OpCon Schedule Names

Most schedules appear with their original name. Two features cause OpCon to append characters to a schedule name automatically: multi-instance schedules and subschedules built from Container jobs.

Multi-Instance Schedules

When OpCon builds additional copies of a multi-instance schedule, the naming convention depends on whether Schedule Instance properties were supplied.

• Without properties: OpCon appends a dollar sign and four-digit number ($XXXX), incrementing by one for each additional instance.
• With properties: OpCon appends the value of the first property to the base name.

See Instance Definition and Schedule Instance Definition for details on configuring Schedule Instance properties.

Example — no Schedule Instance properties

The following event builds a schedule into the Daily schedule using only the required parameters. The schedule MyScheduleName is configured as a multi-instance schedule.

$SCHEDULE:BUILD,[[$DATE]],MyScheduleName,,y

When the same event is submitted three times, OpCon creates the following schedule names in Schedule Operations:

• MyScheduleName
• MyScheduleName$0002
• MyScheduleName$0003

Example — with Schedule Instance properties

The following event builds a schedule while defining Schedule Instance properties FileName (value abc.txt) and NumRecs (value 100). The schedule MyScheduleName is configured as a multi-instance schedule.

$SCHEDULE:BUILD,[[$DATE]],MyScheduleName,,y,FileName=abc.txt;NumRecs=100

When OpCon builds the schedule into the Daily tables, it names the schedule:

MyScheduleName_abc.txt

note

OpCon validates the property value for valid characters. Any invalid characters are removed from the generated schedule name. This affects only the generated schedule name; it does not change the property value stored with the schedule.

Duplicate name handling

To prevent duplicates, OpCon checks whether each build request produces a unique name:

• Unique name: OpCon builds the schedule and stores Schedule Instance properties in the Available Properties field.
• Non-unique name: OpCon compares the Schedule Instance properties against all matching instances in the database.
  • Identical properties: OpCon checks the Overwrite? option and applies standard overwrite rules.
  • Different properties: OpCon builds the schedule and appends $XXXX to the first-property value to create a distinct name.

Example — non-unique name with different properties

The schedule MyScheduleName is a multi-instance schedule. A previous build request already created a schedule named MyScheduleName_abc.txt for the day.

A new event is submitted with a different property list:

$SCHEDULE:BUILD,[[$DATE]],MyScheduleName,,Y,FileName=abc.txt;NumRecs=100;StoreNumber=985

Because the Schedule Instance properties are unique, OpCon builds the schedule with the name:

MyScheduleName_abc$0002

SubSchedules

When OpCon builds a schedule that contains Container jobs, it also builds each referenced subschedule into the Daily tables. The subschedule name uses the following syntax:

ParentSchedule_ContainerJobName[SubSchedule]

Example — single subschedule

A schedule named MyParentSchedule has a Container job named RunAnotherProcess. That job calls the schedule ImportantReusableProcess as its subschedule. When OpCon builds MyParentSchedule into the Daily tables, two schedules are created:

• MyParentSchedule
• MyParentSchedule_RunAnotherProcess[ImportantReusableProcess]

Any schedule, including a subschedule, can contain Container jobs that call further subschedules. Nesting depth is limited only by the 255-character maximum schedule name length in the Daily tables.

Nested subschedule names use the following syntax:

ParentSchedule1_ContainerJob1[SubSchedule1]_ContainerJob2[SubSchedule2]

In this syntax, SubSchedule1 also acts as the parent schedule for SubSchedule2.

Example — nested subschedules

MyParentSchedule has a Container job RunAnotherProcess that calls ImportantReusableProcess as a subschedule. ImportantReusableProcess also has a Container job RunBackupProcess that uses BackupProcess as its subschedule. When OpCon builds MyParentSchedule into the Daily tables, three schedules are created:

• MyParentSchedule
• MyParentSchedule_RunAnotherProcess[ImportantReusableProcess]
• MyParentSchedule_RunAnotherProcess[ImportantReusableProcess]_RunBackupProcess[BackupProcess]

For more information, see Adding Schedules and Editing Job Master Details in the Enterprise Manager online help.