Task Manager

Out of the box, Task Manager supports one action - Create Subcase. This example walks through how to add a custom action for a task. Specifically, it will show how to add an action named Get Stock Quote, that will call a web service to get a stock quote. The quote will be logged as a note to the case.

The code for this example is located in src/Dovetail.TaskManagerExamples/TaskExample.

We'll start by defining a class containing the information that we need to receive from Task Manager:

	public class GetStockQuoteOptions
	{
		public string Symbol { get; set; }
	}

This class will be constructed and bound from the values that are resolved through the Task Manager API.

Setup

1. Add the custom Task Action

   Using Dovetail Admin, edit the Task Action user-defined list. Add an element named Get Stock Quote

2. Add the custom task Action parameters

   • Using Dovetail Admin, add a new user-defined list named Get Stock Quote Params
   • Add an element to this list named Symbol

3. Refresh Dovetail Agent's cache

   Using Dovetail Agent: Admin - cache - Refresh Cache

Task Manager Setup

1. Setup Task Property Templates

   Using Dovetail Agent: Admin - Task Manager - Task Property Templates tab, click the + in the tab header to add a new template with the following information:

   Attribute	Value
   Name	Stock Symbol
   Action	Get Stock Quote
   Data Type	String
   Save To	Symbol

   Click the Create button.

2. Setup Task

   Using Dovetail Agent: Admin - Task Manager - Tasks tab, click the + in the tab header to add a new task with the following information:

   Attribute	Value
   Name	Get Stock Quote
   Status	Active
   Action	Get Stock Quote
   Workflow	None

   Click the Create button.

3. Setup Task Properties

   • From the Get Stock Quote task page, click the + in the Properties tab header.
   • Select the Stock Symbol property
   • Set the value to Specific Property of GOOG
   • Click the Create button

4. Setup Task Set

   Using Dovetail Agent: Admin - Task Manager - Task Sets tab, click the + in the tab header to add a new task set with the following information:

   Attribute	Value
   Name	Get Stock Quote
   Status	Active

   Click the Create button.

5. Add the Task to the Task Set

   • From the Get Stock Quote task set page, click the + in the Tasks tab header.
   • Select the Get Stock Quote Task
   • Click the Add button

Create the Task Runner Policy

Now we need to create a policy so that the Task Manager API knows how to handle our new GetStockQuote Action. We can do this by implementing the ITaskRunnerPolicy interface. This interface has two different methods to implement: Matches and Execute.

Let's look at the GetStockQuotePolicy:

	public class GetStockQuotePolicy : ITaskRunnerPolicy
	{
		private const string Action = "Get Stock Quote";

		private readonly IObjectBinder _binder;
		private readonly IClarifyContext _clarify;
		private readonly IStockQuoteService _quotes;

		public GetStockQuotePolicy(IObjectBinder binder, IClarifyContext clarify, IStockQuoteService quotes)
		{
			_binder = binder;
			_clarify = clarify;
			_quotes = quotes;
		}

		public bool Matches(TaskValueCollection values)
		{
			return Action.Equals(values.Task.Action, StringComparison.InvariantCultureIgnoreCase);
		}

		public void Execute(string caseId, TaskValueCollection values)
		{
			var options = _binder.Bind<GetStockQuoteOptions>(values);
			var toolkit = new SupportToolkit(_clarify.Session);
			var quote = _quotes.FindBySymbol(options.Symbol);

			var logCaseNoteSetup = new LogCaseNoteSetup(caseId)
			{
				Notes = string.Format("{0} ({1}) is currently at {2}", quote.Name, quote.Symbol, quote.Price),
				GenerateTimeBombs = true
			};

			toolkit.LogCaseNote(logCaseNoteSetup);
		}
	}

Matches

In our implementation we reference the Action property of the Task. There can be any number of Tasks being executed so we want to make sure we're only matching on a Task that is configured for the Action that we want. In this case, we're making sure that the Action is Get Stock Quote.

Execute

The first line of this method is the most notable. Using the IObjectBinder interface, we ask for an instance of our GetStockQuoteOptions class using the given TaskValueCollection. The Task Manager API will construct and bind the values of this object for us (resolving Clarify paths, coercing values, etc.).

Once we have the object constructed, we then simply log a note to the Case.

Register the Policy

We need to register the new policy into our container. We can do this through a simple scanning operation:

	public class ExampleRegistry : Registry
	{
		public ExampleRegistry()
		{
			Scan(_ =>
			{
				_.TheCallingAssembly();
				_.WithDefaultConventions();

				_.AddAllTypesOf<ITaskRunnerPolicy>();
			});
		}
	}

Run the Task Set

• Dovetail Agent: open one of your cases
• Using the Workflow menu select: Run Task Set
• Select the Get Stock Quote task set.
• Click the Run Task Set button
• Case History Menu - Show Details
• You should see a new history item of Rule Action of Action Send Message to Carrier of rule Run Dovetail Task Set fired
• You should see a new history item of Note Logged with text of Alphabet, Inc. (GOOG) is currently at 709.75