Configuring Job Templates

Applies To: Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Vista

A job template can contain one task that acts on media files that are dropped in a watch folder or multiple tasks that are chained together in a workflow. (This is referred to as task chaining.) In a task workflow, the initial task acts on media files that are dropped in a watch folder and subsequent tasks act on the output of preceding tasks.

The Video files to H.264 Smooth Streams and Apple HTTP Live Streams default job template is an example of a job template that uses task-chaining. The first task in the chain uses an Expression Encoder 4.0 SP2 preset to transcode media files to Smooth Streaming presentation files. The second task in the chain converts the transcoded output to the Apple HTTP Live Streaming (MPEG-2 TS) container format.

Use the following procedure to add and organize tasks in a new or existing job template and configure other job template settings.

To configure a job template

  1. In IIS Manager, in the Connections pane, click Job Templates.

  2. If you want to create a new job template, in the Actions pane, click New.

    -or-

    If you want to edit settings for an existing job template, select the job template in the Job Templates page, and then in the Actions pane, click Edit.

  3. In the job template property sheet, configure the following settings on the Basic Settings tab:

    1. In Name, type a friendly name for the job template.

    2. Add a task to the Task definitions list. To do this, click Add.

    3. In the Add Tasks dialog box, in the Available tasks list, select a task, and then click OK.

Note

IIS Transform Manager includes default tasks in the Add Tasks dialog box that you can choose from. You can use the dialog box to add more choices—either custom tasks that you create by using the IIS Transform Manager Task API or additional tasks that are available in the Transform Manager Tasks Gallery on IIS.net. For more information about the default tasks and about how to add additional tasks, see About Tasks.

4.  If you want to add an additional task that acts on the output of the task that you added in the previous step, repeat steps \[b\] and \[c\].  
      
5.  If you added multiple tasks to the job template, select a task in the **Task definitions** list, and then if required, use the **Move Up** and **Move Down** buttons to ensure that it's displayed in the order in which it should run. The **Task definitions** list displays tasks from top (the first task that's run) to bottom (the last task that's run). For example, a task that transcodes media files should be listed above a task that copies the transcoded media files to another location on the computer or network.  
      
6.  If you decide that you don't want to use a task that's displayed in the **Task definitions** list, select that task, and then click **Remove**.  
      
7.  After all of your tasks are displayed in the correct order, in the **Task definitions** list, select each task in turn, and then click **Edit** to update the task settings and properties (if required). For more information about how to edit task properties, see [Editing Tasks](ff730168\(v=ws.10\).md).  
      
8.  Click **OK**.  
      

If you created a new job template, you can now bind it to a new watch folder or replace a job template that's bound to an existing watch folder. If you replace a job template that's bound to a watch folder that's started with a new job template, or if you edited a job template that's bound to a watch folder that's started, you must restart the watch folder to apply the new job template settings. For more information, see Configuring Watch Folders.

Note

If you edit a job template that's bound to a watch folder or replace that job template with a new one, and if the watch folder is either running jobs or jobs are queued in the watch folder for processing, the following conditions apply:

  • If the watch folder was running jobs and you click Stop to stop the watch folder, the currently running jobs will finish before the watch folder stops. Queued jobs won't be submitted for processing.

  • If you want to apply the job template changes to currently running and queued jobs, you must cancel these jobs. You must then restart the watch folder and drop the original media sources in the watch folder again so that they can be processed with the updated settings. For more information about how to manage jobs in watch folders, see Running and Monitoring Jobs.

Note

A job template will display a configuration error and the watch folder to which it's bound can't be started if a required task property isn't set. For more information about how to edit the task properties in a job template, see Editing Tasks.

See Also

Concepts

About Tasks