How dangerous is directly changing values in the JTX_ tables?

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08-25-2015 07:50 AM
AlisonGaiser1
Occasional Contributor

We recently did an upgrade from 10.0 to 10.2.2. To get to 10.2.2 we created a clone of our 10.0 database (called it ed6) and then upgraded both the SDE and WMX to 10.2.2. In this cloned database we then tested our existing workflows, created a number of new workflows, steps, etc. We then took our production 10.0 database offline, (ep4) upgraded it to SDE 10.2.2 and WMX 10.2.2. To get the tested changes we made into our production 10.2.2 database we exported the testing configuration from ed6 and merged into ep4, Overall this is working well but we have run into one issue.

We are finding that the behaviour of the auto execute is not the same as it was in 10.0. Because of this our users now find themselves in old jobs (created before the upgrade), in an endless loop. Here are the steps:

  1. Procedural step to start the job
  2. Create Version - not auto execute, proceed to next step
  3. Launch ArcMap - auto execute, proceed to next step
  4. Question step"more edits" - auto execute, proceed to next step
    1. If yes, return to step 3
    2. If no, reconcile and post changes

If the user selects yes in step 4, they are sent back to Launch ArcMap (step 3) which automatically executes. When they exit ArcMap, the more edits step automatically runs. If they say yes, ArcMap opens, and they are stuck in a loop. The only way the user can get out of the loop is to answer No to step four. This will move them to the reconcile and post. In order for them to return to continue editing, we need to set the step back to the Launch ArcMap for them. Generally we do not give our users the ability to set step.

As these are existing jobs, changing the steps in the workflow does not affect them. We have found a workaround which is to alter the autorun value in the JTX_JOB_STEP table for the existing jobs. For example:

update jtx_job_step

set autorun = 0

where job_id = 27749 and step_id = 34803;

How much trouble can we get into with making changes directly in these tables?

Thanks,

     Alison

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TopeBello
Occasional Contributor III

Hi Alison,

I tried out your workflow in my 10.3 environment real quick just to confirm that there isn’t a bug but was unable to reproduce in my test environment. I am not entirely sure what changes may have been made at 10.2/10.2.2 to impact the way automatic execution works but if you want we could try to reproduce this through tech support if you submit a ticket.

We introduced the ability to apply changes to the workflow to existing job through the application. You can select the affected jobs and right click to expose the context menu. From there, the recreate workflow button should be available to you. If it is disabled, check to see if you have the privilege to recreate workflow added to your group. Recreating the workflow doesn’t set the workflow to the current step though. The workflow will be at the first step of your workflow and you can skip steps as needed to return to where your work is.

I hope this helps!

Thanks,

Tope

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6 Replies
George_Thompson
Esri Frequent Contributor

Hi Alison,

I would recommend not editing any of the JTX_ repository tables!!!!!

This could lead to corruption in which a correction is not possible. This is also an unsupported modification in which support may not be able to help if there are other issues down the road.

In my experience it is better to let the ArcGIS WMX extension do those changes.

Hope this helps

-George

--- George T.
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AlisonGaiser1
Occasional Contributor

Sadly there doesn't seem to be anyway to make this change with the product. Once the workflow is created you can't modify how a step executes.

The only way we can see around it is to recreated each one of the jobs. A bit of a daunting task as there are around 80+ jobs.

Thanks for your feedback

     Alison

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George_Thompson
Esri Frequent Contributor

I understand that it can be a daunting task, but if you do it manually and there is another table that needs to be updated at the same time and the update is not done it could corrupt everything.

I think the safe move is to export/import the jobs or recreate them again.

ArcGIS Help (10.2, 10.2.1, and 10.2.2) - Export WMX Jobs

This may help speed up the process.

-George

--- George T.
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AlisonGaiser1
Occasional Contributor

I don't think export/import for the jobs will help us at this point.

One of our problems was that we used the rename function for a step, instead of clone during our upgrade.

We had a step called More Edits which was referenced by the old workflows.

We then renamed this step to be otMoreEdits and changed some of the parameters in our test database

When we imported the .jxl configuration from our test to our prod, it appears to have changed all our old workflows to use the "new" step. It seems that it uses the step ID as reference. Our mistake, we didn't realize the ramifications of this rename. 

Looks like our best bet is to recreate the jobs.

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TopeBello
Occasional Contributor III

Hi Alison,

I tried out your workflow in my 10.3 environment real quick just to confirm that there isn’t a bug but was unable to reproduce in my test environment. I am not entirely sure what changes may have been made at 10.2/10.2.2 to impact the way automatic execution works but if you want we could try to reproduce this through tech support if you submit a ticket.

We introduced the ability to apply changes to the workflow to existing job through the application. You can select the affected jobs and right click to expose the context menu. From there, the recreate workflow button should be available to you. If it is disabled, check to see if you have the privilege to recreate workflow added to your group. Recreating the workflow doesn’t set the workflow to the current step though. The workflow will be at the first step of your workflow and you can skip steps as needed to return to where your work is.

I hope this helps!

Thanks,

Tope

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AlisonGaiser1
Occasional Contributor

Thanks Tope. This is wonderful!!! It will save us a tonne of time and makes us feel much more comfortable that nothing will be lost.

Alison

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