[Closed] Trying to access a job submited with cmdjob.exe.. Please Help

I am having a similar problem with cmdjob. The jobs do not register that they are finished and getjobs() gives a blank array or other manually submitted jobs only.

My shell command is roughly;

 shelllaunch "c:\Program Files (x86)\Autodesk\backburner\cmdjob.exe" "-jobname "01 Script Submit BLAHBLAH Bake" -jobNameAdjust -priority:49 -logPath:"c:\" -manager BLAHBLAH -port:BLAH "c:\Program Files\Autodesk\3ds MAX 2009\3dsmax.exe" -u MAXScript  "C:\Documents and Settings\BLAH\Desktop\BLAH\script work\_Rendering\BLAHBLAH.ms" "c:\1.max""

I won’t go into the variables etc. but fortunately for me I print it to the listener each time I run it so I could give you the ‘final’ version with all the switches. Every switch works but there doesn’t seem to be any documentation on why this difference between cmdjob and normal submittal exists.

There is of course hacky work-arounds like deleting all jobs and having a separate backburner manager with a separate controlling script or something. But if anyone knows what causes this issue, or if I find the solution … please let me know.

Too bad this does NOT list all jobs as the help states…

(
     manager = NetRender.GetManager()
     manager.connect #manual "manager"
     manager.queryControl #wait
     manager.SetUpdates false --the queue is now frozen 
     jobs = manager.GetJobs()
     for i = 1 to jobs.count do print (jobs[i].name)
     manager.SetUpdates true
    )

For anyone still struggling with this, I figured out an effective work-around. 3dsmaxcmd.exe allows you to submit render-jobs to backburner with the correct switches and this can be done through MAX Script as well. These jobs are then visible through Backburner getjobs in max script.

Unfortunately, the UI of MAX is not loaded while Backburner processes a simple render, so many max script functions do not work, but you can execute external commands on the server in the meantime.

This leaves you with a few options:
Either stall the render to replicate a task and load the task in the background, causing say 2 full versions of 3Ds MAX to be loaded.

Or

Load another task and allow the render to continue, finish (you can keep the render simple so that it closes max fast) … the weakness here is that Backburner now thinks the server is idle and can send another task.
With this method though, you can have a server specific control of some sort that is queried with max script, so that when you send another task to this server, it doesn’t execute the external code, just adds to say an internal queue.

Or

Determine another method to query Backburner about it’s tasks. Backburner only tells 3Ds max about MAX tasks through getjobs, and anything submitted via cmdjob is not considered a max task even if the exe is 3dsmax. There may be another way to query for jobs, say through an attached VB script.
This way you could send a non-max script task to the remote computer to control the tasks without even loading max when not neccessary. In my case, I needed max first, photoshop second and then max again & winrar so I didn’t use this option, instead I used the above option.

Or

With the MS loaded pre-render in backburner, you could disconnect the server, load the next instance of max, then reconnect the server. I haven’t investigated thoroughly if this is possible but it’s a pretty hacky work-around since it doesn’t tell you if the job is in progress, just that the server is offline.

Or

Build a basic, functional version of Backburner for your own purposes

3dsmaxcmd.exe allows you to submit render-jobs to backburner with the correct switches and this can be done through MAX Script as well. These jobs are then visible through Backburner getjobs in max script.

This sounds perfect for my use as all I need at this point is to delete a ‘Command Line Tool’ job. Which switch do I set? is it -writeJobFile?

								--===========================
								--Program Paths
									ThreedsMAXcmd = @"c:\Program Files\Autodesk\3ds MAX 2009\3dsmaxcmd.exe"
									MAXFile = SavedBakeScene + "\" "
									MSCommand = "-prerenderscript:\"" + InitializerScript + "\" "

SavedBakeScene refers to the scene that I will load with Backburner
InitializerScript refers to the script I run before the render

									RenderOuputPath		= @"C:\1.tga"
									RenderOuputX			= "512"
									RenderOuputY			= "512"
									RenderOuputFrom		= "1"
									RenderOuputTo		= "1"

General variable settings, fairly self explanatory

								RenderCMD = stringStream ""
								format "-outputname:% -width:% -height:% -start:% -end:% -submit:\"%\" -port:% -jobname:% -priority:%" RenderOuputPath RenderOuputX RenderOuputY RenderOuputFrom RenderOuputTo EdtBBip.text (spnBBport.value as string) BBJobName (spnBBPri.value as string) to:RenderCMD
								RenderCMD = RenderCMD as string

Building renderCMD into something work-able to send to BackBurner via 3dsmaxcmd.exe

								shellLaunch ("\"" + ThreedsMAXcmd + "\"") ("\"" + MAXFile + MSCommand + RenderCMD)
								print ("Executing via shellcommand; " + ("\"" + ThreedsMAXcmd + "\"") + "
" +  ("\"" + MAXFile + MSCommand + RenderCMD))

What I’m really doing
This is where I send the command to BB via 3dsmaxcmd

Didn’t feel like whittling it down too much so I figure this will be about enough, by filling in the 2 variables at the start you should be able to send your task on your own and see the outputted full command with proper syntax. I’ll be around so if you have any questions, please ask.

