A notification is a way to deliver a result for a Job or Task. Notifications replaces the previous "output actions" (e.g. output to a file or send an email with output) and adds both new ways to notify and the possibility to customize your own notification.
You choose what you want to include in your notification, which can be text or variables that VisualCron provide. When a notification has been added, it is instantly available. Notifications can be connected at both Job and Task level in order to fully benefit from event triggers.
It is important to know that notifications are "global". This means both that notifications are not directly connected to a Job/Task and can that they be reused in new Jobs/Tasks. When creating a Job/Task, you specify which of the global notifications you want to connect to your Job/Task.
A notification is defined either from the main menu Server -> Notifications dialog or from the Add/Edit Job -> Notifications tab or from the Add/Edit Task -> Notifications tab.
To connect a notification to a Job you open the Add Job/Edit Job window and go to the Notifications tab. Mark the check boxes Notify on start and/or Notify on complete and/or Notify on error depending on when you want to activate the notification.
To connect a Notification to a Task you open the Add/Edit Task window from the Add Job/Edit Job window. Go to the Notifications tab and mark one or more of the check boxes depending on when you want to activate the notification.
Notification variables
With an adding a notification, a list of notifications are presented for adding. For those notifications that uses a message, variables are helpful in customizing a notification message.
Example of Variables are the computer name, the name of a Task or the current time. Variables can be used at different places. For email, the variables can be placed in the body or subject for example. When using an SQL notification you can use variables in your SQLs or stored procedure values.
Click on the Variables button to open the variables window. To use a variable, select and drag the variable from the Variables tree view into the notification Message/Body text box where you want to use it. You can move the "tag" around or write it manually. Remember to keep the uppercase characters and the colon characters surrounding the variable tag.
View additional variable information.
Note: All variables are not available at all times. The variables are highly dependant on when you choose to notify. For example, specific Task variables are only available when you choose to Notify on start or Notify on complete. Also, if you choose to the variable Output you will get the output of the previous run when using when a Task has completed. The current output is not available until "when a Task has completed".