8.8

Comments Tab
The Comments tab is common to all tasks. It contains a text area (Task comments)that lets
you write comments about the task. These comments are saved when the dialog is closed with
the OKbutton, and are displayed in the Task Comments Pane.
Check the option Use as step description to display the text next to the icon of the plugin in
the Process area.
External Program
External Program action tasks are used to launch and execute other programs, which can be
useful when you wish to process your job file in a way that is not possible with the standard
PReS Workflow tasks.
Note
As with any task that can refer to network resources, it is important to understand the
considerations involved with paths and permissions of these resources. Please refer to
the Network Considerations page in the Advanced Configuration and Options chapter
(Reference Guide, in English only).
There are some important things to consider when using the External Program task:
l The executable file must accept so-called "command-line options" and be able to run
without any sort of user interaction. Only certain programs are able to do this and may
refer to it as "command-line"or "automation"features.
l The process will always wait for the executable file to finish before it continues to the next
task, and does not have any timeout setting. This mean that if your program fails to exit for
any reason, your process will hang.
Input
Any active data file, in any format.
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