External Command activity

An activity that specifies a command line action, such as a DOS or UNIX command, that a process runs started from a process.

Configure the External Command activity

To configure the External Command activity, do the procedure in this topic.

This activity runs a command only on the AgilePoint Server machine.
In most text fields, you can use process data variables as an alternative to literal data values.
You can configure whether this activity waits for other activities before it runs.
For more information, refer to How Do I Configure an Activity to Wait for Other Incoming Activities?
This section shows the configuration settings on the configuration screens for this activity. Other configuration settings apply to system activities. For more information, refer to:
Some information about third-party integrations is outside the scope of the AgilePoint NX Product Documentation. It is the responsibility of the vendors who create and maintain these technologies to provide this information. This includes specific business use cases and examples; explanations for third-party concepts; details about the data models and input and output data formats for third-party technologies; and various types of IDs, URL patterns, connection string formats, or other technical information that is specific to the third-party technologies. For more information, refer to Where Can I Find Information and Examples for Third-Party Integrations?

Open Process Builder.
For information about how to open this screen, refer to Process Builder.
In Process Builder, in the Activity Library, open the Utilities tab.
On the Utilities tab, drag the External Command activity onto your process.

Complete the fields on the General Configuration screen.
For more information, refer to Configure General Options for the External Command Activity.
Click External Command .
Complete the fields on the Configuration for calling External Command screen.
(Optional) Click Advanced > Email Notifications .
For more information, refer to Email Notifications screen (Process Activities).

Specifies the basic settings for the External Command activity.

Field Name	Definition
Display Name	Function: Specifies the activity name that shows in your process. Accepted Values: One line of text that can have spaces. Default Value: None Accepts Process Data Variables: No Example: This is a common configuration field that is used in many examples. Refer to: Examples - Step-by-step use case examples, information about what types of examples are provided in the AgilePoint NX Product Documentation, and other resources where you can find more examples.
Description	Function: Specifies an optional text description for your activity. Accepted Values: More than one line of text. Default Value: None Accepts Process Data Variables: No
Connection Timeout (Seconds)	Function: Specifies the number of seconds permitted to complete an action before the connection stops. Accepted Values: An integer, representing a number of seconds. Default Value: 600 Accepts Process Data Variables: No

Specifies the details for calling an external command.

Field Name	Definition
Environment Variable	Function: Specifies a set of dynamic named values that controls how processes run on a computer. Accepted Values: An environment variable that exists on the target machine. Default Value: None Accepts Process Data Variables: No Example: Path
Read Command From File Path	Function: Specifies the location of the file that contains the command to run. Accepted Values: An absolute path and file name on the AgilePoint Server machine. If the command runs on a Windows machine, the file name must have one of these extensions: .bat .txt .ps1 Default Value: None Accepts Process Data Variables: Yes Limitations: This field is available in these releases: AgilePoint NX OnDemand (public cloud) AgilePoint NX Private Cloud or AgilePoint NX OnPremises v8.0 Software Update 2 or higher
Arguments	Function: Specifies the parameters necessary to complete the command. Accepted Values: A valid argument for the specified command. Default Value: None Accepts Process Data Variables: Yes Example: DIR
Return Value (Get Console Output Value)	Function: Stores output in specified process data variable. Accepted Values: A process data variable. Default Value: None Accepts Process Data Variables: Yes