2021.2

Using Scripts
Scripts can be used to perform various operations, such as to manipulate data, for example.
PlanetPress Workflow can perform scripts written in four different scripting languages and also
provides an interface for editing scripts.
Note
While this chapter provides some very useful and detailed information about scripting
within PlanetPress Workflow, its focus is to inform you about the features, variables and
functions unique to this environment. This chapter assumes that you have a working
knowledge of the scripting language you wish to use and does not purport to teaching
you anything about this language that you don't already know. Learning any of these
language is beyond the scope of this documentation.
Run Script task
Scripts are incorporated in a process via the Run Script task (see "Run Script" on page482).
When using the Run Script task as a condition, you need a way to tell your process whether
the result is true or false. The condition result is returned by the "Script.ReturnValue" on
page174 variable. If the return value is zero (the default), the condition is false. Otherwise, it is
true.
When using the Run Script as an action task, the job file going out of the Run Script action task
will be the same as the one coming in, unless you have specifically changed it within your
script by writing to the file that is the target of the "Watch.GetJobFileName" on page165
function. The same goes for any Job Info, local or global variables, unless you use the
"Watch.SetJobInfo" on page172 or "Watch.SetVariable" on page173 functions to modify them.
Scripting languages
There are four scripting languages available through the Run Script task: JavaScript (JScript
and Enhanced JScript), VBScript, Python and Perl. Each language has its own strengths and
weaknesses which we will not cover in this documentation. While VBScript is the most used
language at the moment, the examples provided in this chapter are presented in all supported
languages.
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