Scheduled Task Does nothing

[jnapier]

I have a scheduled task to Run a viual build script. I have tried creating this task with the "Create Scheduled Task" command in VisualBuild and manually through the command line.

The task will start as expected and launch VisualBuild but the process does nothing. I can view the process with the task manager and it just sits there. I gues it would just sit there forever if I let it. I get no errors and the process just stays in the background doing nothing.

The "Create Scheduled Task" command sets up that task to run with VisBuildPro.exe. I modified the task to use VisBuildCmd.exe and the result is even worse. I never see the VisBuildCmd.exe process start and then the task just ends like it completed successfully. This happens only a few seconds after I ran the task.

Please help. Any reccomendations on schedulers besides the windows service?

[kevina]

What operating system? Are you specifying an account for the task that has rights to execute the build? Can you provide the command line that is specified for the task? I could only speculate without some of these details.

[kevina]

In addition, to address your question about alternative schedulers, here is a google search that shows quite a few choices (some free, some not).

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=task+scheduler+software

Also, the help file demonstrates using AT, which is a MS provided solution which I believe is entirely independent from the Windows Scheduler.

[jnapier]

OS: Windows 2000 Server

Yes the user account specified is an admin. I can run the build script manually with this user.

Here is the command that is set to run in the scheduled task.

"C:\Program Files\VisBuildPro\VisBuildPro.exe" /b D:\BuildScripts\PBI-WGBuild.bld

[kevina]

Hmm, everything looks good. I would have to assume that it is a bug or something with the Windows Scheduler.

In times past I have seen similar problems with the Windows XP Pro Scheduler but was able to resolve it by either recreating the scheduled task by manually, or just playing with it until it worked.

Wish I could be more helpful.

[jnapier]

Bug in the scheduler? How do you figure. It starts VisualBuild at the correct time. VisualBuild just doesn't do anything. Why would the VisualBuild Process start and not do anything? That is the question.

[kevina]

This is the first report we've had of this particular issue, and there are many VBP users that are launching it via Scheduled Tasks (we also use scheduled builds regularly and have not encountered this behavior).

Just because Visual Build Pro is running as a process does not mean that the Scheduler launched the application properly. Does it show up as a running application? Is it open with the specified build file?

If you run the same command from a Command Prompt, does VBP build the project and exit?

Are you using the latest version of Visual Build Pro (version 5.5)? Are you current with your Win2K service packs and updates? We have had reports of different bugs related to the Win2K Scheduler in the past that might have been resolved in later updates...

Something is apparently different about the computer in question to cause the reported behaviour. Can you try it on a different machine (perhaps an XP to 2003 box) to isolate the problem?

[jnapier]

I am running another machine at a different location that is running scheduled build as well. So I am not doubting that this does not work. The problem began occurring after I upgraded to the latest version of Visual Build.

Every software developer always says "Well it works on my machine". thats great, but it doesn't work on my machine.

No visula Build does not show up as a running application. How am I supposed to know if it opend up with the build script if I can't see the application. When the process starts, i don't see a gui.

Yes, the task does run a different machine. So the question is definitely, what is different about that machine. Which tool is broken, task scheduler or visual build.

I guess I may never know.

[kinook]

Well, that is a new piece of information that would have been helpful in the original report. Which version did you upgrade from? Was it working properly on this box with the old version before upgrading, or was this the first time VBP was installed on the box and it has never worked there? If you go back to the version you upgraded from, does it work correctly? Were any other updates (Windows Update or other service packs or patches) installed on the box before it stopped working, and how is this sytem's configuration different from the box where it is working?

We're still not quite clear on whether VBP always shows up as a process in task manager and/or with a GUI. Are you saying that the process always shows up in Task Manager, but it never shows a GUI (using either VisBuildPro.exe or VisBuildCmd.exe) when scheduled?

Does a simple project (for instance, the sample we used for testing [attached]) also fail from a Scheduled Task?

The more details you are able to provide, the higher the likelihood that we'll be able to help isolate the problem. Thanks.

[jnapier]

Finally I was able to get some information about what is going on with the scheduled task. We set up the task to run a batch job that contained the build command and piped the output to a text file, this is what was logged:

VisBuildCmd, Version 5.5.0.0

Copyright (C) 1999-2004 Kinook Software, Inc. All rights reserved.

Registered to: Progressive Balloons & Gifts (1-computer license)



Error initializing logger component 'VisBuildLog.Text': Access is denied.

9/21/2004 9:55:05 AM: Build ended.


I can run this build script fine through the command line but not through the scheduler. Hopefully this info will help you help me resolve the issue.

[kinook]

At first I thought this thread might apply:
http://www.kinook.com/Forum/showthread.php?threadid=415

But that would normally occur when creating the builder component, which is succeeding (since the logger component is created by the builder) and the same permission settings would apply for creating the logger component. Plus the same security settings should apply whether the the job is scheduled or not if the same user account is used for both.

I set up a Win2000 Server Virtual PC and am unable to reproduce the access denied error. And if I explicitly cause an exception at that point in the code, the process does not hang from a Scheduled Task.

You can try fiddling with the DCOM settings as described in the above thread. Beyond that, I'm not sure what to suggest other than rebuilding the box (since it seems to be specific to that machine).

[feiock]

Has this issue been resolved? I am having the same issue. I can run the task manually from within Scheulded Tasks and the GUI pops up and runs correctly. But when I log off the machine and let it run automatically, a process comes up for it in Task Manager, but no GUI. This worked on this machine, and then our company was purchased by a larger, much more strict company which made a lot of security changes (they are not sure what was changed that caused this). So I am sure it is security related, but can't figure it out.

So far, I have modified the AT Service Account in Scheduled Tasks, I have changed the Log On user for the Task Scheduler service, I have added the account I am running under to the "Log on as a service" policy in the Local Security Policy, and I have granted the account Launch and Activation and Access permissions in COM+. Pretty much every idea that has been thrown out on the support boards I have tried. Any other ideas? I am running 6.0. I think I read there is a 6.0a...would upgrading help resolve this issue?

Thanks

[kinook]

There haven't been any changes made in VBP v6 to address this. It appears to be caused by some restrictive security setting in Windows, but we were never able to reproduce the problem so I don't know which one(s) it might be.