Configuring the Schedule for a Rule Timer

The rule timers use the schedule formatting syntax defined by the Cron expression to represent the schedule for a rule timer (in the Schedule column of the View and manage rule timers page and in the Schedule field when you are configuring a rule timer).

The Cron expression syntax provides for six Schedule fields, separated by white space: Seconds, Minutes, Hours, Days of Month, Months, and Days of Week. These fields are represented using separate fields in the Configure the rule timer page (and in the dropdown for each rule timer in the View and manage rule timers table).To specify a value, use the Select button to display the corresponding dialog box, where you can select among intervals, absolute times, and ranges of time. The Schedule field reflects the selections as you save them.  Once you have configured a schedule, click Show Dates to view up to 99 projected trigger dates (based on the schedule that you have configured).  

Important! The Schedule field CANNOT be edited. However, the dialog box for each field provides an option called Other, where you can type the entry for that field using Cron expression syntax. Click here to see a table of these fields, the allowed values for the fields, and the allowed special characters for the field.

Rule timers run in GMT, so a timer that runs at hour 23 is running at 11 pm or 23:00 hours in GMT time (London, England, for example). If you are in another time zone, for example, Eastern Standard Time (Boston), then the timer runs not at 11 pm but at hour 23 minus five hours, or 6 pm (18:00 hours).

Examples of the schedules you can create:

"At 9:00 am every Monday through Friday"

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"At 1:30 pm every last Friday of the month"

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Note: The field for each component and the Schedule field change when you save each component. The Platform validates the schedule as you save. If a field becomes shaded in red, the Schedule is not valid. You can position your mouse over the Schedule field to display the error message, which indicates what you need to change.

To Configure the Schedule

1.       Click the Select button for each component of the schedule, as follows:

a.       In the Edit Seconds Time Expression dialog box, select an option and then use the arrows to select or type the appropriate number(s):

Click OK to save the Seconds time expression. Check the Seconds and Schedule fields to see that your selection appears correctly (in Cron format) and does not invalidate the Cron expression.

b.       In the Edit Minutes Time Expression dialog box, select an option and then use the arrows to select or type the appropriate number(s):

Click OK to save the Minutes time expression. Check the Minutes and Schedule fields to see that your selection appears (in Cron format) and does not invalidate the Cron expression.

c.       In the Edit Hours Time Expression dialog box, select an option and then use the arrows to select or type the appropriate number(s):

Click OK to save the Hours time expression. Check the Hours and Schedule fields to see that your selection appears (in Cron format) and does not invalidate the Cron expression.

d.       In the Edit Days of Month Time Expression dialog box, select an option and then use the arrows to select or type the appropriate number(s); keep in mind that you may need to change

Click OK to save the Days of Month time expression. Check the Days of Month and Schedule fields to see that your selection appears (in Cron format) and does not invalidate the Cron expression. In particular, you cannot select an unspecified day (shown as "?" in Cron format) for both the Days of Month and Weekdays time expressions.

e.       In the Edit Months Time Expression dialog box, select an option and then use the arrows to select or type the appropriate number and month(s):

Click OK to save the Months time expression. Check the Months and Schedule fields to see that your selection appears (in Cron format) and does not invalidate the Cron expression.

f.        In the Edit Days of Week Time Expression dialog box, select an option, and then use the arrows to select or type the appropriate day(s) of the week. Note that while this dialog box shows the actual names of the days, the Cron expression in the Schedule field shows the number of the selected day of the week. Sunday is 1, Monday is 2, Tuesday is 3, Wednesday is 4, Thursday is 5, Friday is 6, and Saturday is 7.

Click OK to save the Days of Week time expression. Check the Days of Week and Schedule fields to see that your selection appears (in Cron format) and does not invalidate the Cron expression. In particular, you cannot select an unspecified day (shown as "?" in Cron format) for both the Days of Month and Days of Week time expressions.

2.       Click Show Dates to view up to 99 projected trigger dates (based on the schedule that you have configured).

3.       If you have completed configuring the rule timer, click Save.

4.       If you need to apply the rule timer to expression rules, click here to return to the main procedure for configuring the rule timer.