DEPEND

The DEPEND field contains a dependency string that specifies any dependencies that this section has on other sections. Using dependencies allow for conditional running of certain job sections. The valid conditions that may be supplied are:

• started(sectionname) - if the specified section has started running or has already finished, the condition is TRUE.
• done(sectionname) - if the specified section has finished successfully, the condition is TRUE, otherwise FALSE.
• failed(sectionname) - This will evaluate to TRUE if the section fails, otherwise - to FALSE. failed is synonym to exit.
• ended(sectionname) - if the specified section finished (failed or succeeded) then the condition is TRUE, otherwise FALSE.
• canceled(sectionname) - if the specified section has been canceled before it started, then the condition is TRUE, otherwise FALSE.
• zombie(sectionname) - if it is known that the specified section will never start because its dependency condition will never be satisfied, the condition is TRUE, otherwise FALSE.

Simple logical expressions can be combined using parenthesis and the following logical operations:

  OR  - ||
  AND - &&
  NOT - ~,!

An example follows.

   DEPEND=done(stepA) && (done(stepB) || !started(stepC))

The dependencies in a JDF file determine the order in which sections are executed. At least one section in the JDF must not have a dependency. It is not important to order the sections in the JDF file, FBSNG will automatically determine a valid ordering that satisfies the dependencies. If two sections can run independently of each other, then the ordering of submission to the batch system will be determined by the order in which the sections are defined in the JDF file provided that the needed resources for that section are available.