Starting at 10.8.1, you can create tasks to schedule the automated run of a notebook. Each time the notebook is run according to the schedule you set, the site opens a new container and runs the notebook without user control.
From the Tasks pane in the notebook editor, you can create one or multiple scheduled tasks to run the notebook. You can schedule it to run once in the future or on a recurring basis—from once per minute to once every five months.
If you are preparing a notebook for automated run, such as on a recurring basis, there are a few things to keep in mind.
Prepare the notebook
The notebook editor has a Parameters feature that allows you to configure input and output parameters for a notebook. Input parameters correspond to input variables in a notebook that you want to externalize for a scheduled task or a web tool. When a scheduled task runs, input parameters will be inserted into the notebook at the top of the notebook, similar to global variables. This allows you to author generic notebooks and modify the values for input variables at run time.
When authoring a notebook, externalize and configure variables using the Parameters feature. See the Configure input parameters section of the Publish a notebook as a web tool topic for information on how to set up input parameters for your notebook.
Task parameters are injected by default into a cell at the beginning of a notebook. Alternatively, you can use the Tags cell option on the toolbar, which allows you to create and manage tags for each cell in the notebook workspace, to create a tag for a cell named injected-parameters. Task parameters are injected into the cell that follows the injected-parameters tag. To enable tags, you can change the cell toolbar options by clicking View, clicking Cell Toolbar, and clicking Tags.
Considerations for content
Other than the parameters cell it can insert, scheduling a notebook does not support any user interaction with notebooks. Avoid adding content that requires user interaction while the notebook runs, such as clicking a point on a map.
Any credentials or new variables you want added at the time of automated run must be inserted in the parameters cell, as indicated above. Ensure the notebook does not contain content that will stop the notebook from completing.
Note:
When authoring notebooks, use full paths to directories and files in the workspace directory.
For example, use /arcgis/home/test.gdb instead of home/test.gdb.
Create a task
When the notebook is ready, you can create a task to schedule its run. Using the Tasks pane in the notebook editor, you can create one or multiple tasks to automate runs of the notebook and specify the task's schedule.
- Save the notebook with a title, if you haven't already.
The Tasks button becomes available on the top ribbon of the notebook editor.
- Click Create Task to open the dialog box.
Note:
You can also create tasks from the Tasks tab of the notebook's item details page. - Provide a title in the Title text box to describe the task schedule, such as Weekly data cleaning run.
- If you have not previously configured parameters for the notebook and there are parameters you want to add to the notebook when it is run by the task, provide them in the Parameters section. Give a key in the Key setting and its paired value in the Value setting for each parameter, and click Add Parameter to save the parameter.
Once you have added at least one parameter, the Save Parameters to Notebook option appears. If this option is turned on, the cell inserted with your new parameter is saved to the notebook when it is run.
If you have previously set up input parameters using the Parameters option, those parameters are automatically populated for the task. You can add, remove, or update any parameters specific to this task. Doing so will not change the default parameters for the notebook configured using the parameters option.
- Click Next to move to the Set task schedule details page.
Here, you can specify the particular schedule for this task.
Tip:
When you change the value for Repeat Every, the options below change to fit that denomination. For example, if you choose Repeat Every Day, check boxes appear for each day of the week. - If you want to update the notebook with the results of each run, keep the Update Item on Completion option selected. If you do not want the notebook to be automatically updated, deselect the option.
- Optionally, click Advanced to enter the maximum amount of minutes that the task can run.
- When you are satisfied with your title, optional parameters, and task schedule, click Create Task.
The task is active and runs the notebook according to the schedule you've set.
If you want to have multiple schedules, perhaps with different parameters inserted, you can create more tasks for the notebook using the same workflow.
Work with existing tasks
Once you have created a task for a notebook, you can view the task's details and edit or delete it at any time. You can make changes to tasks from either the Tasks pane of the notebook editor or from the Tasks tab of the notebook's item details page. In both places, you can view all tasks for the notebook with the time each task was created, when it was last modified, and its current status.
- From the top ribbon of the notebook editor, click Tasks.
- In the Scheduled Tasks section, find the task that you want to work with.
- Click Actions
next to the task and do any of the following:- Click Details to review the results of each individual run of the task.
- Click Edit to change the title, parameters, or schedule of the task.
- Click Pause to pause an active task. When paused, click Resume to resume the task.
- Click Delete to remove the task.
Note:
Deleting a task also deletes the run history of the task. To preserve an active task's history, consider pausing the task to stop further runs.
Changing ownership of a notebook also changes the ownership of that notebook's tasks. The tasks are transferred to the new user in an inactive state. The new owner can enable the tasks from the Tasks pane of the notebook editor or from the Tasks tab of the notebook's item details page.