How to run batch tasks using the SysOperation framework

Overview

As you may know, the system has batch tasks functionality. It can be used to create a chain of operations if you want to set an order of tasks execution according to certain criteria.

Issue description

When you create a new batch tasks you have to specify the "Class name" field. If you know the class name in advance you can put it directly and not wait for the lookup list. Theoretically not all classes are supposed to be used with the mentioned feature. In this casse, the following warning message will appear: 

"The specified class is not fully designed for use in the Batch job form. Execution might provide unexpected results."

If you ignore this message and try to define the class parameters you will see the error: 

"Access denied: Class name"

If we use the "RunBaseBatch" framework it is required to override the method "canGoBatchJournal" and set its return value to "true".

If you use the new SysOperation framework it is required to decorate the controlled class with the 

"[SysOperationJournaledParametersAttribute(true)]". 

[SysOperationJournaledParameters(true)]

class WHSReleaseOutboundShipmentOrderToWarehouseController

If you add this command the issue with the warning message "The specified class is not fully designed for use in the Batch job form. Execution might provide unexpected results." will be solved.

But if you try to set the parameters you will still see the error: "Access denied: Class name".

In order to solve it, it is requerd to add to the "new" method a reference to the service class and method. You can take a look at the "WHSReleaseOutboundShipmentOrderToWarehouseController" class to get an idea of the pattern.

void new(

    IdentifierName _className  = '',

    IdentifierName _methodName = '',

    SysOperationExecutionMode _executionMode = SysOperationExecutionMode::Synchronous)

{

    IdentifierName parmClassName    = _className != '' ? _className :                 

            classStr(WHSReleaseOutboundShipmentOrderToWarehouseService);

    IdentifierName parmMethodName = _methodName != '' ? _methodName : 

        methodStr(WHSReleaseOutboundShipmentOrderToWarehouseService, 

            autoReleaseOutboundShipmentOrders);

    super(parmClassName, parmMethodName, _executionMode);

    this.parmDialogCaption(

        WHSReleaseOutboundShipmentOrderToWarehouseController::description());

}

When the "new" method is executed, the framework looks at the "run" method and determines the contract based on the input parameters. The call to "startOperation" method causes the system to build the user interface and execute code based on the user’s actions. A dialog is created using data types specified in data contract member methods. This explains why the new method requires class and method names. The third parameter specifies the execution mode, which takes effect if we programmatically execute the controller. Synchronous execution runs in line with the current process unless the user chooses to run it in the background.

So the reason for the error "Access denied: Class name" was that the service class names and method names were not set by default in the "new" method. As a result, the default UI builder class did not have a reference to the contract class, so parameters could not be set for batch tasks.

In case you experience other challenges with the SysOperation batch tasks feature you can use "WHSReleaseOutboundShipmentOrderToWarehouse*" classes to guide you.