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Job status configuration

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Preface
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The job status service application (“JobStatusService.exe”) is responsible for monitoring and
printing jobs from single or multiple computers as well as changing order status, printing
reports and various order functions. This article explains the proper way to configure the Job
Status for optimized printing and monitoring.

The “JobStatusService.exe” application is a process (not a service), which requires the running
computer to be logged in on startup. It changes/ retrieves status by directly updating or
querying the MPR500 PRO server’s SQL database and order’s folders. When running a print
job, the Job Status application starts an external process named “ExecutionProcess.exe”, which
is responsible on rendering the album to a print output. The Job status service can run
independently and run output prints from multiple computers as Server mode, Client mode or
Execution station mode, depending on the desired configurations.
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Job Status Modes

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Server
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The Server mode runs jobs from the main MPR500 PRO Server. The main server holds the
database of all the jobs, and usually also holds the files of the jobs themselves. The server
computer can only run as Server mode. Only one MPR500 PRO Server should exist in a print
lab. The Server is also responsible for configuring all the Client and Execution stations through
the “MP-LabAdmin program” application, and can load and edit jobs.

Client Station
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The Client Station acts similar to the Server, which can edit and print jobs. However, the Client
Station computer cannot automatically load jobs, cannot configure general configurations and
is mainly dependent on the server.

Execution Station
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The Execution Station can monitor and print jobs through the Job Status Service application,
but cannot edit or create jobs. The Execution Station sole purpose is to lower the CPU and time
required for processing multiple jobs.

Lab Configurations working modes for Job Status Service

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Type Description Server Client Execution

Local Runs job on the computer that chose to execute the
? ? ?
Workstation selected job
Run job only on the server, regardless of the
Server *
computer that chose to run the selected job.
If job is selected for execution on a Client Station
Ask User or on an Execution Station, the user is prompted to ? ? ?
print on the server or on the selecting computer.
The selected job is printed on any available
All Stations * * *
computer.
Execution The selected job is printed on any available
*
Only Execution Station.
Server and The selected job is printed on any available
* *
Execution Execution Station or on the Server.

(?) Refers to a job running on the specified Job Status mode only on certain circumstances.

(*) Refers to a job running on any specified Job Status mode that is available.

• Configuring the Job Status Service mode can be made through the
“MP-LabAdmin program” application, under the “General” Tab.
See “MPR500 Pro User's Manual” for further information.
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Job Status Service advanced settings

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The Job Status Service advanced settings are made through the INI file “JobStatusCtrl.ini”,
which can be found in the MPR500 root folder
(Ex: “C:\Program Files\M-Photo\MPR500 Pro 5\JobStatusCtrl.ini”).

The changes in the advanced settings INI file needs to be made in the following way:

1) Close Job Status Service.

2) Open the file “JobStatusCtrl.ini” file with Notepad or with a text editor

3) Change the settings

4) Save and close the file “JobStatusCtrl.ini”

5) Run the Job Status Service

6) Repeat steps 1 – 5 for all computers. The changes are made only on the selected
computer, and setting different settings on each computer may result in errors and is not
recommended.

Job Status Service advanced settings fields

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The Job Status Service fields are displayed in a readable text inside the “JobStatusCtrl.ini” file.
The format of each field is “[FIELD_NAME] = [VALUE]”. The field name must not be
changed, and the ‘=’ sign must not be removed. The following fields can be changed in the
“JobStatusCtrl.ini” file:

JOBSTATUS_DISABLE_ORDER_LOCKS = 0
JOBSTATUS_DEBUG_MODE = 0
JOBSTATUS_SAFE_MODE = 0
JOBSTATUS_NUM_OF_REPORT_LOG = 50
JOBSTATUS_IDLE_JOBS_KILL_AFTER_MINUTES = 3
JOBSTATUS_RUN_JOBS_REFRESH_MILLISEC = 5000
JOBSTATUS_READ_ALL_REFRESH_MILLISEC = 600
JOBSTATUS_SQL_TIMEOUT = 15
JOBSTATUS_HIDE_STATUS_BAR = 0
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JOBSTATUS_DISABLE_ORDER_LOCKS
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Value range: 0 – 1
Default: 0

Description:
Generally, Job Status Service attempts to lock orders before running their representing jobs.
The locking mechanism prevents Job Status Service to run a job while another computer is
editing the job. When running multiple orders with fast refresh rates or when having network
problems, some orders may be locked forever, until they are manually unlocked.

