Scheduled deployments: invalid date and first ever schedule does not run

OttoFMS
1

Goodmorning!
version 4.13.1 running on Ubuntu 22.04 / FMS 22.0.2.204

My friend Claus asked me what he was doing wrong, as his scheduled deployment did not work. We looked at it together, and saw that during the scheduling, the schedule dat displayed was not localised, so MMDDYYYY instead of DDMMYYYY which is shown everywhere else in OttoFMS. The created schedule also displayed “invalid date” in the schedule details in the OttoFMS web interface.

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We scheduled a new deployment together, again for 2 minutes or so later.
Again invalid date, but 2 minutes later it just ran.

Afterwards, while preparing this message, I tried the same on a complete other server. Again the first schedule failed, and the second just ran. Identical behaviour.

I don’t now where to look for the reason of this bug, but I guess you guys test your stuff, so it is probably related to some internationalisation or localisation issue, the fact that the scheduler code does not let you input a localised time stamp gives me this feeling a few corners might have been cut.

Not really an urgent issue, as from the second schedule things just run. Apart from the “invalid date” which is a bit annoying, there is afterwards no real issue left.

[EDIT] we noticed a scheduled system script that had never ran and was still activated:

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De FileMaker Admin Console has the same localisation issues where it displays the localised date on top, but fails to show the schedules with a localised date. Anyway, for same reason this schedule was never executed by FileMaker Server, even though it seems to have the correct data.

2

Thanks for the thorough report

We will look into this.

Todd

3

Hey Peter,

Looking into this the Invalid Date issue is not localization related, but it is a bug in OttoFMS. It is purely a UI bug that I have already fixed for our next version.

For the bug you’re seeing with the first schedule not running, is there anything in the FMS event logs at the original scheduled time of the first scheduled deployment?

-Kyle

4

Looking into this the Invalid Date issue is not localization related, but it is a bug in OttoFMS. It is purely a UI bug that I have already fixed for our next version.

OK, thanks Kyle. Wow, I didn’t know you did the coding as well. Nice work.

For the bug you’re seeing with the first schedule not running, is there anything in the FMS event logs at the original scheduled time of the first scheduled deployment?

No, I didn’t see anything. Could it be the first schedule somehow does not come through right away in FileMaker Server? As I understand it, OttoFMS simply makes the schedule (through the admin API?), and we see it afterwards in FileMaker Server, with the correct execution time stamp, but… not executed.

I should try it again on a server where I never used a scheduled deployment before, and see if I can trigger this again, maybe give it a bit more time to “sink in” on the FMS does the trick… I don’t know. I have a customer today where I think I never tried scheduling things before. I’ll report back if I can find something.

1 Like
5

Hello Kyle,
I have encountered the same issue many time as well. In some cases updating resolved the issue. But currently I have a server that has continued to have the issue even after an update.
I’m afraid if I leave the deployment as it is with an invalid date, it will cuase problems such as starting at a time users are connected and working.
could you confirm that it is just an UI issue? or should i be still waiting for the next updates?
It has been two weeks since we faced the issue
Regards,
Alaleh

6

Hey @Alaleh ,

The Invalid Date text is shown when the date that is returned from the FileMaker Schedule API is parsed improperly. If it is still showing Invalid Date on the most recent version of OttoFMS, then the date coming back from FileMaker may be improperly formatted (or formatted in a way OttoFMS is not expecting).

Whichever way, the parsing of the date on the schedule does not matter for the actual running of the deployment unless the schedule in FileMaker itself is broken. The running of the FileMaker schedule is what triggers the deployment, not the date that OttoFMS reads from the schedule.

I would check by going to the FileMaker Admin Console and verifying that the schedule there is set up properly. If it is, I would love to see how it is set up and what the return value is in the Schedule API so I can make sure OttoFMS can parse it properly.

-Kyle