Configure jobs that only repeat for a limited period

We need to be able to define a repeat job that does not go beyond a specific date i.e. does not repeat forever

Example

• I would like a job that would repeat until, say, 01/01/2013.

Solution

First of all, you need to work with schedules. Schedules are run_times that have a name and can be referenced from jobs or orders.

• Create a NeverRun schedule which has a single start in the past, so it will never run:

 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
 <schedule name="NeverRun">
    <date date="1978-11-17">
        <period single_start="01:00"/>
    </date>
 </schedule> 

(Note that you can also find this code in the NeverRun.schedule.xml file in our download.)

• Assign this schedule to your job or order: edit the runtime parameter and remove everything until you just have:

 <run_time schedule="NeverRun"/>.

• Now the trick is that you can replace schedules with other schedules for a certain period. This means you can create a repeat schedule which will replace the NeverRun schedule until 01/01/2013:

 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
 <schedule substitute="NeverRun"
          valid_to="2013-01-01 00:00">
    <weekdays>
        <day day="1 4 5">
            <period repeat="00:05" begin="06:00" end="06:30"/>
        </day>
    </weekdays>
 </schedule>

(You can also find this code in our download, this time in the Repeat.schedule.xml file.)