Task Status and Life Cycle
After a task is started, it can transition through several states. The task status can be set manually by a user, or automatically by the Task Engine as a result of processing rules. The following states are available:
New— The task is in new state and has not started yet. New status can be used when defining a task event, for example, to detect newly started tasks.
Scheduled— The task is scheduled to start at the specified time. When the task starts, the status of the task changes to Active. To view scheduled tasks, you must have
My webMethods administrator access. You create and modify scheduled tasks in
webMethods Business Console, or using the
Task Engine built-in and RESTful services. For more information about scheduling tasks, see
Working with webMethods Business Console.
Active—The task is running normally and is available for user interaction. A task is placed in Active status when it is started, and can be returned to Active status as a result of a manual status change by a user or as a result of a task event evaluation. Only Active tasks appear in the user inboxes.
Completed—The task is complete as a result of manual completion by a user or as a result of a task event evaluation. No further work can be done on a task that is completed, other than deleting it.
Error—The task has an error condition as identified operationally by the
Task Engine or as a result of a task event evaluation. No further work can be done on a task that is in Error status, other than deleting it.
Canceled—The task is canceled as a result of manual cancellation by a user or as a result of a task event evaluation. No further work can be done on a task that is canceled, other than deleting it.
Suspended—The task is suspended as a result of manual suspension by a user or as a result of a task event evaluation. A suspended task is no longer available to users and can be viewed only on the Task List Management page, and no events or assignments are evaluated for a suspended task. A suspended task can be resumed (placed back into Active status) by a manual user action or as the result of a task event evaluation.
Expired—The task has expired as a result of a manual action by a user or as a result of a task event evaluation.
After a task is started, it remains in the system (regardless of its state) until it is deleted. A task can be deleted manually, or global task rules can be created to automatically delete tasks. For example,
My webMethods is installed with a global Delete Task schedule rule. This rule deletes any task in Completed, Canceled, Expired, or Error status after the task has been in that state for a specified period of time (set to seven days by default). This rule is evaluated once per day. For more information, see
Managing Global Rules.
