In Azure Scheduler, how to programmatically create recurring monthly job?

Question

I've been able to successfully schedule jobs in Azure Scheduler using Microsoft Azure Scheduler Management Library for all intervals except monthly on a specific day of the week. For example, I need to schedule a recurring job that runs every 1 month on the first Thursday of the month. The Azure Scheduler portal allows for this but I can't figure out how to code this using the Azure library.

Below is the latest code I've tried. Azure Scheduler ends up creating a monthly recurring job (viewed in the Azure portal) but it doesn't show any selections for day-of-week (they're all unchecked) so the code did not work.

I searched exhaustively online for documentation or examples for using the scheduler library for this scenario but came up empty. I am seeking a working code example for this monthly recurrence.

var monthlyOccurrence = new List<JobScheduleMonthlyOccurrence>();
monthlyOccurrence.Add(new JobScheduleMonthlyOccurrence() { Day = JobScheduleDay.Thursday, Occurrence = 1 });

JobCreateOrUpdateResponse jobResp = schedClient.Jobs.CreateOrUpdate("testRecurrenceIssue", new JobCreateOrUpdateParameters
{
    Action = new JobAction
    {
        Request = new JobHttpRequest { Uri = new Uri("http://www.myservice.com"), Method = "GET" },
    },
    Recurrence = new JobRecurrence
    {
        Frequency = JobRecurrenceFrequency.Month,
        Interval = 1,
        EndTime = new DateTime(2014, 12, 31),
        Schedule = new JobRecurrenceSchedule
        {
            Days = null,
            Hours = null,
            Minutes = null,
            MonthDays = null,
            MonthlyOccurrences = monthlyOccurrence,
            Months = null
        }
    }
});

Note that I've been able to schedule a monthly recurrence for specific days of the month, such as "run monthly on days 1, 14, 21, and 28" but can't figure out how to code the specific day of week scenario I mentioned above. Thanks for your help!

Update on this... If I add another JobScheduleMonthlyOccurrence to the monthlyOccurrence collection, the second one is recognized; the first one is lost/ignored. Also, using JobScheduleDay.Sunday does not work; all of the other day enums for JobScheduleDay are recognized. — Tim Dutcher, Jun 10 '14 at 16:40
Right now, my assessment is that the scheduler library is 95% working and complete. The 5% gap might be a blocker for you, particularly with monthly job scheduling, so I would test your most advanced or complex requirements first. Microsoft has some work to do on this library to finish it and write samples/docs. — Tim Dutcher, Jun 10 '14 at 16:59

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 11 '14 at 23:28

1

I'm one of the PM's responsible for the Management Libraries, inclusive of the Scheduler SDK. They're one of our partner teams, and we support them in the development of their SDK. At this point the Scheduler SDK is functional, and we're using their SDK during development of some other upcoming features in other products we're releasing so I can attest to it being functional at this point in most of the use-case situations. I'm going to ask the Scheduler PM to take a look at this post, too, as he might have other information on the state of the SDK and may have other information that could aid in your development.

Take a look at this repo on GitHub. I worked this up as a prototype for setting up scheduled WebJobs. Since the WebJobs functionality actually makes use of the Scheduler to schedule the jobs' execution, this seemed like a pretty good demo case showing how 2 different Azure assets could be used together within MAML.

https://github.com/bradygaster/maml-demo-scheduled-webjob-creator

answered Jun 11 '14 at 23:28

brady gaster

1,506
1
10
15

It's good to see some examples. Unfortunately, the Scheduler library still does not support monthly scenarios such as "every 1 month on the first and third Monday of the month". This is possible in the Azure Portal, just not with the object model as it exists now for Scheduler. Someone needs to revise or replace class JobScheduleMonthlyOccurrence to support the same options available in the portal. I wish I had time to do it. To work around this scheduling limitation I set up multiple monthly recurring jobs to fire on the correct days. – Tim Dutcher Jun 27 '14 at 00:18
I think the SDK has been recently updated to accommodate this sort of approach. I checked in with them recently on this and they informed me this approach was on the horizon - you might want to check it out again to see if they've gotten the update included in their NuGet. – brady gaster Sep 16 '14 at 05:37
@bradygaster - Link is 404 – Chuck D May 11 '18 at 15:57

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited Jun 18 '14 at 05:36

0

Here is a code snippet that works for me. There is an issue, as you've mentioned, with JobScheduleDay.Sunday. We are actively looking into the issue.

{
JobCreateOrUpdateResponse jobResp = schedClient.Jobs.CreateOrUpdate("testComplexRecurrenceTwoDays", new JobCreateOrUpdateParameters
            {
                Action = new JobAction
                {
                    Request = new JobHttpRequest { Uri = new Uri("http://www.bing.com"), Method = "GET" },
                },
            Recurrence = new JobRecurrence
            {
                Frequency = JobRecurrenceFrequency.Month,
                Schedule = new JobRecurrenceSchedule
                {
                    Days = null,
                    Hours = null,
                    Minutes = null,
                    MonthDays = null,
                    MonthlyOccurrences = new List<JobScheduleMonthlyOccurrence> { 
                        new JobScheduleMonthlyOccurrence { Day = JobScheduleDay.Thursday, Occurrence = 1}
                        },
                    Months = null
                }
            }
            });
}

edited Jun 18 '14 at 05:36

MinhD

1,790
11
14

answered Jun 18 '14 at 05:12

Vivek

1

Update: You should now be able to use JobScheduleDay.Sunday. Please let us know if you continue to see any issues. Thank you. – Vivek Jun 20 '14 at 01:58
I'll try using Sunday now, thanks. Using your example, how would someone indicate that the monthly occurrence should be on Thursday but for the 1st and 3rd Thursday of the month? Is it necessary to create another JobScheduleMonthlyOccurrence for that second Occurrence value? How about a monthly schedule for Monday, Wednesday and Friday and the 1st and 4th of those occurrences each month? The Azure Portal handles these scenarios but it doesn't seem like the MonthlyOccurrences property and/or the JobScheduleMonthlyOccurrence class can establish the same job. – Tim Dutcher Jun 27 '14 at 00:26
@TimDutcher Yes, that is correct. JobScheduleMonthyOccurence object indicate just one piece of execution in the schedule. So, if the job needs to execute on 1st and 3rd Thursday of every month, the MonthlyOccurences should look like: MonthlyOccurrences = new List { new JobScheduleMonthlyOccurrence { Day = JobScheduleDay.Thursday, Occurrence = 1}, new JobScheduleMonthlyOccurrence { Day = JobScheduleDay.Thursday, Occurrence = 3} } – Vivek Aug 14 '14 at 23:05

In Azure Scheduler, how to programmatically create recurring monthly job?

2 Answers2