Background operations (IRPCBackgroundOperationsAdmin)

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Monitors the vault's background work: refreshes of external object types and external locations, and the queue of asynchronous tasks.

Use this interface to start, stop and query background operations.

Overview

M-Files Admin uses this service to show and start background refreshes and to list the vault's asynchronous tasks. Every method needs a vault session and the vault right change_metadata_structure (part of full control); a normal user gets "Access denied.". The exception is CheckAndRegisterMultiServerResponsibility, which is for an M-Files component.

Background operations are identified by a BackgroundOperationID: type and id. M-Files Admin uses BACKGROUND_OPERATION_TYPE_REFRESH_EXTERNAL_OBJECT_TYPE with the object type ID and BACKGROUND_OPERATION_TYPE_REFRESH_EXTERNAL_LOCATION with the external location ID. Start one with StartBackgroundOperation, then follow it with GetBackgroundOperationStatus or block with WaitForBackgroundOperationCompletion.

Asynchronous tasks (AsyncTask) are work items that the vault queues and runs later, for example permission updates after a change (ACLPseudoUserPropagation, RefreshObjectsACL) or preview file generation (GenerateViewerFiles). Task IDs grow over time. Read them with GetAsyncTasksRange or GetAsyncTask, and wait for them with WaitForAsyncTaskCompletion.

To wait until the vault has finished all background work queued so far (for example in a test, after a change that triggers permission updates):

1. QueueAndGetLatestAsyncTask; stop if is_available is false.
2. WaitForAsyncTaskCompletion with async_tasks = [that task's ID] and tasks_request = { async_task_start: the same ID, max_count: 50, latest: true, filters: 3 (queued or running) }.
3. Repeat step 2 with the IDs in tasks_response.async_tasks until it is empty.

Methods