In some cases plugins need to execute tasks on a regular basis. For example, if your plugin needs to send an email to a fulfillment center after an invoice is paid you'll want to create a cron task for that.
Adding Cron Tasks
To add cron tasks have your plugin invoke the CronTasks::add() and CronTasks::addTaskRun() methods during its install or upgrade process.
Don't forget
You need to remove any cron tasks you create when your plugin is completely uninstalled. First, invoke CronTasks::getTaskRunByKey(), and pass the cron task run id to the CronTasks::deleteTaskRun method. Then invoke CronTasks::getByKey(), and pass the cron task ID to the CronTasks::deleteTask() method.
<?php class MyPluginPlugin extends Plugin { ... public function install($plugin_id) { Loader::loadModels($this, array("CronTasks")); $task = array( 'key' => "my_task", // a string used to identify this cron task (see MyPluginPlugin::cron()) 'task_type' => "plugin", // the cron task type, which must be 'plugin' 'dir' => "my_plugin", // the plugin directory of this plugin 'name' => "My Plugin Task", // the name of this cron task 'description' => "This cron tasks does stuff", // the description of this task 'type' => "time" // "time" = once per day at a defined time, "interval" = every few minutes or hours ); $task_id = $this->CronTasks->add($task); $task_run = array( 'time' => "14:25", // the daily 24-hour time that this task should run (optional, required if interval is not given) // 'interval' => "15", // the interval, in minutes, that this cron task should run (optional, required if time is not given) 'enabled' => 1, // 1 if this cron task is enabled, 0 otherwise (optional, default 1) ); $this->CronTasks->addTaskRun($task_id, $task_run); // Add additional cron tasks as needed... } public function cron($key) { // This method is invoked once for each different cron task configured by the plugin and identified by $key } } ?>
Executing Cron Tasks
Cron tasks are automatically executed at the appropriate time as configured by Company > Automation settings.