Time Jobs

Time jobs are one-time scheduled tasks that execute at a specific time in the future.

ITimeTickerManager

Use ITimeTickerManager<TimeTicker> to schedule one-time jobs:

public class RequestsController(RequestService _service)
{
    [HttpPost("Schedule")]
    public async Task<ActionResult> ScheduleBackgroundJobs(Point point, ITimeTickerManager<TimeTicker> manager)
    {
        await manager.AddAsync(new TimeTicker
        {
            Request = TickerHelper.CreateTickerRequest(point),
            ExecutionTime = DateTime.UtcNow.AddSeconds(10),
            Function = "CleanUp",
            Retries = 3,
            RetryIntervals = [1, 2, 3],
            Description = "Job with data example"
        });
        return Ok("Background job scheduled.");
    }
}

TimeTicker Properties

Property	Type	Description
Request	object	Data to pass to the job
ExecutionTime	DateTime	When to execute the job
Function	string	Name of the method to execute
Retries	int	Number of retry attempts
RetryIntervals	int[]	Delay between retries in seconds
Description	string	Human-readable description

Example: CleanUp Job

Here's a simple job that processes data:

public class JobWithData
{
    [TickerFunction("CleanUp")]
    public void CleanUp(TickerFunctionContext<Point> ticker)
    {
        Console.WriteLine($"X: {ticker.Request.X}, Y: {ticker.Request.Y}");
    }
}

Scheduling Jobs via API

Basic Scheduling

[HttpPost("Schedule")]
public async Task<ActionResult> ScheduleJob(ITimeTickerManager<TimeTicker> manager)
{
    await manager.AddAsync(new TimeTicker
    {
        Request = TickerHelper.CreateTickerRequest(new { message = "Hello World" }),
        ExecutionTime = DateTime.UtcNow.AddMinutes(5),
        Function = "ProcessMessage",
        Retries = 2,
        RetryIntervals = [30, 60],
        Description = "Process message in 5 minutes"
    });
    
    return Ok("Job scheduled successfully");
}

With Custom Data

[HttpPost("ScheduleWithData")]
public async Task<ActionResult> ScheduleWithData(MyDataModel data, ITimeTickerManager<TimeTicker> manager)
{
    await manager.AddAsync(new TimeTicker
    {
        Request = TickerHelper.CreateTickerRequest(data),
        ExecutionTime = DateTime.UtcNow.AddHours(1),
        Function = "ProcessData",
        Retries = 3,
        RetryIntervals = [1, 5, 15],
        Description = $"Process data: {data.Id}"
    });
    
    return Ok($"Job scheduled for {data.Id}");
}

TickerFunctionContext

Access typed data in your job methods:

[TickerFunction("ProcessData")]
public async Task ProcessData(TickerFunctionContext<MyDataModel> context, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
{
    var data = context.Request; // Strongly typed data
    var cancellationToken = context.CancellationToken;
    
    // Process the data
    await ProcessAsync(data);
}

Retry Configuration

Retry Attempts

Retries = 3, // Will retry up to 3 times on failure

Retry Intervals

RetryIntervals = [1, 2, 3], // Wait 1s, then 2s, then 3s between retries

No Retries

Retries = 0, // No retries - fail immediately
RetryIntervals = [], // Empty array

Execution Time Examples

// Execute in 10 seconds
ExecutionTime = DateTime.UtcNow.AddSeconds(10)

// Execute in 5 minutes
ExecutionTime = DateTime.UtcNow.AddMinutes(5)

// Execute in 1 hour
ExecutionTime = DateTime.UtcNow.AddHours(1)

// Execute at specific time
ExecutionTime = new DateTime(2024, 12, 25, 10, 0, 0) // Christmas at 10 AM

Job Lifecycle

1. Scheduled - Job is added to the queue
2. Pending - Waiting for execution time
3. Running - Currently executing
4. Completed - Successfully finished
5. Failed - Failed after all retries
6. Cancelled - Manually cancelled

Monitoring Jobs

View scheduled jobs in the TickerQ Dashboard:

• Navigate to /dashboard
• Login with credentials from appsettings.json
• View job status and execution history
• Monitor retry attempts and failures

Best Practices

1. Use meaningful descriptions for easy identification
2. Set appropriate retry counts based on job criticality
3. Handle exceptions in your job methods
4. Use CancellationToken for cancellation support
5. Log job execution for debugging
6. Clean up resources in finally blocks

Next Steps

Learn about Exception Handling for managing job failures.