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FlowForce get system date Options · View
mkirkpatrick
Posted: Tuesday, October 18, 2016 6:00:38 PM
Rank: Newbie

Joined: 10/17/2016
Posts: 6
It seems pretty silly that FlowForce does not have a built-in function or expression to get the server's system date and time. MapForce has the "now" function, and I could make a silly little mapping that just returns now as an output... But it seems really silly to have to go through a MapForce mapping to get at information related to the server itself. FlowForce should support this natively, and it would be a trivial feature to add.
K101
Posted: Thursday, October 20, 2016 11:46:03 AM
Rank: Advanced Member

Joined: 2/27/2009
Posts: 558
The underlying operating system usually has a command-line method of getting the current time. You can create a simple FlowForce Server job which does this (just call it, say, "now"), then you can call it from any other job.
mkirkpatrick
Posted: Tuesday, October 25, 2016 6:28:58 PM
Rank: Newbie

Joined: 10/17/2016
Posts: 6
This is exactly what I have done, but in this case it's a matter of efficiency and process control, not just "solving the problem". One of the selling points for Altova's software is that setting up FlowForce jobs does not require a high level of technical knowledge. When a simple and common task like getting the system date requires creating a batch file, you've raised the barrier of entry.

If I want someone with limited technical knowledge to create a job that requires the system date, I can't rely on them being able to figure this out. Instead, I need to put together the FlowForce step myself, or tell them "copy and paste this super long string to execute a batch file... Don't ask how it works".

It's not that it's super hard to work around; there's just simply no excuse not to have it.
vlad
Posted: Thursday, October 27, 2016 9:08:56 AM
Rank: Advanced Member

Joined: 12/13/2005
Posts: 2,856
Location: Mauritius
K101 has just tried to help you. Nobody has claimed that Altova is not going to add this feature. No need to be upset.
pavants
Posted: Friday, August 9, 2019 12:59:31 PM
Rank: Member

Joined: 6/4/2019
Posts: 13
Location: Trieste
my vote to have it.
djm
Posted: Thursday, January 28, 2021 7:59:14 AM
Rank: Member

Joined: 10/22/2020
Posts: 22
Location: Germany
my vote to have it
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