Revolutionizing Task Scheduling in CFML!

Tired of managing scheduled tasks in the CFML engine administrators? Why does everything have to be a URL? How can I test my tasks? How can I make them portable? How can I make them more human, for Pete’s sake? Now you can with Box Tasks!

Join me for an insightful journey into task scheduling within the ColdBox framework for ANY CFML application, not only ColdBox. In this session, we’ll dive into how you can effortlessly create and manage scheduled tasks directly in your code, bringing a new level of control and efficiency to your applications and modules. You’ll also get a first-hand look at a user-friendly dashboard that makes managing and monitoring these tasks a breeze. Whether you’re a ColdBox veteran or just starting, this session will offer practical knowledge and tips to enhance your development workflow. Let’s explore how task scheduling in ColdBox can simplify your development process and elevate your applications.

1. CFCAMP 2024 - Luis Majano
Revolutionizing Task Scheduling
In CFML & BoxLang

2. •Computer Engineer
•Coding since year 9
•Creator of all things box!
•Documentation Weirdo!
•Thanks to Giancarlo Gomez
Luis Majano
CEO Ortus Solutions
@lmajano @ortussolutions

3. CFCAMP 2024

4. CFCAMP 2024
THE PROS AND CONS - ADOBE COLDFUSION
PROS
•cronTime

Configured using custom Cron-Expressions

http://www.quartz-scheduler.org/documentation/quartz-2.2.2/tutorials/tutorial-
lesson-06.html
•group

Pause or Resume all tasks in a group
•action

create and modify options added in 2018. 

Create a fresh task which throws and error if it already exists and modify allows to
update an existing task while retaining its old values
•mode - Enterprise

Allows to define Application level tasks
•eventHandler - Enterprise

Simple Event Handlers 

- onException, onComplete, onMisfire
CONS
•The cool features come at a hefty cost $$$
•Although you can track in code
•tasks can be created / edited 

* server tasks
•tasks can be removed 

* server and application level

5. CFCAMP 2024
THE PROS AND CONS - LUCEE
PROS
•unique

Execute task once at a time no overlapping 

Funny behavior ... Does not add the full interval only the remaining
•readonly ?

No edit or delete allowed in admin 

Nice way to force in code only workflow
•autodelete

Helps with the bad habit of people not being pro active about code debt
clean up and yes tasks that are no longer needed create code debt to
manage
CONS
•None of the features from ACF
•Application level tasks
•Event Handlers
•Tasks under 10 second intervals do not fire
•Access to the web admin can be a bit of a pain due to
individual context

6. CFCAMP 2024
THE PROS AND CONS - EXTERNAL RUNNERS (CRON,JENKINS, GITLAB, ETC)
PROS
•Dashboard

Most provide a nice UI for visualization, most, not all
•Complex Schedules

Most allow more complex scheduling
•Interaction

Ability to run, stop, pause, delete, add, etc.
•Centralization

Manage all the tasks on one console and execute against many runners.
CONS
•No developer visibility
•Yet another system to maintain
•More logs to traverse and make sure logged
•Only http/https access to our tasks
•Hard to track exceptions
•Security
•API Keys
•Obfuscated URLs for access
•Public URLs (not good)

7. CFCAMP 2024
SCHEDULED TASK PAIN POINTS
•Limited scheduling capabilities
•Limited error handling
•Hard to cluster 
•Each CF engine has a different config
•External scheduling isn’t portable
•Can‘t contribute run-time additions to scheduled tasks
•Usually based on public-facing CFMs
•Not OO, not functional

8. CFCAMP 2024
BIGGEST PAIN POINT ...
•If managed in code

Switching an engine will require some refactoring
based on features and attributes

•If not managed in code

Good luck, I went thru this for a project with over
150 scheduled tasks split over several servers with
absolutely no pattern.

9. CFCAMP 2024
BOX SCHEDULED TASKS
•A programmatic and fluent approach to tasks
•Contained within a Scheduler.cfc, Scheduler.bx
•Configuration as code
•No external scheduling mechanisms
•Built-in lifecycle methods and exception handling
•Built-in logging
•Built-in clustering support
•ColdBox Advantages
•Modular
•Environment constraints
•Caching
•Much more
•Standalone for WireBox, CacheBox and LogBox
•Also available for BoxLang

10. CFCAMP 2024
WHY BOX SCHEDULED TASKS?
•Code First!!!!

Based on your workflow, this can make it easier to manage, track, and understand why a task exists.
•A fresh, programmatic, and human approach to scheduling tasks
•Complete control over the lifecycle

Globally and at the individual task level - better event handlers!
•Tasks are testable
•Not bound to any CFML engine
•Limitless opportunities!

