Latest Contributions by BrianDemers

Hi Heather, Can you provide any specifics about which version of JTX you were using, and the version of Workflow Manager to which you upgraded?  Also, do you know how the upgrade was performed?  (As in, did you upgrade your Workflow Manager repository in place with the post-install utility, or did you migrate your repository somewhere and then do the upgrade, or...?) I'm not familiar this particular error, but it almost sounds like there may be an issue with the step IDs or step type IDs.  If you're familiar with the JTX_JOB_TYPE_STEPS or JTX_STEP_TYPES tables in the Workflow Manager database, it may be worth a quick look through them to see if there are any obvious problems.  (e.g., step type IDs referenced in the first table that don't exist in the second, etc.) Brian D. ... View more

Hi Leonard, Could you please clarify how you're creating the job -- using the "Create Job" button in Workflow Manager, using one of the custom steps ("JTXSteps.CreateJob" or "JTXDesktopSteps.CreateJobAdvanced"), or some other method -- and which version of ArcGIS you're using? In case it triggers any ideas: I haven't experienced this personally, but I found a case where someone had run into what sounds like a similar issue.  In that instance, I believe they were creating a job via a custom step and somehow referencing a resource (script? .mxd?) on a file share or network drive.  It looks like they were able to resolve the issue by copying the resource locally before running the step.  ...anyway, I'm not sure if this is relevant to your case, but if so, it may be a place to start looking. Brian D. ... View more

Hi Andrew, One thing that caught my eye is your comment about having some steps that run SQL.  It may be worth reviewing these steps to ensure that the fields that they're using for queries have attribute indexes. I checked one of the Workflow Manager databases that I use, and (for example) in its JTX_HISTORY table, there was an attribute index on "OBJECTID" and another on "JOB_ID", but not on any of the other fields.  You'll probably have comparable indexes set up on each table just from the Workflow Manager post-install.  But if you've developed your own queries against the database using fields that aren't indexed, or set up your own tables, or certainly if one of these indexes is missing for any reason, that could lead to a performance hit over time as the number of records in these tables gets larger. Another way to investigate/confirm what's happening would be to run through these steps with Workflow Manager logging enabled.  This might provide some more insight as to where the application is spending its time. Hopefully that helps, Brian D. ... View more

Hi Courtney, Sorry for such a late reply.  I don't have a 10.1 machine readily available, but I downloaded the latest version of the tools, installed them as-is to 10.2.1, and ran a test like what I believe you're describing.  In both a cmd prompt and as a scheduled task, the script ran and created a job. My database was SQL Express, and I was using the Workflow Manager quick start configuration available through the post-install.  The "main()" function of my script was as follows (I essentially just swapped the code below with the main() function in the "UploadAndBackupSample1.py" from the tools' Documentation folder): def main():     # Get any necessary licenses before importing the toolbox     checkOutLicenses("", ["JTX"])     # Import the Workflow Manager toolbox     wmxToolbox = getWorkflowManagerToolboxLocation()     arcpy.ImportToolbox(wmxToolbox, "WMXAdminUtils")     arcpy.CreateJob_WMXAdminUtils(         "Data Edits",         "myWindowsUsername")     logPreviousToolMessages()        Some things to check would be: Download the latest version of the tools if you haven't already; I *think* they should build against 10.1 as-is. The permissions of the scheduled task user: make sure this user has an entry in the Workflow Manager database and is a member of a group with permissions to create new jobs. Ensure that the default Workflow Manager database is set for the scheduled task user. (Kind of a long shot) Try launching ArcCatalog as the scheduled task user and ensure that the "Workflow Manager" extension is enabled. Anyway, if you're still having this issue, I hope this helps. Brian D. ... View more

Hi Greg, Referring back to an earlier post, you need to have the equivalent of the "AllWmxUsers" and "AllWmxGroups" AD groups defined in your domain.  Once they're defined, you would specify those two groups in the "Active Directory Group (for users)" and "Active Directory Group (for groups)" fields, respectively. If I'm following your example, "XXX" would need to be a group name as opposed to a user name.  (I don't know offhand if the "abc\" prefix would cause any trouble; I'm pretty certain you could leave it out.)  Also, "groupname" would need to be an AD group containing the two other AD groups, "Viewers" and "editors". I hope that helps. Brian D. ... View more

Hi Tim, I believe there's an outstanding issue with Workflow Manager and the Clean Up step in certain cases.  If you close Workflow Manager after the step fails, then restart it and re-run the step, does the step then run successfully?  (This obviously isn't a great workaround, but it might at least confirm whether you're seeing the same issue or a different one.) Brian D. ... View more

Hi Ken, I don't know of an out of the box way to do this.  If custom development is an option, then you might want to have a look at the C# samples shipped with Workflow Manager.  In "<Workflow Manager Install Dir>\Developer Kit\Samples\CustomNotifier", there's a notifier that interacts with a secure SMTP server, along with instructions about how to build and register this notifier as your system's notification mechanism. Presumably, you could modify this example to send an SMS message, post something to a Sharepoint list, etc. I hope that helps. Brian D. ... View more

