Triggers

Overview

A trigger is a set of criteria that, when met, starts the execution of a task. When a task is triggered, the steps of the task (comprised of actions & activities) are executed. Automate Desktop provides both time-based and event-based triggers providing multiple methods in which to automatically start a task. To access trigger properties for a specific task, from Task Administrator's Tasks section, right-click on the desired task and then select Edit Triggers.

Time-based triggers

The Schedule trigger is time-based, thus, can start a task at a precise date/time. This includes starting a task multiple times on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. In addition, the Schedule trigger contains added functionality that enables

Event-based triggers

Event-based triggers start a task in response to certain system events, such as when a file is added, removed or modified, when an entry is written to the system event log, when certain hardware performance thresholds are reached, when a process starts, stops, or becomes unresponsive or any of a variety of other system events or conditions.

Behavior

A task requires at least one trigger in order to launch automatically. Multiple triggers of the same or differing types can be attached to a single task, allowing it to be started in a variety of ways. For example, Task A can include a File system trigger to monitor for the existence of File B in Folder C. It can also include a Process trigger to monitor for     When multiple triggers are attached, they behave as an "OR" condition (as opposed to an “AND” condition) whereas, occurrence of any monitored condition will start the task.

Available triggers

 For more details with regards to a specific trigger, click the associated icon or link:

Icon	Name	Description
	Database Trigger	Triggers task execution when a specific operation is performed on a SQL or Oracle database.
	Email Trigger	Launches a task when conditions are met on the specified email server.
	Event Log Trigger	Launches a task when the monitored event is added to the Windows Event Log.
	File System Trigger	Launches a task when one or more files are added, modified or deleted in the folder specified. It can also trigger execution when a number of files exceed the amount specified, when one file size exceeds the amount specified or when the total size of the folder exceeds the amount specified.
	Idle Trigger	Launches a task when no keyboard or mouse input occurs for the specified period of time (for example, the system is idle).
	Keyboard Trigger	Launches a task when a hot-key combination is pressed or a specific word is typed on the keyboard.
	Performance Trigger	Launches a task when a system or process threshold (such as CPU utilization and memory usage) is met.
	Process Trigger	Launches a task when the specified process starts, ends or stops responding.
	Schedule Trigger	Launches a task at the date, time or interval specified. This trigger can be used for scheduling tasks to run at night or at the end of every work-day, week, month or other time frame.
	Service Trigger	Launches a task when the specified service starts, stops, pauses, resumes or stops responding.
	SharePoint Trigger	Launches a task when a monitored SharePoint event occurs.
	SNMP Trap Trigger	Launches a task when a SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) trap is received.
	Startup Trigger	Launches a task when the AutoMate task service starts or when a user logs onto the system.
	Window Trigger	Launches a task when the specified window opens, closes, is focused or loses focus.
	WMI Trigger	Launches a task when a WQL (WMI Query Language) query executed on the agent machine returns true or more than 0 rows. Queries built using WQL are used to manage and control the WMI Service.