Timer Jobs

MatchPoint timer jobs provide functionality for customizable timer jobs that make use of the configuration framework. The configuration files for the MatchPoint timer jobs can be accessed by selecting the link Manage Timer Jobs (on the Instance Administration site or by pressing [Ctrl+M]).

The following timer job configurations are available with MatchPoint:

• StaticTagImporterConfiguration
• TagImporterConfiguration
• TagSynchronizerConfiguration
• TagCleanUpConfiguration
• TermImporterConfiguration
• WorkflowTimerJobConfiguration

Alternatively, if tags or terms have to be imported from a system that cannot be accessed using the standard data sources – or if a timer job is used to implement an entire different functionality, custom timer jobs or custom data sources can be implemented.

General Concept

MatchPoint timer jobs are scheduled and executed as standard SharePoint timer jobs, using the user credentials of the SharePoint timer service (owstimer.exe). When a MatchPoint timer job is executed, the corresponding configuration file is loaded and tags are imported according to the specifications of that configuration.

Generally, timer jobs can be started and scheduled directly from the "Manage Timer Jobs" form. In SharePoint least privilege environments, scheduling and executing timer jobs cannot be triggered from the GUI. For more information please refer to the document MatchPoint Installation Guide.

Each timer job configuration contains a "UniqueId" property with a GUID. This property is used to identify timer job configurations when they are triggered by the underlying SharePoint timer job. Therefore, it is important to ensure that the timer job IDs are in fact unique. If a new timer job configuration is created, this is done automatically. However, when timer job configurations are copied, it is possible that an ID is used multiple times. In this scenario, the ID has to be corrected manually.

Importing Tags or Terms

Timer jobs for importing tags or terms work as a one-way synchronizer to an external system:

• For both tags and terms, the import data is provided by a data source.
• For tag importers, the external system is identified using GUID, the so-called provider ID. This provider ID allows associating every tag with its external source wherever the tag is used within the SharePoint environment. Single data rows from the external system are identified using the tag key. When tags are imported, this key is used to verify whether a tag has been imported previously.
• For term importers, a unique key is saved within the term custom properties. This also allows verification of whether a term has already been imported.

Data Sources

For both tag importers and term importers, the MatchPoint timer jobs can be configured with data sources that are used to access an external system that provides the input data for the importer. Possible data

• DbDataSource
• LdapDataSource
• ListDataSource

Custom Data Source

Custom data sources can be implemented to allow tag importers or term importers access to an external system, which is not supported by the available data sources. In order to create a custom data source the implementing class has to extend the BaseDataSource class.

Schedules

For each timer job, a "ScheduleConfiguration" element can be specified. It determines when the timer job is executed. The following schedules can be defined:

• MinuteScheduleConfiguration
• HourlyScheduleConfiguration
• DailyScheduleConfiguration
• WeeklyScheduleConfiguration
• MonthlyScheduleConfiguration

It is also possible to configure timer jobs so they depend on each other and one job is started automatically after another job has finished (DependsOnJobConfiguration). If no schedule is specified, the timer job is only executed when started manually.

Custom Timer Jobs

A custom timer job can be used for instance when tags should be imported from an external system that is not supported by the standard timer jobs. However, custom MatchPoint timer jobs can also be used for all operations that need to be that deed to be executed on a regular basis (e.g. uploading and tagging documents to SharePoint from a network location etc.).

A custom MatchPoint timer job consists of two classes:

• A timer job class that implements the ITimerJob interface.
• A timer job configuration class used to configure the timer job. This class must either implement ITimerJobConfiguration or extend on of its implementations (e.g. ScheduledBaseTimerJobConfiguration, which provides all functionality for a scheduled timer job).

For more information on how to implement a custom timer job, please refer to the MatchPoint API Reference and to the code samples `Colygon.MatchPoint.Samples.zip` provided with every MatchPoint Release.