I learned some new things about the Automation Engine today. :)
Does anyone use the Express option in the Attribute dialog? I wanted to understand this option a bit more, so I did some experimentation with it.
Although
Express is not specifically mentioned in the documentation page for the
Attribute dialog, the attribute dialog include for UNIX (ATTRDIA.UNIX in client 0) contains the following statements:
:if &uc_setexpress = 'Y'
: set &uc_runnr = sys_act_me_nr()
: set &uc_ret# = modify_uc_object(JOBS,&uc_runnr,SET_EXPRESS,)
:endif
The documentation page for
MODIFY_UC_OBJECT contains the following description of SET_EXPRESS:
Starts a task that is in the status "Waiting for resource" immediately (JOBS, JOBF and JOBD).
Allowed values: "ON" and "OFF"
So that explains what it does. It is equivalent to the
Ignore agent resources function that can be initiated via the Activities window.
Although SET_EXPRESS is referred to here as an “attribute”, it is not documented in the list of
attributes for all job types, and it cannot be read using GET_ATT. This terminology initially confused me.
It took a few moments before I understood that the “attributes” that can be changed using
MODIFY_UC_OBJECT are
completely different from the attributes that can be read or changed using GET_ATT/:PUT_ATT. They are more like
actions than attributes, because they directly correspond to the actions one sees in the
Modify task sub-menu of the
contextual pop-up menu that appears when one right-clicks on the task in the Activities window of the GUI.
Keep in mind that MODIFY_UC_OBJECT is similar to, but different from,
MODIFY_TASK. And note too that despite its name, MODIFY_UC_OBJECT
does not modify
objects; it only changes the behavior of an active
task.