Using Automation
Provided Automation is enabled in your Enterprise installation, you can use automation in Qloud models that you own in the models list to eliminate the need to manually set off data operations and scripts. You cannot use automation on template models or models that were shared with you (you must be the model owner). If Automation is disabled on your Qloud server, the Automation button does not appear on the Models page.
An example of a use for automation: A model might generate the amount of product you can create based on current inventory, and you want to send that information back to a database. Without automation, you might need to open and run several Data Imports or DataLinks from one or more models to gather the inventory data, run calculations with the updated data and then DataPush the results.
Using Enterprise Qloud Automation, you can set up a series of automated rules made of Events (a specified time that the action runs), each of which can trigger an Action (such as a script), so that manual intervention is not needed.
Notes:
You cannot use Automation to execute any type of export operation that is issued from a scripted button on a canvas, or a script that requires the model to be open in a browser requiring input.
If you set up a rule to schedule an export from a scripted button the script may successfully execute and trigger an email informing you of the success, but the script cannot export the file because it would require the model to be open in a browser, so there will be no output in the folder that receives browser exports.
After a script successfully updates a model, provided you are in multi-user edit mode, the model is updated with the changes. If you are not in multi-user edit mode, i.e. your Qloud is set to single-user edit mode, a successful completion saves a new version of the model to the Qloud server.
Provided you turn on Email notifications for a rule, an email informs you as to the success or failure of your automated rule after it is run at the specified time.
Rules List
The Automation page lists all rules and provides details about them.
Rules initially display collapsed, showing the rule description, the last run time, or, if it has never run, it will say Not yet run. An ellipsis icon opens the Rule details and an on/off button shows whether the rule is enabled (active) or not.
If a rule failed to run, a red icon displays to the left of the Rule description. Hover over the icon to see details about why it failed.
To expand rule details, click the ellipsis button next to the rule.
Expanded rule details show the event schedule (frequency, time, time zone, specific days of the week, calendar range) on which the rule event is scheduled to run, and the rule action (the model name and script name, with an optional password, for example).
Rule details include a Delete icon, an Edit pencil, a Run Rule Now that is useful for testing a rule (click the "play" icon, ), the ellipsis button itself, which toggles the the rule details on and off, a toggle button to enable/disable the rule, and an Email Notification option.
To enter edit mode for a rule, click the Edit pencil icon. Clicking the Email Notifications option will also invoke edit mode.
Using the Edit pencil, you can change the rule description, the event schedule and the action (the script name and model, for example).
On the Automation page, the Sort options for the Rules list in the upper right and include Name, Date Added and Last Run:
Add Rule
Click the Add Rule button to add an automation rule to the Rules page. The Rules are triggered by an Event (such as a date and time), upon which an Action (such as a script in a model) will run automatically. On the Add Rule page, you can enter rule information for the Event and Action in any order (i.e. you can enter the Action information before the Event information if desired).
Choose Event
Events currently include Date/Time-based events with optional recurrence. Click the blue clock to select a frequency, run time, Time zone, whether you want to run the rule on one or more specific days of the week, a start date, and optional end date for the even.
The selected Time Zone is the system default time zone in most browsers. You can change it by clicking the time zone link.
Options for Event scheduling include Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Week In Month and Bi Weekly as shown below, and you can specify start and end dates for ranges:
Depending on which recurrence selection you make, additional options display, for example,
Daily events include the option to choose specific days so that you can run them on only specific days each week.
Weekly events support choosing which day to run the event every week.
Monthly events support choosing which day of the month to run the event.
Week in month events allow you to choose the week number (1-4, or whatever is the last week) to run the event, and the day of the week (Sunday, Monday, etc.) You could set it up to run "The last Wednesday of the month", for example.
Bi-weekly events start at the time you choose, on the start date you choose, with an optional end date, and runs every two weeks.
When you have completed your Event (you have selected the scheduling option(s) and clicked Done), you can specify the Action you want to occur.
Choose Action
Click the blue Choose Action button to open the Choose Action dialog:
From the Choose Action dialog, click the blue Run Script button to open the Model and Script selection dialog:
In the Run Script fields, you can begin entering characters to restrict the model names that display to those that contain the characters you enter. Only models you own are shown.
Enter or select a valid model name. When you select a model name, it appears in the Model field and the Script Name field opens so you can select the Script Name.
Click in the Script Name field to show a list of scripts: enter one or more characters to show script names that match.
The Script Name must exactly match the way it appears in Modeler.
The Script Name is case sensitive. For example, if the script name as it appears on a scripted button is Add Items, you must enter or select Add Items for the script name (i.e., if you enter add items, lower case, the script will fail to run).
Note: The Run Script fields may display unrelated items when you first click in the fields due to browser behaviors. If this occurs locate your pointer in the field and enter a character(s) and the list will fill with appropriate items.
The script may be a scripted button or some other script. If the script doesn't appear after you enter a few characters, you can copy the script name(s) from Modeler, after which it may appear, or be discoverable, in the Script Name field.
Enter or select a valid script name.
The Role displays. Click "Enter role password" to enter a password if a password is required for this role for this model.
Important: Remember that if you use your browser's Save Password feature, it may pre-fill the Role Password or even the Script Name with the wrong saved password data. If this occurs you may need to replace the incorrect data in these fields.
If the password was changed or removed in Modeler, you will need to enter the correct password or clear the field if the password was removed. To remove a password, clear the field and click Done.
Note: if the role requires a password and you don't enter it, or you enter it incorrectly, the script will fail when it runs and will return an Invalid credentials for role message.
When you click Done, your Rule is added to the Rules list. A default rule name is created, but you can change the rule name using the Show Details button and then the Edit pencil. Use Show Details to verify your rule:
All rules indicate whether they have been run, when they were last run or whether they are pending, and if they were run, whether they have run successfully or failed. If they failed, there is a message indicating why they have failed in the email notification if you have email notification enabled, or when you hover over the red triangular error icon next to the rule.
Run Rule Now
Use the Run Rule Now ( ) button to test the rule at any time. A rule does not need to be enabled in order to use Run Rule Now.
Run Rule Now can be used by users who create rules, and by admin users. Admin users can run other user's rules.
When you click the Run Rule Now button, the button changes to a spinning icon, indicating that the rule is running.
The Last Run date/time field data is replaced by the word Running while the rule runs. When the rule completes, the Last Run field shows the updated date/time.
If your rule fails to run successfully, a red triangle error shows to the left of the Last Run field, and if you hover over the error, the reason for failure displays.
Scheduler Messages
When Scheduler runs the automated rule, if it can't complete successfully it tries to give you information about why it didn't run. For examples:
Model is checked out by (user name)
Model (model name) is currently open on Qloud
Invalid credentials for role (role name)
Script not found (script name)
Script resulted in error (error message)
Model role assigned to the user is no longer valid
Model is in the process of being deleted
If an Automation rule runs but the model save fails, Qloud provides messaging that the script didn't complete or the script results didn't save, by showing the red triangular error icon next to the rule with a tooltip explaining the error.
If a model is locked, unlock the model to allow the unsaved changes to be saved when the model is opened from the models page. Scripted actions that ran before the failed save are in the model and ready for saving.
You can disable or enable a rule by clicking in the Enable/Disable rule control:
To receive an email notification about the status of the action when it runs, click the Email Notifications option.
Note that if you have Rules set up for a model, and the model is deleted, any rules that were created for the model are also deleted.
Versions
As the model owner, if your automated rule runs a version is created that you see using Versions from the Models list, indicating it was a scheduled model update.