Examples: SAP jobs (dynamic jobs, abbreviated as JOBD), period containers (C_PERIOD), Agent Group containers (C_HOSTG).

    As soon as their processing has finished, runtime objects disappear from the list.

Status

The status option allows you to filter the tasks for any possible status recorded by the Automation Engine.

This filter is synchronized with the traffic lights. Defining a status filter activates the corresponding traffic lights and activating one or more traffic lights sets this filter accordingly.

Agent Name

Filtering tasks using this option is the same as grouping them using the Group by: Agent option on the Tasks left pane.

Use this option if you know the name or part of the name of the Agent on which the tasks have been processed.

Agent Type

Use this option to see all the tasks processed by all the Agents of a particular type.

Archive Key 1/2

Archive keys are freely definable keywords that can be assigned to objects, thus helping users to search for them or filter out their tasks.

Business Unit or Region

When configuring your system it is possible to define customizable attributes that help organizing the company's processes and filter out tasks.

The list of business units or regions that is displayed on the pane when selecting these options depends on the General Page defined in your system.

Client

Available in Client 0 only. Use this option to filter out the tasks processed by one or more Client

Commented or Modified Tasks

Use these options to filter out tasks to which a comment has been added or those that have been modified at runtime.

To see the user who last modified a task, click the arrow button on the upper right corner of the table header and select Modification Flag. An extra column is added displaying the user name and department.

Current Sync Usage

When tasks do not start or finish due to dependencies defined in the Sync object assigned to them, their status is Waiting for Sync. To find out what is blocking them, filter the tasks that are affected by the Sync object. This allows you to investigate the dependencies among tasks. If applicable, you can ignore the Sync conditions and force processing.

To Filter by Sync Usage

  1. Click Add Filter Criteria and select Current Sync Usage.

  2. Initially, the combo box displays None, indicating that no Sync object is selected. Open the list to display all the Sync objects that are available to you in the system.

  3. You can select one or more objects in the list. Do one of the following:

    • Click one or more of the checkboxes next to the object names.

    • Start typing the name of the Sync object. The list dynamically restricts the displayed results based on what you type. When the list displays the object(s) you need, click the corresponding boxes.

    • Use the * wildcard character to search for the object in the list.

      Tip: If you type *<string>* and click Filter, the Tasks list shows all the available Sync objects (provided <string> is part of the object name). If you then save this as Custom Filter, you will have a dynamic filter that always results in the current list of tasks affected by a SYNC object.

It is also possible to modify the properties of the Sync object directly from the Filter pane, provided you have the necessary rights.

To Modify the Properties of a Sync Object

  1. Highlight the Sync object in the list to display three dots and the Modify Properties context menu.
  2. Click Modify Properties to open a dialog where you can change the State of the Sync object to achieve the results you expect.
  3. Optionally, specify a value.
  4. Click Modify.

Notes:

  • When you use wildcard characters in your search criterion, your input is added as custom values at the top of the list. Custom values do not provide the Modify Properties option.

  • Entering <string> is the same as entering *<string>*.

Queue

Filtering tasks using this option is the same as grouping them using the Group by: Queue option on the Tasks left pane with the difference that here you can select multiple queues at a time.

Remote Status Number and Text

You can filter out tasks processed by external systems by their status in those applications. This option is available for SAP, Database and Rapid Automation Jobs (JOBS) as well as for the RemoteTaskManager (JOBQ).

In the case of SAP, SAP RemoteTaskManager and database jobs, you must define the message number of the remote status.

To Filter by Remote Status Number

Enter the message number of the remote status. The following values are possible:

  • SAP

    • 6500 - scheduled
    • 6501 - released
    • 6502 - ready
    • 6503 - running
    • 6504 - finished
    • 6505 - canceled
    • 6514 - hold
    • 2004972 - Waiting for SAP Server

  • DB

    2012025 - Waiting for Database

To Filter by Remote Status Text

Here you can enter the status of the task in the remote system.

Specific Task Properties

This field allows you to filter the list according to specific information available in the following jobs:

  • Rapid Automation Jobs

    You specify the names and values of Rapid Automation attributes.

  • SAP Jobs that have been started by the by the SAP Solution Manager:

    Use the following parameters

    • JOBDOCID

      A unique ID of the SAP job documentation in which the job has been scheduled

    • JOBDOCURL

      The link to the SAP job documentation.

Allowed wildcard characters: * and ?

Tip: Use the grouping functionality on the Tasks pane to further restrict the contents of the list.

Task Alias

The alias is the alternative name that a task can be given when it is part of a Workflow or when processing it using the Execute Once option. If defined, the alias is displayed on the task instead of its name. For more information, see Name, Title, and Alias.

Task RunID

Use this option if you know the RunID of the task you are searching for.

Time Frame

Use this option to find executions that have been processed within the period of time that you specify here.

  1. Choose one of the following options:

    • No Time Frame

      Default value. Leave it if you do not want to set a time restriction to your filter.

    • All Tasks in Time Frame

      Execution starts, ends or runs within a time frame that you will specify.

    • Task Activation

      Tasks that have been activated within the time frame that you will specify.

    • Task Start

      Tasks whose generation has started within the time frame that you will specify.

    • Task End

      Task that have ended within the time frame that you will specify.

  2. To specify the time frame, do one of the following:

    • Select Within specific dates and use the From/to options to specify the time frame. You can also type the date and time.

    • Select From now and specify a time range before/after the current time.

Deactivated Tasks and the Time Frame

See Including or Excluding Deactivated Tasks.

User Object

Tasks are owned by the users who processed them or by users who have actively taken ownership over them. Use this option to filter out tasks that are owned by a specific user.

ZDU Version

Use this option during system upgrades. ZDU stands for Zero Downtime Upgrade.

When upgrading the Automation Engine, both the current and the new versions run simultaneously to ensure that all processes can continue despite the upgrade. The new processes take over the old processes one by one until nothing remains in the "old" version.

This option allows you to filter out tasks according to the version that is currently processing them. This way, if there are any tasks that prevent the upgrade from running smoothly, you can easily find them.

User Settings

When you enter search criteria and perform a search, or when you select a predefined filter, your system stores these settings. If you leave this view and come back later, the view is displayed as you left it. The view configuration is stored in your user settings and it is also reflected in the URL. This means that you can share a pre-filtered list of tasks with other users by simply sending them the URL.

For more information, see:

Exporting to CSV

See Exporting Tables to CSV.

See also: