2022:Activity Processing (Service)

Activity Processing is a Grooper Service that executes Unattended Activities assigned to Batch Steps in a Batch Process.  This allows Grooper to automate Batch Steps that do not require a human operator.

When configuring an Activity Processing service, a Processing Queue must be specified. This will determine the Batch Steps (or "pool of work") for which this service is allowed to process pending tasks. An Activity Processing service can only be configured to point to a single Processing Queue. However, multiple Activity Processing services may be added to the Grooper service list.

About

Unattended Activities in a Batch Process can be automated using an Activity Processing Grooper service. The Activity Processing service will act like a Windows service and automatically start tasks in a Batch, as processing threads in your system's resources become available. This is one of the ways Grooper leverages your system resources for parallel processing.

Imagine you're running Grooper on a machine with eight (8) processing threads. If you have a Batch with five (5) Batch Folders, and each one is on the Recognize step of the Batch Process, there's no need for your system to process each Batch Folder sequentially (with each Batch Folder waiting to be processed until the one before it is finished).

• You have 8 threads and 5 Batch Folders in this scenario.
• Each one of those threads can process one Batch Folder as a single task.
• With 8 available threads, all 5 Batch Folders could be processed concurrently by 5 individual threads.
• This is multi-threaded Activity processing.

You could then set up an Activity Processing service to process all Unattended Activity steps in a Batch Process with the maximum allowable processing threads available.

Scenario: Single-Threaded Processing Requirement For Export

There may be reasons why you want to limit the number of threads available to particular Activities. For example, when automating Export steps in a Batch Process, you may need to execute the activity single threaded.

Depending on which external storage system you're exporting to, you may run into errors if you attempt to run the Export activity multi-threaded. Particularly when it comes to cloud-based systems, like SharePoint online or Box.com, their file transfer protocol expects users to upload files one at a time. If you have 5 threads all attempting to upload 5 different Batch Folders from the same machine, 4 of those Batch Folders are going to kick back to Grooper in an error state.

Instead, you must run the activity single-threaded, ensuring only one Batch Folder is processed at a time. As well as automating Batch Processing activities, Activity Processing services allow you to control thread resources by assigning activities a Processing Queue and limiting the number of maximum threads available for that Processing Queue.

Next, we will show you how to create a single threaded Processing Queue for an Export activity, and set up an Activity Processing service that utilizes it. This will effectively throttle your export, so Batch Folders are indeed only exported one at a time, avoiding any issues with external platforms that cannot handle multi-threaded exports.

How To: Assign a Processing Queue to an Activity Processing Service to Run Export Single-Threaded

Add a Processing QueueAssign the Processing QueueConfigure an Activity Processing Service

Add a Processing Queue

The first thing you'll need to do is add a Processing Queue object. A Processing Queue defines the "bucket" of threads available to one step or another in a Batch Process. In our case, this will allow us to limit the number of threads the Export step uses to a single thread.

To add a Processing Queue: Right-click the Queues folder. Select "Add" then "Processing Queue..." This will bring up a new window to name the Processing Queue. Enter a name and press "OK". We named ours "Export Throttle"

This will add a new Processing Queue object to the Node Tree. FYI: No further object configuration is technically required at this point. However, if you want the safest implementation of a single-threaded Processing Queue, totally ensuring only a single Export task is processed per repository environment, you can change the Concurrency Mode property from Multiple to Single. With the Single mode, only a single task will run per Grooper repository.

Assign the Processing Queue

Next, we need to tell our Batch Process which step should use our new Processing Queue. In the Batch Step property grid, Processing Queues are assigned with the Queue Name property.
We want to tell the Export step of this Batch Process to use a different Processing Queue, the new one we just created. Select the Export step in the Batch Process. Select the Queue Name property. Using the dropdown menu, select the Processing Queue you wish to use. In our case, the "Export Throttle" Processing Queue.

Configure an Activity Processing Service

On to Grooper Config! Grooper services are installed and edited using Grooper Config. Open Grooper Config to install a new Activity Processing service.

⚠	Grooper Config must be run as an administrator to install and edit services.

To install a new service, press the "Edit Services..." button in Grooper Config. FYI If you have multiple Grooper Repository connections, as is the case for this environment, you will need to ensure one thing first. Make sure the Default Repository selected is the Grooper Repository with the newly added Processing Queue.
This will bring up the "Service Manager" window. Press the "Install..." button.
In the "Install New Service" window, select Activity Processing. Press the "OK" button.
This will bring up a window to edit the service. Select the Queue Name property. Using the dropdown menu, select the Processing Queue you wish to use for the Activity Processing service.
The Number Of Threads property allows you to define how many of your system's processing threads should be utilized by the Activity Processing service. In our case, we're using this Activity Processing Service to throttle our Export activity, forcing it to run single-threaded. So, we will keep this set to 1. You must also provide user credentials to run the service. This must be a user who has the following access rights: Have the "Logon as Service" permission on the machine which the Grooper service is running. Have access to the Grooper Repository's database. Have access to the Grooper Repository's file store location. Press the "Execute" button when done.
This will add a Grooper Activity Processing service instance to the services list. Newly installed services, must be started. Notice its Status is listed as Stopped. Select the service, and press the "Start" button to start it.
The Status will change to Running The icon next to the service name will also change from red to green. Your service is now installed and running. Press the "Close" button to exit the Service Manager window.
Upon processing a Batch the Export step in our Batch Process will be executed by the Activity Processing Service. This automates the step's execution using the "Export Throttle" Processing Queue and limits the number of threads processing Batch objects (Batch Folders in this case) to a single thread, preventing export errors to systems that cannot handle multi-threaded exports. FYI You can have multiple Activity Processing services running, each with their own Processing Queue. You can automate the rest of the Unattended Activities in a Batch Process by adding a second Activity Processing service, assigning it a different Processing Queue, and assign the number of threads you want to utilize with the Number of Threads property.