How do I use MOVEit Automation(Central) API to pick a different source path and file, destination host, path and file with each task run?
Example of running MICentralCLT.exe.

This article shows how to use MOVEit Automation(Central) API to pick a source path and file, destination host, path and file and then create a single document containing the results of that task run. This procedure makes use of a preconfigured "shell" task on MOVEit Automation(Central), the command-line version of MOVEit Automation(Central) API for Windows and a batch file that parses returned results. 

Installation

This demonstration assumes that you have already installed MOVEit Automation(Central) 3.4.5+ and MOVEit Automation(Central) API for Windows 3.4.5+ on the same machine.  You can, of course, install these packages on different machines, but you will need to add a set of valid credentials to the "startshelltask.bat" batch file referenced below if you use different machines. 

Please also follow these steps to get this demonstration installed on your MOVEit Automation(Central) platform.

1) Create a local work folder such as "D:\temp\centralapi"

2) Download the zip file attached to this KB Article. It contains : 
 - XSLDemo.zip (contains XSL stylesheets and XSL parser used to display results)
 - ShellTaskDemo.zip (contains import-ready "shell task" and batch file to launch it) 

3) Unpack both of the "ZIP" files you just downloaded into your local work folder.  When these files have been unpacked, the contents of your work folder should look this:

MOVEit Central Task Import (and Review) 

The task that we will use in this demonstration can simply be imported into MOVEit Central through MOVEit Central's Admin console.  To do this, open the Admin console, click into the "Tasks" tab,  select "Tasks | Import Task" from the main menu and then import the "API Shell Task...xml" file. 

Your successfully imported task should resemble this:



If you open up the various steps in this task, you should notice the use of Macros in several key fields:

• Source (Type: Windows File System; you cannot change this during the task run)
  • Folder(s): [Parm:SourcePathFromAPI]
  • File(s): [Parm:SourceFileFromAPI]
• Process (Built-In "Set Destination" script)
  • SetDestination_Host (parameter): [Parm:HostFromAPI]
  • SetDestination_Path (parameter): [Parm:DestPathFromAPI]
• Destination (Type: Windows File System; you WILL change this during the task run)
  • Folder: set_by_SetDest_process (really is just a placeholder)
  • File Name: [Parm:DestFileFromAPI]

To do anything interesting with this task, you should also ensure that you have several non-Windows File System hosts defined.  For example, the following non-Windows File System hosts include two MOVEit DMZ servers and one FTP server. 
 

However, you should not need to change any task settings to continue with the demonstration. 

Launching API Shell Task with MOVEit Central API

To launch the API Shell Task with MOVEit Central API, execute a command similar to the following from your local MOVEit Central API work folder:

startshelltask "API Shell Task" D:\temp\get dwn01.png "M1 FTPSSL" NewFolder nwd10.gif 

This command will invoke the MOVEit Central API command line client and tell it to run the "API Shell Task" with the remaining parameters. 

Specifically, the "startshelltask.bat" batch file will interpret these command line parameters as:

D:\temp\centralapi>micentralclt -start:"API Shell Task" -waitsecs:30
-tf:taskrun.xml -sf:stats.xml -p:SourcePathFromAPI=D:\temp\get
-p:SourceFileFromAPI=dwn01.png -p:HostFromAPI="M1 FTPSSL"
-p:DestPathFromAPI:NewFolder -p:DestFileFromAPI:nwd10.gif 

The "startshelltask.bat" batch file will also automatically parse results XML into a friendly HTML document if the selected task starts successfully. 

The command syntax for the "startshelltask.bat" file is:

startshelltask Task_Name Source_Path Source_File Destination_Host Destination_Path Destination_File

Alternate Method (Temporary Tasks) 

Version 5.0 of MOVEit Central API allows programmers to build and submit "temporary tasks" that can use existing or ad-hoc host definitions and existing scripts, keys and certs to transfer and process files.   In most cases, "template tasks" similar to the ones described in this article are first copied to the programmer's application.  Then simple modifications are made to the template tasks using XML parsers and/or XML helper functions in the Central API itself.  Finally, the altered tasks are submitted, run and logged as temporary tasks. 

There are several detailed examples and instructions of this usage in the MOVEit Central API documentation.