11. CFCAMP 2024
SCHEDULER
•Location
•ColdBox
•config/Scheduler.cfc or bx
•Standalone/BoxLang
•Path/I/Want/Scheduler.cfc or bx
•Automatic Inheritance
•configure() - declaring tasks

12. CFCAMP 2024
SCHEDULED TASK INTRO
•Frequencies

Easy to understand frequencies to scheduled our tasks with.
•every ( period, timeunit ) / everyMinute() / onFirstBusinessDayOfTheMonth( time ) / onWeekends() ...
•Prevent Stacking

Allows to force a task to have a fixed delay starting when the task finishes executing.
•Delay First Execution 

Great for delaying the first execution of a scheduled task.
•Create One Off Tasks

Great for warming up caches, registering yourself with control planes, setting up initial data collections and so much more.
•Life-Cycle Methods

The scheduler itself has global life-cycle methods but tasks can also have these methods.
•after / before / onFailure / onSuccess
•Constraints
•Truth Test - Register a when() closure that will be executed at runtime and boolean evaluated.
•Start Date / End Date - Specify when the task will become active on a specific date and time and/or when the task will become disabled.
•Start Time / End Time - Restrict the execution of the task after and/or before a certain time
•Environment - For ColdBox apps you can specify what environment to run on

13. CFCAMP 2024
SIMPLE EXAMPLE

14. CFCAMP 2024
SCHEDULER

15. CFCAMP 2024
SCHEDULER

16. CFCAMP 2024
SCHEDULER LIFE-CYCLE METHODS

17. CFCAMP 2024
SCHEDULER LIFE-CYCLE METHODS
•onStartup() - Called after the scheduler has registered all schedules
•onShutdown() - Called before the scheduler is going to be shutdown
•onAnyTaskError(task,exception) - Called whenever ANY task fails
•onAnyTaskSuccess(task,result) - Called whenever ANY task succeeds
•beforeAnyTask(task) - Called before ANY task runs
•afterAnyTask(task,result) - Called after ANY task runs

18. CFCAMP 2024
SCHEDULER LIFE-CYCLE METHODS

19. CFCAMP 2024
SCHEDULER CONFIGURATION METHODS

20. CFCAMP 2024
SCHEDULER CONFIGURATION METHODS
•setCacheName( cacheName ) - Set the cachename to use for all registered tasks
•setServerFixation( boolean ) - Set the server fixation to use for all registered tasks
•setTimezone( timezone ) - Set the timezone to use for all registered tasks
•setExecutor( executor ) - Override the executor generated for the scheduler

21. CFCAMP 2024
SCHEDULER CONFIGURATION METHODS

22. CFCAMP 2024
SCHEDULER TASK METHODS
•getSetting() - Get a ColdBox or WireBox/CacheBox/LogBox setting
•getInstance() - Get a WireBox object
•runEvent() - Run a ColdBox event*
•runRoute() - Run a ColdBox route*
•view() - Render a ColdBox view*
•layout() - Render a ColdBox layout or layout + view combo*
•announce() - Announce an event

23. CFCAMP 2024
TASK `CALL()` METHOD

24. CFCAMP 2024
TASK `CALL()` METHOD

25. CFCAMP 2024
TASK `CALL()` METHOD

26. CFCAMP 2024
TASK `CALL()` METHOD

27. CFCAMP 2024
TASK `CALL()` METHOD

28. CFCAMP 2024
SCHEDULING TIMES

29. CFCAMP 2024
TIME UNITS
•days
•hours
•minutes
•seconds
•milliseconds (default)
•microseconds
•nanoseconds

30. CFCAMP 2024
EVERY XXXX() METHODS

31. CFCAMP 2024
EVERY XXXX() METHODS

32. CFCAMP 2024
ONE-OFF TASKS

33. CFCAMP 2024
ONE-OFF TASKS

34. CFCAMP 2024
TASK LIFE-CYCLE METHODS

35. CFCAMP 2024
•after( target ) - Store the closure to execute after the task executes
•before( target ) - Store the closure to execute before the task executes
•onFailure( target ) - Store the closure to execute if there is a failure running the task
•onSuccess( target ) - Store the closure to execute if the task completes successfully
TASK LIFE-CYCLE METHODS

36. CFCAMP 2024
TASK LIFE-CYCLE METHODS

37. CFCAMP 2024
TASK CONSTRAINTS

38. CFCAMP 2024
TASK CONSTRAINTS - WHEN()

39. CFCAMP 2024
TASK CONSTRAINTS - SERVER FIXATION

40. CFCAMP 2024
TASK CONSTRAINTS - ENVIRONMENT FIXATION

41. CFCAMP 2024
TASK STATS

42. CFCAMP 2024
TASK STATS
•created - The timestamp of when the task was created in memory
•lastRun - The last time the task ran
•nextRun - When the task will run next
•totalFailures - How many times the task has failed execution
•totalRuns - How many times the task has run
•totalSuccess - How many times the task has run and succeeded

43. CFCAMP 2024
TASK STATS

44. CFCAMP 2024
ONE MORE THING ... box install scheduled-task-manager

45. INTO THE BOX 2024
Thank You !
CFCAMP 2024