Batch_Job_Execution Status after runtime exception

[Angel]

Hi,

I am launching my jobs as such using JMS:

		try {
			jobLauncher.run(jobLocator.getJob("myJob"), builder.toJobParameters());
		}
		catch (JobExecutionException e) {
			log.error("Could not execute job.", e);
		}
		catch(RuntimeException e){
			log.error("Exception.", e);
		}

I'm forcing a RuntimeException within the step, specifically a LineAggregator and I noticed the Status column of Batch_JOB_Execution stays at STARTING, shouldn't this job be marked by an error exit code in that table?

Is there an extra step I should take?

Thanks,
Angel

[lucasward]

It should have a status of 'FAILED', but what's fishy to me is that the status is 'STARTING', if you started a job it should be 'STARTED'....STARTING is only there for a very short amount of time. Can you post your configuration? Also, what version of SB are you using?

[Angel]

It's definitely a transaction issue, I just removed the xa transaction manager from my spring jms listener-container and now status for jobs are marked as FAILED, the message listener transaction is not comitting and instead it's timing out which I don't understand why, it seems like spring batch is leaving it open when it encounters an exception, can anybody shed some light?

[lucasward]

How do you have you transaction manager setup?

[Angel]

I use an XA data source

<tx:jta-transaction-manager id="transactionManager" />

<jms:listener-container connection-factory="jmsConnectionFactory" 
                               transaction-manager="transactionManager" 
				destination-resolver="jndiJmsResolver"
				message-converter="lockboxMessageConverter">
			<jms:listener destination="jms/lockboxQueue" ref="lockboxMessageDelegate" method="recieve"/>
</jms:listener-container>

 <bean id="jobRepository"
           class="org.springframework.batch.core.repository.support.JobRepositoryFactoryBean">
    	<property name="databaseType" value="oracle" /> 
    	<property name="dataSource" ref="dataSource" />
    	<property name="transactionManager" ref="transactionManager"/>
  </bean>

I'm launching the job within the MDB.

[Angel]

It should have a status of 'FAILED', but what's fishy to me is that the status is 'STARTING', if you started a job it should be 'STARTED'....STARTING is only there for a very short amount of time. Can you post your configuration? Also, what version of SB are you using?

I'm using version 1.1.0

[Dave Syer]

Switch off container-managed-transaction in your MDB? It looks like you are running the whole job in a single transaction.

[Angel]

Switch off container-managed-transaction in your MDB? It looks like you are running the whole job in a single transaction.

I removed the transaction manager from the jms listener bean, and it started working as expected but then the JMS no longer participates in the transaction, is there any other way?

[Dave Syer]

You want the whole job in a single transaction? It isn't usually a great idea - you'll tie up an expensive resource for the entire duration. The redo logs might get pretty scary, and rollback gets really expensive once you start doing a lot of stuff in a single transaction.

Spring Batch is designed so that if there is a failure you can trigger the job again (you can even trigger it again if you aren't sure - you'll get an exception saying the job is already executing). You can use that feature instead of relying on transactions in the message listener.

[Angel]

No, actually I was thinking of having the batch job work in a nested transaction, so the JMS message can survive an exception and be consumed again effectively restarting the job, for the job perse i would be comitting after each few writes, still your post kinda convinced me that handling the MDB in a transaction is a probably useless idea in practice, and an even worse idea if the batch job is of long duration (although thats not the case).