Parameters Supplied To Background Processes

This section describes the various types of parameters that are supplied to background processes.

General Parameters

The following information is passed to every background process.

Batch code. Batch code is the unique identifier of the background process.
Batch thread number. Thread number is only used for background processes that can be run in multiple parallel threads. It contains the relative thread number of the process. For example, if the billing process has been set up to run in 20 parallel threads, each of the 20 instances receives its relative thread number (1 through 20). Refer to Optimal Thread Count for Parallel Background Processes for more information.
Batch thread count. Thread count is only used for background processes that can be run in multiple parallel threads. It contains the total number of parallel threads that have been scheduled. For example, if the billing process has been set up to run in 20 parallel threads, each of the 20 instances receives a thread count of 20. Refer to Optimal Thread Count for Parallel Background Processes for more information.
Batch rerun number. Rerun number is only used for background processes that download information that belongs to given run number. It should only be supplied if you need to download an historical run (rather than the latest run).
Batch business date. Business date is only used for background processes that use the current date in their processing. For example, a billing process may use the business date to determine which bill cycles should be downloaded. If this parameter is left blank, the system date is used. If supplied, this date must be in the format YYYY-MM-DD. Note: this parameter is only used during QA to test how processes behave over time.

Note: There may be a slight lag in submission time for batch jobs submitted online. If the desired execution date/time is close to midnight, it is possible that your batch job will run on the day after you submit it. If you have left the business date blank in this case, keep in mind that your business date would be set to the day after you submit the job.
Override maximum records between commits. This parameter is optional and overrides each background process's Standard Commit. You would reduce this value, for example, if you were submitting a job during the day and you wanted more frequent commits to release held resources. You might want to increase this value when a background process is executed at night (or weekends) and you have a lot of memory on your servers.
Override maximum minutes between cursor re-initiation. This parameter is optional and overrides each background process's Standard Cursor Re-Initiation Minutes. You would reduce these values, for example, if you were submitting a job during the day and you wanted more frequent commits to release held resources (or more frequent cursor initiations). You might want to increase these values when a background process is executed at night (or weekends) and you have a lot of memory on your servers.

User ID. Please be aware of the following in respect of user ID:
- Both the user submitting the job and the user ID recorded on the batch submission should have access to the application service for the batch control that secures execution.
- Any batch process that stamps a user ID on a record it creates or updates uses this user ID in applicable processing.
- This user ID's display profile controls how dates and currency values are formatted in messages.
- When submitting a batch job online, the batch user, language and email address are defaulted to the details of the user submitting the job. Only users that are granted the User Override access mode on the Batch Job Submission application service can override the batch user ID.
- If the submission user has user override privileges, they have the ability to retain the original batch user details when duplicating or rerunning a batch job from online submission. If the 'Run as original user' box is checked, the batch user, language and email address from the original batch run will be copied to the new batch job. If not, the user details are defaulted from the submission user.
Password. Password is not currently used.
Language Code. Language code is used to access language-specific control table values. For example, error messages are presented in this language code.
Trace Program Start, Trace Program Exit, Trace SQL and Trace Output. These switches are only used during QA and benchmarking. If trace program start is checked, a message is displayed whenever a program is started. If trace program exit is checked, a message is displayed whenever a program is exited. If trace SQL is checked, a message is displayed whenever an SQL statement is executed. If trace output is checked, special messages formatted by the background process are written.

Note: The information displayed when the trace output switch is turned on depends on each background process. It is possible that a background process displays no special information for this switch.

Common Additional Parameters

Each batch control supports the definition of additional parameters. There are some additional parameters that are common to all batch processes or common to a specific type of batch process. The batch control should be delivered with the appropriate additional parameters. However, when new additional parameters are introduced, existing batch controls may not be updated with the new additional parameter.

The following table highlights the common parameters that may be linked to a batch control. Note that for batch parameters, although there is a sequence number that controls the displayed order of the parameter, the batch process does not use the sequence to identify a particular parameter but rather uses the parameter name. In some cases multiple parameter names are supported (a ‘camel case’ version and an ‘all caps’ version).


Parameter Name	Description	Additional Comments
MAX-ERRORS / maxErrors	Each of the batch processes has, as part of its run parameters, a preset constant that determines how many errors that batch process may encounter before it is required to abort the run. A user can override that constant using this parameter.	The input value must be an integer that is greater than or equal to zero. The maximum valid value for this parameter is 999,999,999,999,999.
DIST-THD-POOL	Each batch process executes in a thread pool. This parameter is only necessary if the batch process should execute in a different thread pool than the default thread pool.	The default thread pool name is DEFAULT.
emailMode	When the batch job is submitted with an associated email address, the default logic is to send an email when the job completes regardless of success or failure. Use this parameter to limit the email based on the status of the job when it ends.	Valid Values ERROR — send an email only when the job ends in Error status. SUCCESS — send an email only when the job ends in successfully. ALL — always send an email only when the job ends. (This is the default.)
The following parameters are only applicable to jobs that use the Thread Level SQL Select method of distributing work to threads as described in Parallel Background Processes.
overrideLowIdValue	Specifies a new low id to use in calculating the range for a thread. The framework by default assumes that the Id is between 0's (e.g. 000000000) and 9's (e.g. 9999999999), but this parameter will override the low value.	The parameter value can be an actual number or it can be set to auto. If auto is configured, it is set to the lowest current value on the database table associated with the background process.
overrideHighIdValue	Specifies a new high id to use in calculating the range for a thread. The framework by default assumes that the Id is between 0's (e.g. 000000000) and 9's (e.g. 9999999999), but this parameter will override the high value.	The parameter value can be an actual number or it can be set to auto. If auto is configured, it is set to the highest current value on the database table associated with the background process.
idRangeOverrideClass	Use this parameter to specify a custom class to do thread range calculation. During batch execution, this override class is instantiated and the setter methods called to initialize the Ids as required. The low and high getter methods are called to retrieve the high and low ids to be used for the run.	The class name specified must implement interface com.splwg.base.api.batch.BatchIdRangeOverride.
The following parameters are only applicable to jobs that perform a single commit, for example for extract batch jobs.
numRecordsToFlush	This parameter defines how frequently to flush the Hibernate cache to prevent high heap consumption and Out Of Memory Errors.

Specific Batch Parameters

Some background processes define additional parameters that are specific to their functionality. When a process receives additional parameters, they are defined and documented in the batch control entry in the application.

When submitting a batch job online, any default parameter values configured on the batch control record will be defaulted and may be overridden. Note that if the parameter value is configured to be Encrypted on the batch control configuration, the value will be shown encrypted.