To manually unlock orders, you can do the following steps:

1) Open Job Status Service on any computer

2) Right click (not left click) on the “Report” button.
3) In the newly opened “Report” window, click on the “Clear Locks” button.
4) Click on “Yes” in the question window. This will unlock all orders from all computers.

To disable order locking, add or replace the following field in “JobStatusCtrl.ini” file:

JOBSTATUS_DISABLE_ORDER_LOCKS = 1

JOBSTATUS_DEBUG_MODE
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Value range: 0 – 1
Default: 0

Description:
When adding or replacing the field “JOBSTATUS_DEBUG_MODE = 1”, Job Status Engine
on the specified computer will enter debug mode. In debug mode, the report window (Right
Clicking on “Report” button) will present more information, and logging will be dumped to
“JobStatusLog*.txt” files under the “Logs” folder. This mode runs slower and uses the hard
disk resources extensively, and should not be used.
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JOBSTATUS_SAFE_MODE
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Value range: 0 – 1
Default: 0

Description:
Safe mode ignores certain Database information query, and lowers CPU time. If your CPU or
performance time is weak, you can add or replace the following field to “JobStatusCtrl.ini”:

JOBSTATUS_SAFE_MODE = 1

• When adding this field, MPR500 Pro orders “Prints” will not be displayed in the Job
Status Service application’s information

JOBSTATUS_NUM_OF_REPORT_LOG
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Value range: 1 – 1000000

Default: 50

Description:
This field sets the number of report logs displayed under the advanced report window (Right
Clicking on “Report” button). The field itself does not affect Job Status Service application in
any way, but should be left on a low value to lower memory consumption.

JOBSTATUS_IDLE_JOBS_KILL_AFTER_MINUTES
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Value range: 1 – 3600

Default: 3

Description:
This field specifies the number of minutes to wait until resetting an idle job. An idle job is a
job that is set to perform a task (Ready/ Running/ Cancel), but is not performing the task from
an unknown reason. This field will reset a job in the following cases:

• A job is set as running, but it’s Execution process unexpectedly terminated

• A job that is marked as ready to run on a specific computer which is no longer available
• A job was canceled, and is waiting for a computer which is no longer available to
terminate its run.

Setting this field as too low may result in Jobs resetting while actively running, while setting
this field as too high may lower overall print time.
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RUN_JOBS_REFRESH_MILLISEC & READ_ALL_REFRESH_MILLISEC

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The Job Status Service has 2 mechanisms: The Read mechanism and the Run mechanism.

The Read mechanism is responsible of reading real-time job status information while the Run
mechanism is responsible for running ready jobs, clearing idle jobs, canceling canceled jobs
and any job status changes and manipulations. The Run mechanism depends on the Read
mechanism, since it uses the real time information that the Read mechanism retrieves.

JOBSTATUS_READ_ALL_REFRESH_MILLISEC
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Value range: 200 – 120000

Default: 600 (0.6 seconds)

JOBSTATUS_RUN_JOBS_REFRESH_MILLISEC
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Value range: 600 – 360000 (Must be at least 3x than the Read all refresh time)
Default: 5000 (5 seconds)

When the Read or Run refresh values are too low compared to the number of computes in the
Print Lab, the following side effects may appear:

• Jobs are printed twice, once on each station.

• Jobs may “flicker” between Ready state and Running state.
• Cancel Job may need to be pressed multiple times for job to be canceled.
• Orders may be locked forever and may need to be manually released.
• CPU usage may reach 100%, resulting in performance issues and errors.

The following table displays the recommended settings for proper Read / Run settings values:

Number of computers Read Run

1–2 600 5000
2–5 1500 10000
5 – 10 3000 20000
10 – X 5000 30000
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JOBSTATUS_HIDE_STATUS_BAR
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Value range: 0 – 1
Default: 0

If set to “1”, hides the status led that blinks when the list was refreshed.

JOBSTATUS_SQL_TIMEOUT
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Value range: 4 - 9999

Default: 15

This value represents the SQL timeout in seconds when running SQL queries.

When working with over 20,000 jobs, the SQL query may exceed the default 15 seconds time
out, and timeout related error messages may appear. To solve this issue, this value can be set to
any value up to 9999 seconds, thus removing the SQL timeout errors.