Events (EVNT)

As a developer and object designer you define an Event object to monitor certain conditions and, if they apply, to automatically trigger actions. These actions are usually the execution of other objects, as defined on the Event Process page. Event objects are in Sleeping status as long as their frequency and time parameters do not apply and change to Checking when they do.

There are various types of Event objects:

• CONS (Console) monitor the messages returned by target systems.
• DB (Database) monitor values in tables.
• FILE check file-related conditions, for example if the defined number of files has been transferred via FTP into a directory, or if a file is stable, etc.
• TIME

You can use the following functions of the Automation Engine scripting language to retrieve relevant data for the Event object:

• For Console, File and Database Events: GET_CONSOLE, GET_EVENT_INFO
• For File Events: GET_FILESYSTEM
• For Windows Events: GET_WIN_EVENT

Object class: Executable object

Object type/Short name: EVNT

Subcategories: CONS, DB, FILE, TIME

Defining Event Objects

An Event object definition is made up of the following pages:

• Standard pages that are always available, no matter what type of object you are defining:
  • General Page
  • Version Management Page
  • Documentation Page
• Additional pages that are always available for executable objects:
  • Process Pages
  • Attributes Page
  • Variables Page
  • Prompt Sets Page
  • Rollback Page
• Event specific pages:
  • Console (CONS) Events
  • Database (DB) Events
  • FILE Events
  • TIME Events
• Event Process Page

Activating/Executing and Monitoring the Event

Execute the Event object to activate it

The execution of an Event object triggers the execution of other objects, which in turn trigger the execution of further tasks. The tasks resulting from these executions are displayed in the Process Monitoring perspective on the various lists of Executions related to the Event object. They are children of the Event task and are flagged with a special tag type called !EVNT. The tag lets you check which executions were triggered by a specific Event. For more information, see Monitoring Events and Execution Data.

Execute Event objects in the following ways:

• Include Event objects in Schedules (JSCH) to execute them automatically at predefined times and/or intervals.

• Insert Event objects in Workflows (see Workflows (JOBP)).

• Manually execute, restart or stop Event objects. For more information, see Executing Events.

To check the number of times the system checked the Event, go to the Check count section in the Details of the object. For more information, see Viewing Object and Task Details.

Note: If a Time Event is activated outside the Time and Date Conditions, it will be activated immediately after the first time interval has passed.

Monitor the Event

Immediately after executing the object, you can start monitoring the Event. Right-click the object and select Monitoring, Show in Process Monitoring and open the pre-filtered list of tasks to display the task. Follow the progress of the task and access reports and statistical information in the Process Monitoring perspective.

You can stop active Events in the following ways:

• cancel the Event
  Status: Abend/manually canceled
• Quit the Event
  Status: Ended_OK
• Suspend the Event
  Event remains active, but temporarily disabled

For more information, see Working with Tasks, particularly Stopping and Interrupting.

See also:

• Scripting and the Automation Engine Scripting Language
• Script Processing