Thanks for the snippets. I will have to take a look tomorrow from work.

Edit: I just noticed that you are referring to 3dsmaxcmd.exe, not cmdjob.exe. Thus it shows up normally in the queue… nice!

I use the command line via hiddenDOSCommand to start VRaySpawner.exe on each of our render nodes. Actually, I parse a .cfg file that lists which servers the user wants to use and then write a command string to start a false job on BB so that those nodes will not be used for regular BB render work. It names the job according to the user. 

""C:\Program Files (x86)\Autodesk\Backburner\cmdjob.exe" -jobName jonah.hawk-VrayDR -jobNameAdjust -manager managerNameHere -priority 50 -numTasks 1 -taskName 1 -timeout 6000 -servers server1 server2 server3; -leaveInQueue -workpath "C:\Program Files\Autodesk\3ds Max design 2010" vrayspawner2010.exe"                     
    

VRaySpawner does not notify BB nor shut down when it is done contributing to DR (distributed rendering). What I need to do is to kill that job with a #postRender callback. But Command Line Tool jobs don't show up in the list.

Another approach I was taking was to use psTools to stop the BB service on each machine, start VRaySpawner.exe then have the #postRender callback reverse the process. But this runs the risk of a user firing up DR in the middle of another user's render. So I was going to get the active jobs, cross check the server list from each job against the nodes that the user wants to use for DR.

I’ll post more tomorrow when I get to work.

Yeah, 3dsmaxcmd.exe gives you the ability to control the queue from a script. The problem is it requires an instance of max to be open while the task is listed as in progress in BB.

In the end, I decided that if I was going to create a more advanced system, I would write a completely original program to manage these tasks because BB simply is lacking, although cmdjob.exe is effective in that if you create a script in say vbs and run that, you can spawn all your tasks, and the script can wait while they’re completed, this way you shouldn’t need manual max script queue control.

Here is our Vray DR/BB script. I’ve only taken out our manager name.

It checks the vray_dr.cfg file to see which servers have been selected by the user. We use Windows 7 and Max Design. You’ll need to edit some of the manual paths to match your OS/Max version.

(
   	local userName = sysinfo.username  
   	local drConfig = openfile ("C:/Users/" + userName + "/AppData/Local/Autodesk/3dsMaxDesign/2010 - 64bit/enu/plugcfg/vray_dr.cfg")
  	local allServers = #()
   	local serversChecked = #()
   	
   
   	
   	while (not (eof drConfig)) do 
   	(
   		theLine = (readLine drConfig)
   		(
   			append allServers  theLine
   		)
   	)
   	close drConfig
   
   	--the last two lines are variables, not servers, and are removed from the array
   	deleteItem allServers (allServers.count - 1) --delete the second to last item
   	deleteItem allServers (allServers.count) -- delete the last item
   	
   	
   	format "All Servers:
"
   	print allServers
   	print "

"
   	
   -- now parse the array for servers that are selected; a 1, not a 0 after their name
   
   	for i = 1 to allServers.count do 
   	(
   		theLine = allServers[i]
   		if  ((FilterString theLine " ")[2] == "1") 
   		do 
   		(
   			append serversChecked  (FilterString theLine " ")[1]
   		)
   	)
   	
   	Format "Servers Checked: 
"
   	print serversChecked
   	
   -- generate the string of servers separated by semicolons
   	serverString = ""
   	for i = 1 to serversChecked.count do 
   	(
   		serverString += serversChecked[i] as String
   		serverString += ";"
   	)
   		
   	theString = "\"C:\Program Files (x86)\Autodesk\Backburner\cmdjob.exe\" -jobName " + userName + "-VrayDR -jobNameAdjust -manager managerName -priority 50 -numTasks 10 -taskName 1 -timeout 6000 -servers " + serverString + " -leaveInQueue -workpath \"C:\Program Files\Autodesk\3ds Max design 2010\" vrayspawner2010.exe"
   
   --Fire it off quietly and print the command to the listener    
   HiddenDosCommand theString startpath:"c:\\"
   	print theString
   )

I think I’m going to go back to using psTools
[ol]
[li]use the netmanager interface to get a list of active jobs/servers[/li][li]remove only the available servers from BB[/li][li]start VRaySpawner[/li][li]register a #postRender callback that will:[list=1][/li][li]kill VRaySpawner[/li][li]Start Backburner Service again[/li][/ol]
[/list]@ senor freebie: I’m curious, what are you doing with Photoshop and WinRAR in backburner?