Common Object Properties

User-defined objects have common object properties such as Name, Label, Description and whether the object is enabled are some of the common elements all objects share. As the ActiveBatch Objects section chapter explains each object, you should give some thought as to how you will name each object. The object’s name and label are two different (yet related) properties. An object’s name does not have to be unique (although you would do well to make it unique to avoid confusion or ambiguity). An object’s label must be unique.

 

Since every object has common properties, those properties have been placed on the “General” category when creating or viewing an object.

 

Name: This mandatory property represents the name of the object. The name is limited to 128 characters. The object’s name should be unique to avoid confusion. We recommend that it also be somewhat descriptive so it’s easy to find. The name is used to identify the object in the Navigation pane and other places in the UI.

 

Label: Every object must be uniquely labeled within the scope of the namespace. The label is limited to sixty-four (64) characters. The label is typically the same value as the name (it is auto-filled to match the name you enter); however, uniqueness is always enforced for an object’s label. The label is recorded in the ActiveBatch namespace. The characters that may be used for the label property are restricted to alphanumeric (A-Z, a-z, 0-9), space, period (.), dash (-) and underscore (_). The label itself must begin with an alphabetic character. The label is typically used when scripting. All searches are case-insensitive. ActiveBatch does allow you to search for objects using either the label or the name properties.

 

ID: This is a unique read-only number that can be used to retrieve the object. Is it assigned by the system when a new object is saved.

 

Full Path: This read-only property provides the full namespace specification of the object. It consists of the container(s) the object has been placed in, with the object’s label appended to the end. For example, the fullpath: /IT Jobs/Nightly Run/<object label>, is such that IT Jobs is a root-level folder, Nightly Run is a plan, followed by the label of the object you are creating.

 

Description: This free form property is provided so you can document and describe the object to others. The description is limited to 512 characters. Clicking on the pencil icon will pull up a mini text editor where you can more easily enter your description.

 

State: The state displays a value that is dependent on the object type. For a Queue, the state will indicate whether the Queue is started, stopped, opened, closed, etc. Most objects have an enabled state, meaning the object is ready for use. Other objects, such as jobs and plans, have additional states such as soft disabled and held. When an object is disabled, it will not function in the capacity it is designed for.  For example, if you disable a Schedule object, all the objects associated with the Schedule object will no longer trigger on the dates specified in the Schedule. When it is re-enabled, the jobs will begin to trigger again.

 

Read only This checkbox, when enabled, means the object's properties cannot be changed.  You must have “Modify” access permission to the object to set this feature.  To clear the read-only attribute, uncheck the box.