Configuration Parameters

Parameters must be identified and initialized when writing a task. For tasks to run, configuration information is needed.

Example

Assume a custom task is being written to create a file and write an XML document to disk. The task requires configuration information from the user. The information needed is shown in Table 1.
Table 1. Example Configuration Parameters
Parameter Description Default Value Required
Directory to write file Directory where the file is written None Yes - there is not a default value and one must be specified during configuration
File extension File extension to use for the file .xml No - a default value is associated with the parameter

The parameters need to be initialized, so Services Framework can show the configuration parameters in the user interface and pass the task the configured values during run time.

The initConfigParameters() method exists in the Base Task class for initializing configuration parameters. It is recommended to follow these steps to initialize the parameters.
  1. Provide inline help for the configuration parameters
  2. Add each configuration parameter for the task to run

Provide Inline Help

Inline help for configuration parameters describes what the parameters are and how they are used. The inline help appears in the Services Framework user interface during configuration. An example of inline help is shown here: 
Please enter values for configuring your custom task.
All required parameters must contain a value before saving.
To add inline help, use the addconfigParameterInlineHelp() method. For example: 
addConfigParameterInlineHelp(new StringBuffer()
   .append("Please enter values for configuring your custom task.  ")
   .append("All required parameters must contain a value before saving.")
   .toString());

Adding Configuration Parameters

Initialization of the configuration parameters makes them available to the Services Framework. Before adding the parameters, each must be assigned a unique key. The key is used by the custom task to retrieve its configuration parameters during execution.

Unique keys are assigned to the previous example (Example), as shown here: 
private static final String CONFIG_PARM_KEY_DIRECTORY = "DIRECTORY";
private static final String CONFIG_PARM_KEY_EXTENSION = "EXTENSION";
After assigning the keys, the configuration parameters can be added to the Services Framework. To add configuration parameters, use the addConfigParameter() method. An example of adding parameters is shown here: 
addConfigParameter(CONFIG_PARM_KEY_DIRECTORY, "Directory to write file",
                   "Directory where the xml file will be written to.",
                   null, null, true);

addConfigParameter(CONFIG_PARM_KEY_EXTENSION, "File extension to use",
                   "Extension to use when creating the file.",
                   null, ".xml", false);

Refer to the Javadoc information for additional information about methods and signatures.