Running and Managing Triggers

Deploying Configuration

After you have configured and tested the triggers in Automation Builder, deploy the configuration using Loftware Automation service and start the triggers. At that time, the triggers become active and start monitoring the defined events.

To deploy the configuration, use any of the following methods.

Deploying from Automation Builder

Start Automation Builder.
Load the configuration.
Go to Configuration Items tab.
Click the Deploy Configuration button in the Deploy ribbon group.

The configuration loads inside Automation Manager running on the same machine.
Start the triggers you want to activate.

If this configuration has already been loaded, the deployment forces its reload, while keeping the triggers status active.

Deploying from Automation Manager

Start Automation Manager.
Go to Triggers tab.
Click +Add button and browse for configuration on the disk.
Start the triggers you want to make active.

Deploying using command-line

To deploy the configuration C:\Project\Configuration.MISX and to run the included trigger named as CSVTrigger using command- line, enter the following:

                            LoftwareAutomationManager.exe ADD c:\Project\Configuration.MISX
LoftwareAutomationManager.exe START c:\Project\Configuration.MISX CSVTrigger

For more information, see section Controlling the Service with Command-line Parameters.

Event Logging Options

Loftware Automation logs events on various locations, depending on the deployment scenario. The first two logging features are available with every Loftware Automation product level.

Logging to log database: Logging to internal log database is always enabled. Internal log database keeps record of all events with all details. When viewing the logged information, you can use filters to display events that match the rules. For more information, see section Using Event Log.

The data is stored in an SQLite database. This is a temporary log repository – the events are removed from the database on a weekly basis. The housekeeping interval is configurable in Options. Records of old events are deleted from the database, but the database does not get compacted (vacuumed), so it might still occupy the disk space. To compact the database, use a 3rd party SQLite management software.
Logging to Windows Application Event Log: Important events are saved to Windows Application Event Log in case Loftware Automation fails to start. This ensures a secondary resource for logged events.

Logging to Control Center: Logging to Control Center is available in LMS Enterprise and LMS Pro products. Control Center is a Web-based management console that records all events on one or more Loftware Automation servers. The data is stored in Microsoft SQL Server database. You can search through the collected data, and additionally, the application also supports automated alerts in case of certain events, printer management, document storage, revision control system (versioning), workflows, and label reprinting.

	Note
	For more information, see the Control Center user guide.

Managing Triggers

Automation Manager is the management part of Loftware Automation software. When using Automation Builder for configuring the triggers, you are using Automation Manager to deploy and run the triggers in production environment. The application allows you to load triggers from different configurations, see their live status, start/stop them, and see execution details in log file.

You can customize the view on the loaded configurations and their triggers. The last view is remembered and applied when you run Automation Manager for the next time. If you enable view By status, triggers from all open configurations that share the same status are displayed together. If you enable view by Configurations, triggers from the selected configuration are displayed together, no matter what their status is. Trigger status is color-coded in the trigger icon for easier identification.

The displayed trigger details change in real time – as soon as the trigger events are detected. You can see the information items, such as trigger name, type of trigger, how many events have already been processed, how many errors were detected, and the time that passed since the last event. If you hover your mouse above the number of already processed triggers, you see the number of trigger events waiting to be processed.

	Note
	The loaded configuration is cached in memory. If you make a change to the configuration in Automation Builder, the Automation Manager does not automatically apply it. To apply the change, reload the configuration.

Loading configuration

To load a configuration, click the +Add button and browse for the configuration file (.MISX). Triggers from the configuration load in suspended state. You have to start triggers to make them active. For more information, see section Deploying Configuration.

The list of loaded configurations and statuses for each trigger is remembered. If the server is restarted for whatever reason, Loftware Automation Service restores the trigger state from before the restart.

Configuration reloading and removal

After you update and save the configuration in Automation Builder, the changes are not automatically applied in Automation Manager. To reload the configuration, right-click the configuration name, and click Reload Configuration. This reloads all triggers. If you have file caching enabled, the reload forces synchronization off all files that are used by the triggers.

Starting / stopping triggers

If you load triggers from a configuration, their default state is stopped. To start the trigger, click the Start button in the trigger area. To stop the trigger, click Stop. You can select more triggers from the same configuration and start / stop all of them simultaneously.

You can also control starting/stopping of a configuration using command-line. For more information, see section Controlling the Service with Command-line Parameters.

Handling trigger conflicts

Triggers can be in error state due to below listed situations. You cannot start triggers in error until you resolve the issue.

Trigger not configured correctly or completely: In this case, the trigger is not configured, mandatory properties are not defined, or actions defined for this printer are not configured. You cannot start such trigger.
Trigger configuration overlaps with another trigger: Two triggers cannot monitor the same event.

Example 92. Example

Two file triggers cannot monitor the same file. Two HTTP triggers cannot accept data on the same port. If the trigger configuration overlaps with another trigger, the second trigger cannot run because the event is already captured by the first trigger. For more information, see Log pane for that trigger.

Resetting the error status

When the trigger execution causes an error, the trigger icon color changes to red, trigger receives error status, and event details are logged to the logging database. Even if all of the upcoming events complete successfully, the trigger remains in error state until you confirm that you understand the error and that you want to clear the status. To acknowledge the error, click the icon next to the error counter under trigger details.

