Event Rule Order of Execution

If you create more than one Event Rule for a single type of event, for example, Monitor Folder, EFT Server prioritizes the Rules in the order they appear on the Event Rules list.

To change the priority of a Rule

  1. In the administration interface, connect to EFT Server and click the Server tab.

  2. In the left pane, click the Site you want to configure, then click Event Rules. The Rules list appears in the right pane.

  3. In the right pane, select the Event Rule you want to move.

  4. To reorder the Event Rules, under Rule Priority, click Higher and Lower.

    illust_eventrulepriority.gif

The Rule list is grouped by Rule type. You can only prioritize the Rules within a Rule type. For example, you cannot move an On Folder Monitor Rule above an On Scheduler (Timer) Event Rule, but you can prioritize the Rules within the Rule type (e.g., place one Timer Event to occur before another Timer Event).

One or more Event Rules may be triggered when conditions are met. For matching Event Rules, meaning those with duplicate Event trigger definitions and Conditions, but with different Actions, the order of execution is sequential according to the sort order defined in the administration interface.

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This sequential firing of duplicate Event Rules applies to almost all of EFT Server’s supported Events; however, the Monitor Folder and Timer Event Rules are executed asynchronously. When you stop the Site or the Server service, EFT Server breaks all existing connections and waits until all socket threads die. The service can terminate when Timer Event processing is still in progress. The triggering of Monitor Folder and Timer Event Rules occurs almost simultaneously and is controlled by the operating system, not by EFT Server.

illust_eventrulessequencefig2.gif

As mentioned above, matching Timer and Monitor Folder Events are executed asynchronously; however, Monitor Folder "threads" are limited to three concurrent threads by default. This means that if you have 5 Folder Monitor Event Rules monitoring the same folder and a file is added to the monitored folder, only 3 of the 5 Rules will fire, as determined by the operating system. The 4th and then 5th Rule execute only when one or more of those three threads are done firing and executing any actions.

illust_eventrulessequencefig3.gif