aido-cron

A plugin to add cron-like capabilities to Aido applications.

Aido-cron allows you to setup slashes and actions to be executed in the future, using either CRON job syntax, a javascript Date object or a moment. Your scheduled tasks are stored in your application's database and will persist across reboots.

Installation

The aido-cron package can be installed with your package manager of choice :

npm install --save aido-cron
# or 
yarn add aido-cron

To use it in your Aido application, you'll need to import it as a plugin :

const aidoCron = require('aido-cron')
 
aido.init({
  plugins: [aidoCron],
})

Important caveat

Aido-cron does not require any additional configuration, however it will create a new job table in your database. It is required that you use a database with JSON columns support.

Usage

You can schedule a task to be executed once at a given time, or repeatedly using CRON syntax. (Please note that node-cron, which is used under the hood, has a specific CRON syntax with an additional field for seconds. You can refer to node-cron's documentation for a complete view)

const moment = require('moment')
const { Slash } = require('/aido')
 
class MySlash extends Slash {
  // ...
  /**
   * Schedule a slash 10 minutes from now
   * (this is equivalent to the user typing `/fnord some text` in Slack)
   */
  simpleSlashWithText() {
    const in10Minutes = moment().add(10, 'minutes')
    this.scheduleTask(in10Minutes, this.user.slackId, 'fnord', 'some text')
  }
  /**
   * Schedule an action 10 minutes from now
   * (this is equivalent to the user clicking a button or submitting a dialog in your `fnord` application)
   */
  simpleAction() {
    const in10Minutes = moment().add(10, 'minutes')
    this.scheduleTask(in10Minutes, this.user.slackId, 'fnord', '', 'someAction')
  }
  /**
   * Schedule a slash every 10 minutes
   * (this is probably a bad idea, see the "Using CRON syntax" section :p)
   */
  simpleAction() {
    this.scheduleTask('0 */10 * * * *', this.user.slackId, 'fnord')
  }
  // ...
}

Use cases

The above examples only cover using aido-cron inside of your Slash classes, to respond to a user's interaction. However, the methods are also exposed in the aido helpers under the cron namespace, allowing for more use cases.

Inside a plugin

Your aido plugin can use the helpers exposed by aido-cron. You just need to load your plugin after aido-cron.

function pluginFactory(koa, utils) {
  async function initPlugin() {
    // Sets the command to be executed 10 minutes after the plugin initializes
    const in10Minutes = moment().add(10, 'minutes')
    utils.helpers.cron.scheduleTask(in10Minutes, this.user.slackId, 'fnord')
  }
}

On application startup

In this example, we will schedule a task to be executed 10 minutes after application startup, without user intervention.

 
aido.init({ ... })
 
aido.start().then(() => {
  const in10Minutes = moment().add(10, 'minutes')
  aido.helpers.cron.scheduleTask(in10Minutes, this.user.slackId, 'fnord')
})

Using CRON syntax

Because CRON jobs are persisted to the database, it is not advised to create tasks using CRON syntax on application startup.

aido.start().then(() => {
  // BAD : Creates the job and stores it in the database to persist across reboots
  aido.helpers.cron.scheduleTask('0 */10 * * * *', this.user.slackId, 'fnord')
  // This is bad because a new job will be created at each reboot and they will pile up
  // GOOD : You should rather use
  aido.helpers.cron.setCronJob('0 */10 * * * *', this.user.slackId, 'fnord')
  // which queues the CRON job but does not store it in the database
})

Killing a scheduled task

Each job is assigned an ID, which you can store and use later to cancel it. You can also kill batches of jobs which fit certain criteria.

 
const { Slash } = require('/aido')
 
class MySlash extends Slash {
// ...
  /**
   * Starts executing every 10 minutes
   */
  start() {
    this.state.jobId = this.scheduleTask('0 */10 * * * *', this.user.slackId, 'fnord')
  }
  /**
   * Stops the execution
   */
  stop() {
    this.killTasks({ id: this.state.jobId }, 'Job was killed')
  }
  /**
   * Stops the execution for all cron jobs for this user
   */
  stopAll() {
    this.killTasks({ user: this.user.slackId }, 'Entire batch of jobs was killed')
  }
// ...
}

API

scheduleTask(cronTime, user, slash, text, action, args, options)

Queues a job and stores it in the database to persist across reboots.

If not otherwise specified, the parameters all default to those of the current context (user, slash, action, etc...).

• cronTime (String|Date|Moment) : The time to fire off your task. Can be a CRON-like string, a Date, or a Moment. See node-cron documentation
• user (String) : the recipient's Slack ID
• slash (String) : the slash to execute. This is the equivalent to the user typing /your_slash
• text (String) : the text of the slash. This is the equivalent to the user typing /your_slash some text
• action (String) : the action to execute. This is the equivalent to the user clicking a button in one of your views
• args (Object) : an arbitrary payload to deliver to the action. This is the equivalent to the data received when a user submits a Dialog. Defaults to {}
• options (Object) : transport options to deliver the message. Defaults to the current transport options
  • options.channel (String) : the channel on which to post the command
  • options.conversationWith (String[]) : an array of Slack IDs for multiparty conversations. This will create a channel with the bot, the original user, and all the users specified here.
  • options.conversationAs (String) : can be bot or user. For multiparty conversations, this specifies if the app should post as the bot user, or as the admin who installed the application. Please note that posting as a bot user requires a bot token and the relevant OAuth scopes.
  • options.sessionId (String) : the unique ID of an existing session with the recipient user

killTasks(options, message)

Kills a job or a batch or jobs, storing the message in the jobs database.

• options (Object) : The method of identifying the job
  • options.id (Number) : The exact id of the job. Ignores all other options and kills this job only
  • options.user (String) : Search for jobs for this user
  • options.slash (String) : Search for jobs by Slash command
  • options.action (String) : Search for jobs by action
  • options.conversationWith (String[]) : An array of Slack IDs. Search for jobs with these participants
  • options.conversationAs (String) : can be bot or user
• message (String) : This message will be stored in the error column of the killed job(s)

setCronJob(cronTime, user, slash, text, action, args, channel, conversationWith, conversationAs)

Only available from the plugin helpers, under the cron namespace. Queues a job without storing it in the database. See scheduleTask for detailed usage.