Using notification pane

Notification pane is the area above the list of triggers in the Triggers tab where important messages are displayed. Notification area displays application status messages, such as "Trial mode" or "Trial mode expired", or warning messages, such as "Tracing has been enabled".

Viewing Logged data

Every trigger activity is logged in the database, including trigger start/stop events, successful execution of action and errors encountered during processing. Click the Log button to see logged events just for the selected trigger. For more information, see section Using Event Log.

Using Event Log

All activities in Loftware Automation are logged to a database to enable history and troubleshooting. When you click the Log button in the Triggers tab, events for that particular trigger are displayed. The log pane displays information for all events that are related to the defined filter.

Logging data is useful for troubleshooting. If a trigger or action cannot be executed, the application records an error description in the log file that helps you identify and resolve the issue.

	Note
	The default data retention time is 7 days and is configurable in Options. To minimize log database size on busy systems you might want to reduce the retention period.

Filtering events

The configurable filters:

Configuration and triggers: Specifies which events to display – events from the selected trigger, or events from all triggers in the selected configuration.
Logged period: Specifies the time frame in which the events occurred. Default time frame is Last 5 minutes.

Event level: Specifies the type (importance) of the events you want to display:

Error is the type of event that breaks the execution.
Warning is the type of event during which errors happen, but are configured to be ignored.

Information is the type of event that logs all non-erroneous information.

	Note
	In case of errors and warnings, Automation also displays the entire sequence of successfully executed actions in a trigger.

Log level is configurable in Options.

Filter by description: You can display all events that contain the provided string. Use this option to troubleshoot busy triggers. The filter is applied to the trigger description field.

Clearing the log database

You can clear the log from Automation Builder. To clear the log database, click the Clear Log button.

	Warning
	Use log clearing with caution, because it is an irreversible command. Clear log removes ALL logged events from the database and is applied to all triggers, not just to the current trigger.

Resetting the errors counter

You can reset the errors counter in Automation Manager by clicking the icon.

Resetting the counter doesn't remove errors from the log.

Automated log database cleanups

Automation allows you to set up regular automated cleanups for log entries about the successfully executed triggers. This is how you make sure the growing log database does reduce the system performance.

To schedule the automated log database cleanups:

Open file product.config in text editor.

The file is located here:

                  
                    %PROGRAMDATA%\Loftware\Loftware\product.config

Create a backup copy of the product.config file.
Automation uses two parameters to clean up the triggers. Add these two parameters to your product.config file.
- /IntegrationService/LogSuccessfulTriggerPurgeInterval>. This parameter defines the length of the time interval between two consecutive cleanups. Type the interval length in minutes.
- /IntegrationService/LogSuccessfulTriggerPurgeRemovalAge>. This parameter checks the age of the messages about the successfully executed actions.
```
<configuration>    <IntegrationService>        <LogSuccessfulTriggerPurgeInterval>1</LogSuccessfulTriggerPurgeInterval>        <LogSuccessfulTriggerPurgeRemovalAge>1<LogSuccessfulTriggerPurgeRemovalAge>    </IntegrationService></configuration>
```

If your configuration fails to load...

When deployed, your Automation configuration runs as a Windows process in the background. The Automation Manager using which you manage and monitor your configuration is merely an interface that represents the actual Automation services. In certain cases, the configuration that you developed, tested, and deployed fails to load. There are multiple possible reasons. Follow the proposed solutions to get your Automation configuration up and running:

Configuration file was removed, renamed or moved to another location. You can check to which file your deployed configuration points in Automation Manager:

Make sure the .misx configuration file is available at the specified location, and the it still has the same name as in Automation Manager. If you moved or renamed your configuration file, open it in Automation Builder and deploy the configuration again.

Configuration file is on a network location which cannot be accessed due to network connection problem. Check the network connectivity of your computer/server that stores the configuration.

Automation service does not have permission to access the configuration file. Check permissions for user account used by Automation service. This error indicates issues with the Automation service running in the background.

Possible solutions are:

If your configuration file is stored on a local disk or network share, check that you are running your configuration under your local user or domain credentials. Running your configuration under Local System Account may restrict access to shared network folders and printers. Open Services, and see the properties of the LoftwareAutomation Service .

If your configuration file is stored in the document storage of your Control Center, these are the possible scenarios:

Your Control Center uses the application authentication. The reason why your configuration fails to load, is incorrect Automation service identity. The Automation service identity must match the user identity as defined in your Control Center.

You can find your configuration's Automation service identity in Automation Manager > About tab.

Your Control Center uses the Windows authentication. Your configuration fails to load because you try to run it as a user with insufficient privileges on your Control Center. Check under which user you are running the Automation service. Open Services, and see the properties of the LoftwareAutomation Service 2019.

	Note
	In both cases, see LoftwareControl Center user guide for more details on the available authentication methods and user privileges.

Your Control Center runs in Loftware Cloud. The reason why your configuration fails to load, is incorrect Automation service identity. The Automation service identity must match the Loftware Cloud user sign in.

You can find your configuration's Automation service identity in Automation Manager > About tab.