Hi Ashley, Thanks very much for attaching the screenshots; that was a big help.  In this case, since you're trying to set the value of a GP tool parameter, you can pass in the value that you want as a step argument.  And since the value needs to be user-specific, I would recommend using a token or some combination of tokens to do so. The "[SYS:CUR_JTX_USER]" token might be one option.  It may also be possible to use an environment variable to help you out.  (One way to see what's available is to open a command prompt in Windows and run the "set" command with no arguments.)  On my machine, it looks like I may be able to build a path similar to the one that you need using the USERPROFILE environment variable.  I can access this in a Workflow Manager token as, "[ENV:USERPROFILE]". I agree that this isn't ideal, but maybe it's enough to get you past this issue...? Brian D. ... View more

Hi Luke, To use the Workflow Manager quick start database as an example -- 3 users (amiller, cjones, and jrobinson) and 3 groups (Managers, QA/QC, and Technicians) -- you'd want your AD groups to look like the following: [INDENT]YOURDOMAIN\AllWmxUsers YOURDOMAIN\amiller YOURDOMAIN\cjones YOURDOMAIN\jrobinson YOURDOMAIN\AllWmxGroups YOURDOMAIN\Managers YOURDOMAIN\QAQC     (the "/" will almost surely cause problems, so I'd drop it from the group name) YOURDOMAIN\Technicians YOURDOMAIN\Managers YOURDOMAIN\cjones YOURDOMAIN\QAQC <empty> YOURDOMAIN\Technicians YOURDOMAIN\jrobinson [/INDENT] One last note: when you initially import the AD info, if your groups don't exist in your Workflow Manager database, you'll have to assign all the group privileges manually.  (I think the privileges will remain unchanged for any groups that already exist.) I hope that helps, Brian D. ... View more

Hi Ashley, Just to double-check one thing: assuming that you're editing features in an SDE geodatabase, is the version in the ArcMap table of contents the same as the version of the SDE file into which you're loading the features? I'm not sure how clear that was, so I've attached a screenshot showing what I mean.  ...and since I'm not sure how clear the screenshot is, either: In ArcMap, click the "source" tab in the table of contents to see the DB & version info for the layers in question In the Catalog window, right-click the .sde connection file you're using to load the data and view the "Connection Properties" By default, if you're using Workflow Manager to launch ArcMap, it will re-point all of the layers in a map from your job's workspace's DEFAULT version to your job-specific version.  So that might explain why you're only seeing this behavior through Workflow Manager. All that said, if the versions are in fact the same, then this does sound like a bug. Brian D. ... View more

Ah, gotcha.  Regarding the editor (if I'm following), the "CreateChildJobsAdvanced" sample step includes some configuration dialogs; that might be a helpful one to review. ... View more

Hi, Starting with Workflow Manager 10.0 SP2 (I think), the sample steps provided with the desktop software include a step called "ExecuteGPTool", which is similar to the "LaunchGPTool" custom step.  Have a look in the Workflow Manager install directory under "...\Developer Kit\Samples\CustomSteps\ExecuteGPTool". Also, keep in mind that the "LaunchGPTool" step can run geoprocessing models and scripts.  It sounds like you may just need a model that copies some features from one location to another...? I hope that helps. Brian D. ... View more

Hi Benjamin, I believe you can point the Workflow Manager 10 post-installer at your 9.3.1 database, and it will upgrade the database in place. The JXL export/import works well for many things, but I don't believe the 9.3.1 JXL export function will include the information about existing jobs in the JXL file.  (This has changed at 10.0.)  So none of your old jobs will exist in the new database after you do the JXL import. Either way, I'd recommend making a backup before upgrading and/or running a quick test with a test DB, just to be on the safe side. Brian D. ... View more

Susan, From what I was told, the transaction information at JTX 9.3.1 is stored in the "JTX_TRANSACTIONS*" table(s).  I believe that date/time information is stored with these records, so you could certainly set up a script/scheduled task that deletes the rows from these tables that are older than a certain date. When you upgrade your Workflow Manager database from 9.3.1 to 10, the post-installer will retain whatever information is in your transaction tables.  So this history will remain visible after the upgrade. One thing to keep in mind: with Workflow Manager 10, the preferred way to track feature change history is through geodatabase archiving; have a look here.  If/when you switch to this approach, you'll now be able to use ArcMap's geodatabase archiving tools to view your feature history, but you'll still need to use the transaction tools to view the changes made in any "pre-archiving" jobs, if that makes sense. Brian D. ... View more

Hi Sue, I don't recall all of the details about 9.3.1, but I'm fairly certain that you'll need to: Register your datasets as versioned Register your datasets with JTX (like you already did) Create an editing version for your job (you can use the "Create Version" step), and After making your edits, use the "JTX Custom Post" tool to promote your edits from your editing version to the default version The custom post is what associates a job with a changeset in JTX (...and you can't do a post without having an editing version).  This association is what is used by the transaction tools. I hope that helps, Brian D. ... View more