Task Schedule

• Introduction
• Usage
• Schedule Structure
• Changing the time
• Using "$time" property
• Using Attributes
• Before job execution
• After job execution
• Using a schedule in development mode
• Using a schedule in production mode
• Linux
• Windows

Introduction

Task scheduling is a commonly used technique for automating tasks based on a schedule. Such tasks may include backing up databases, processing a queue, or creating system usage reports, as they are required to be repeated regularly over time, or even indefinitely. It is better to schedule such tasks and monitor them so they can run predictably in a timely fashion.

Usage

First, you must analyze whether the default_timezone variable in the bootstrap.yaml file is configured correctly. Otherwise, the schedule may be executed incorrectly.

To create a Schedule class, you must execute the following command entering the class name:

php vinci schedule UserSchedule

All schedules are stored in the app/Schedule folder.

Schedule Structure

The standard structure of a schedule is as follows:

<?php 

namespace Solital\Schedule;

use Solital\Core\Schedule\TaskSchedule;
use Solital\Core\Schedule\ScheduleInterface;

/**
 * @generated class generated using Vinci Console
 */
class UserSchedule extends TaskSchedule implements ScheduleInterface
{
    /**
     * Construct with schedule time
     */
    public function __construct()
    {
        $this->time = "everyMinute";
    }

    /**
     * @return mixed
     */
    public function handle(): mixed
    {
        return $this;
    }
}

The code that will be executed must be inside the handle method.

Changing the time

Solital allows you to set a time for each task to run. You can use the $time property or attributes.

Using "$time" property

To change the time that the schedule will run, you can change the $time property inside the constructor.

public function __construct()
{
    $this->time = "everyMinute";
}

Using Attributes

Using properties may seem too simple for some people. Using attributes, you gain the ability to define what time or on what days a task will be executed.

See an example below:

use Solital\Core\Schedule\Attribute\EveryMinute;
use Solital\Core\Schedule\TaskSchedule;
use Solital\Core\Schedule\ScheduleInterface;

#[EveryMinute()]
class EmailScheduler extends TaskSchedule implements ScheduleInterface
{
    public function handle(): mixed
    {    
        return $this;
    }
}

Unlike the $time property, you can change the time that schedules will run using the constructor attribute. You can see all the attributes available in the Github repository.

Solital makes use of the php-cron-scheduler component to schedule tasks. Therefore, you can access the documentation for that component to see the available options.

To make things easier, you can use one of the options below:

Option	Description
everyMinute	Run every minute
hourly	Run once per hour
daily	Run once per day
at('* * * * *')	This method accepts any expression supported by dragonmantank/cron-expression

Before job execution

In some cases you might want to run some code, if the job is due to run, before it's being executed. For example you might want to add a log entry, ping a url or anything else. To do so, you can call the before like the example below.

public function before()
{
    // This code will be executed before the `handle` method
}

After job execution

Sometime you might wish to do something after a job runs. The then methods provides you the flexibility to do anything you want after the job execution. The output of the job will be injected to this function. For example you might want to add an entry to you logs, ping a url etc

public function after()
{
    // This code will be executed after the `handle` method
}

Using a schedule in development mode

If you need to use the task schedule when developing your project, use the php vinci schedule command passing the --work option.

php vinci schedule --work

When a schedule is executed, an output of that schedule is generated within the app/Storage/schedules/ folder.

Using a schedule in production mode

To run the task schedule in production mode, you must use the same command as above using the --run option. However, there are different ways to execute this command for each type of operating system.

Linux

Add a new entry to your crontab to run php vinci schedule every minute.

* * * * * cd /path-to-your-project && php vinci schedule --run 1>> /dev/null 2>&1

That's it! Your scheduler is up and running, now you can add your jobs without worring anymore about the crontab.

Windows

Create a Scheduled Task

1. Open Task Scheduler
2. Select Create Task...
3. Give the task a name and description
4. To run the task in the background, select Run whether the user is logged on or not and check the Hidden checkbox.

Triggers

1. Create a new trigger.
2. Set the trigger to run Daily and recur every 1 days.
3. Set Repeat task every to 1 minutes. 1 minutes is not a selectable option. Simply select 5 minutes from the dropdown and then manually edit.
4. Set for a duration of: to Indefinitely.
5. Ensure that Enabled is checked.

Actions

1. Create a new action.
2. Start php by entering the php binary location, such as C:\php\php.exe
3. Set Add arguments field to C:\{project-dir}\vinci schedule --run (replace {project-dir} with appropriate path).

Settings

1. Check Allow task to be run on demand.
2. Check Run task as soon as possible after a scheduled start is missed.

Wrap-up

1. To ensure that the task is running, find the task in the Task Scheduler Library.
2. Note the task Status. It may be Ready or Running.
3. Note the Next Run Time and Last Run Time properties.

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