Task Specifications

The following types of specifications can be included in a task initiation statement:

  • Task attribute assignments

  • Library equations

  • File equations

  • Database equations

  • Local data specifications

Many task attributes with very diverse functions are available through WFL. Some of them can be used to access information about the task execution, such as accumulated processor and I/O time. Other functions alter the way the program is run, such as specifying the priority to be assigned to a task or the usercode a task is to run under.

The task attributes available through WFL are listed under Task Attributes. For a more detailed description, refer to the task attribute descriptions in the Task Attributes Programming Reference Manual.

File equations can be used to modify attributes of the files used by a program, or can cause the program to use different files than it normally would have. For example, file equations can cause the program to read input from a different source than is specified in the program, and write output to a different destination than is specified in the program. This feature of WFL eliminates the need for many time-consuming alterations and recompilations of existing programs.

For more information, see File Equations and Task Equation for further information. Individual file attributes are described in the File Attributes Programming Reference Manual.

Examples

In the following example, the task attribute PRIORITY specifies the priority to be assigned to the task:

?BEGIN JOB COMP/DATA;
  RUN (RAJA)OBJECT/COMP/DATA; % Run the desired program with
    PRIORITY=50; % a priority of 50
?END JOB.

The following example uses a file equation:

?BEGIN JOB WFLTEST;
  RUN (WALLY)OBJECT/ALGOL/TEST;
    FILE TERMIN(TITLE=WFLIN,KIND=DISK); % Causes the program to
                                        % read from the disk file
                                        % WFLIN, instead of the
                                        % file TERMIN
?END JOB.