An Advanced Task can have many of the elements (source, destination, schedule, process) available to a Traditional Task. In addition, an Advanced Task can use the two conditional elements (If blocks) and (File loops) to determine if and when the other elements are run. The conditional elements provide powerful job flow control without requiring programming or chained tasks.
For example, the following Advanced Task routes files to different destinations based on the file extension.
You can create an Advanced Task by opening the Tasks tab, clicking Add Task, and then selecting the Advanced Task type.
Note that when you create an Advanced Task, your new task will be created as an empty task. This is different than the behavior of the Traditional Task, which has a wizard that steps you through creating a complete task. Add elements to an Advanced Task using the right-mouse menu. Most Advanced Tasks use a source, a File Loop, and a destination within the File Loop.
The placement of elements within an Advanced Task determines the processing flow of the task, and is thus key to setting up the task. Note the following differences from Traditional Tasks:
Elements are processed from top to bottom
Elements that are inline (left justified, rather than indented) are considered independent elements, which means processing is completed for one before moving on to the next.
When an element is indented under a File Loop, the element is processed for each file in the list of source files.
When an element is indented under an If Block, the element is executed only if the specified conditions are met.
You can move elements within an Advanced Task without needing to create or delete elements.
What Advanced Tasks Can Do:
Test that a specified condition is met, then run a process or transfer a file. For example, transfer a file to a folder based on the file extension: you can use the If block to check if a file name has a .pgp extension; if the file is a .pgp, them move it to a folder. The If Block is used to take an action one time, if the condition is met.
Test for a specified condition, and while it exists, run a process or transfer files. For example, download a set of encrypted files, and for each encrypted file, save the file to a folder, then decrypt the file, and save it to another folder. The File Loop is used to loop though multiple files until the specified condition no longer applies.
Simplify task sequences by combining multiple Traditional Tasks into one Advanced Task.
Create tasks that more clearly correspond to business workflows.
For a step-by-step procedure on how to configure an Advanced Task, see:
