Managing Scripts

In QPR ProcessAnalyzer, scripts can be used for ETL tasks and to automate routines. Scripts are managed in the Project Workspace.

Running vs. Calling Scripts

Running a script means starting executing a stored script, which can be done in the UI or using the ScriptLauncher. A script can also call other scripts during the run. The differences between the running and calling are:

• Script can run only once at a time, whereas there are no limitations on how many times a script can be called at the same time
• Script log is written to the running script. No script log is written to the called script.
• Script status shows whether the script is being run or not. The status does not change, when a script is called from other script.

When a script is running, it's not possible to start another run of the same script, so the first run needs to end to start new. Scripts can call other scripts and a called scripts can run multiple times simultaneously. In the stack of called scripts, the script log is generated to the top level script. Also the top level script shows that it's running and the called scripts do not.

Scripts List

When selecting a project and opening the Scripts tab, all scripts in the project can be seen. Scripts list shows following information:

• Name: Name of the script.
• Status: Status of the script, which is one of following: Ready, Running or Stopping. For more information about script statuses, see below.
• Last run duration: Duration of the last ended run of the script (the last run result can be any).
• Last run date: Date and time when the last run ended. If you need to know the last run start time, subtract the Last run duration from this time.
• Last run result: Result of the last run of the script. Either of following: Completed, Failed or Aborted. For more information about last run results, see below.
• Id: Script id that uniquely identifies the script in the system.

Scrips are in either of following statuses:

• Ready: Script is currently not running, and can be started.
• Running: Script is currently running, and the script can be stopped. When a script is running, another run of the same script cannot be started.
• Stopping: Script is currently being stopped. When a script is in this status, the script cannot be started nor stopped, so you need to wait for the script to stop. There may be a delay in stopping a script, depending on the operation currently performed by the script.

The last script run result can be either of the following:

• Completed: The last run ended successfully, i.e. without any errors or exceptions. Note that despite of the technically successful run, the script might still not work as intended.
• Failed: The last run ended to an error or exception. To see more information about the reason of the failure, see the last run log.
• Aborted: The last run was stopped by a user, so the script did not run till the end.

Editing Script

Open the scripts editor as follows:

1. On the left side projects hierarchy, select the project where the script is located.
2. Open the Scripts tab.
3. Select the script and in the right-click context menu select Edit. Alternatively, you can hover the script and click the Edit button in the end of the row.

The script editor can show multiple scripts in the tabs, allowing to easily switch between the scrips. The editor remembers all scripts that have been opened during the session.

In the script editor, you can:

• Run the script by clicking the Run button.
• Stop a running script by clicking the Stop button.
• Save a script having unsaved changes by clicking the Save button.
• To run a script having unsaved changes, click the Save and Run button. Note that the script needs to be saved to run it.
• To go back to the list of scripts, click the Go back button. If there are unsaved changes in any of the opened scripts, you need to either save or cancel the changes.
• To close a script, click the Close button for the tab showing the script. If there are unsaved changes, you need to either save or cancel changes.

Starting Script

1. On the left side projects hierarchy, select the project where the script is located.
2. Open the Scripts tab.
3. Select the script and in the right-click context menu select Run. Alternatively, you can hover the script and click the Run button in the end of the row.

Note that when running a script in the UI, the script must not contain commands where ExecuteInClientSide is enabled, because that is only supported when running scripts using QPR ScriptLauncher.

Stopping Script

1. On the left side projects hierarchy, select the project where the script is located.
2. Open the Scripts tab.
3. Select the script and from the right-click context menu select Stop. Alternatively, you can hover the script and click the Stop button in the end of the row.

Note that it may take a while for a script to actually stop, depending on what kind of operation the script is executing when it's stopped.

Viewing Script Log

It's possible to see the script log of the last run, and monitor the currently running script progress. Logs for older runs are not available in the UI, nut they are stored by the system.

To see the logs:

1. On the left side projects hierarchy, select the project where the script is located.
2. Open the Scripts tab.
3. Select the script and in the right-click context menu select either View last run log or View current run log. (The script needs to be running to open the current run log.)
4. If keeping the current run log open, the latest log entries are updated automatically every two seconds.

More information about Script Log.

Creating Script

1. On the left side projects hierarchy, select the project where you want to create a script.
2. Open the Scripts tab.
3. Click the New button and click Script. Define a name for the script and the scripting Language (either Expression or SQL), and then click Create. Note that script names must be unique within a project.

Note that the scripting language cannot be changed after the script has been created, so a new script needs to be created to change the language.

Deleting Script

1. Select the project where the script(s) to be deleted are located.
2. Open the Scripts tab.
3. Select one or several scripts to be deleted.
4. Click the Delete button and click Delete to the confirmation message.

Note that if the script is being run, it cannot be deleted.

Renaming Script

1. Select the project where the script to be renamed is located.
2. Open the Scripts tab.
3. Select the script to be renamed.
4. Click the Rename button.
5. Change the script name in the opening dialog and click OK.

Moving Script

Scripts can be moved by dragging them with the left mouse button from the right side list to the target project in the left side hierarchy. Alternatively, you can first select the scripts, then from the right-click context menu select Move to and finally select the target project.

Duplicating Script

1. Select the project where the script to be duplicated is located.
2. Open the Scripts tab.
3. Select the script to be duplicated.
4. Click the Duplicate button. A duplicate of the script is created.

Viewing Script Run Results

Script runs can be started and stopped in the UI. Note that when running scripts using the UI, return values or results of the script cannot be viewed. If you want to use scripts that return data, there are following options:

• Script can write data to the script log
• Script can write data to a datatable
• Script can be called from a dashboard and use the dashboard to present the returned data (see more below).