Command Queue
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Created by Patrick Schiefer, Described by Patrick Schiefer
Abstract
The goal of this pattern is to control the flow of multiple processes
Problem
Sometimes its neccassary to perform multiple processes in Business Central, for example you want to post more than one order or before you post an Order you also have to post a purchase order this often leads to spaghetti code with big if else structures, which is not easy to read
Description
The pattern is ideal for executing several independent processes in succession. Since the processes are independent, each process must take care of error handling itself. The command queue should not be used to control a single process. Also it is important to know that the queue is just in the memory so if the service gets restarted the queue is gone and has to be rebuilt.
The Pattern
To structure this problem we can use the “Command Queue” pattern. The pattern consist of two main parts the queue and the command interface
First the command interface, it only has one procedure to execute the command
interface ICommand
{
procedure Execute()
}
And then the Queue which consist of two codeunits, the Queue itself and a Queue Entry
codeunit 50100 "Queue"
{
procedure Push(var value: Interface ICommand)
var
Entry: Codeunit QueueEntry;
begin
Entry.SetValue(value);
if count = 0 then begin
first := Entry;
last := Entry;
end
else begin
last.SetNextEntry(Entry);
last := Entry;
end;
count += 1;
end;
procedure Pop() value: Interface ICommand
begin
if count > 0 then begin
value := first.GetValue();
first := first.GetNextEntry();
count -= 1;
end
else
Error('The Queue is empty!');
end;
procedure GetSize(): Integer
begin
exit(count);
end;
var
first: Codeunit QueueEntry;
last: Codeunit QueueEntry;
count: Integer;
}
codeunit 50102 "QueueEntry"
{
procedure SetValue(var v: Interface ICommand)
begin
value := v;
end;
procedure GetValue(): Interface ICommand
begin
exit(value);
end;
procedure GetNextEntry(): Codeunit QueueEntry
begin
exit(NextEntry);
end;
procedure SetNextEntry(var Entry: Codeunit QueueEntry)
begin
NextEntry := Entry;
end;
var
value: Interface ICommand;
NextEntry: Codeunit QueueEntry;
}
As we see the queue entry stores a command, since the command is an interface we can hide each business logic behind.
Benefits
The logical flow is very easy to adopt, it is even possible to add entries to the queue while it is processed.
Example
In this short example I show you how to post multiple sales orders and display message after finishing the last post.
We have two commands in this example, the “SalesOrderPostCommander” is used to post a sales order and the “MessageCommander” displays a message.
codeunit 50104 "SalesOrderPostCommander" implements ICommand
{
procedure SetSalesOrderNumber(value : Code[20])
begin
No := value;
end;
procedure Execute()
begin
// TODO Post Sales Header
end;
var
No : Code[20];
}
codeunit 50103 "MessageCommander" implements ICommand
{
procedure SetText(value: Text)
begin
t := value;
end;
procedure Execute()
begin
Message(t);
end;
var
t: Text;
}
Using this two codeunits we can now implement a patch posting
codeunit 50105 PatchPostQueue
{
procedure PatchPost()
begin
FilterSalesOrdersToPost();
if not SalesOrders.Findset(false) then
exit(); // Nothing to post
repeat
AddSalesOrderToQueue(SalesOrder."No.");
until SalesOrders.Next() = 0;
AddMessageToQueue('Posting Complete');
ExecuteQueue();
end;
local procedure ExecuteQueue()
var
object : interface "ICommand";
begin
repeat
object := queue.Pop();
object.Execute();
until queue.GetSize() = 0;
end;
local procedure FilterSalesOrdersToPost()
begin
// Filter Sales Orders here
end;
local procedure AddMessageToQueue(message : Text)
var
t: Codeunit MessageCommander;
object: Interface ICommand;
begin
t.SetText(message);
object := t;
queue.Push(object);
end;
local procedure AddSalesOrderToQueue(No : Text)
var
SaleOrderCommander: Codeunit SalesOrderPostCommander;
object: Interface ICommand;
begin
SaleOrderCommander.SetSalesOrderNumber(No);
object := SaleOrderCommander;
queue.Push(object);
end;
var
SalesOrders : Record "Sales Header";
queue: Codeunit Queue;
}
References
Detailed Explanation of the pattern
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