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.


External Command activity

Configure the External Command activity

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

Prerequisites

Good to Know

How to Start

  1. Open Process Builder.

    For information about how to open this screen, refer to Process Builder.


    Open Process Builder
  2. In Process Builder, in the Activity Library, open the Utilities tab.

    Open Utilities tab
  3. On the Utilities tab, drag the External Command activity onto your process.

    Drag External Command activity

Procedure

  1. Complete the fields on the General Configuration screen.

    For more information, refer to Configure General Options for the External Command Activity.

  2. Click External Command External Command icon.
  3. Complete the fields on the Configuration for calling External Command screen.
  4. (Optional) Click Advanced Advanced icon > Email Notifications E-mail Notifications icon.

    For more information, refer to Email Notifications screen (Process Activities).

General Configuration

Specifies the basic settings for the External Command activity.

Figure: General Configuration screen

General Configuration screen

Fields

Field NameDefinition

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

Configuration For Calling External Command

Specifies the details for calling an external command.

Figure: Configuration For Calling External Command screen

Configuration For Calling External Command screen

Fields

Field NameDefinition

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:

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