Time-based triggers

The Time: Schedule trigger lets you trigger releases based on a time schedule that you define. You can trigger releases based on a:

Fixed-rate interval
Cron expression

Add a time trigger to a template

To create a Time: Schedule trigger:

Add a trigger to the template, as described in Create a release trigger.
Select the type of schedule from the Schedule type list:
- REPEAT: A repeatable interval in seconds
- CRON: A cron expression
In the Schedule box, type the interval length in seconds or the cron expression.
Save the trigger.

Output properties

The output of the trigger is a Trigger Time, which is the timestamp of the last trigger activation in ISO-8601 format.

Triggering on a cron expression

The cron pattern is a list of six fields representing second, minute, hour, day, month, and weekday. Each are separated by a single space. Month and weekday names can be given as the first three letters of the English names.

Field	Allowed values	Special characters
Second	0-59	`, - * /`
Minute	0-59	`, - * /`
Hours	0-23	`, - * /`
Day	1-31	`, - * ?`
Month	1-12 or JAN-DEC	`, - * /`
Day of the week	1-7 or SUN-SAT	`, - * ?`

Time zone for cron jobs

The default time zone for cron jobs is Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). To set a different time zone:

Open XL_RELEASE_SERVER_HOME/conf/reference.conf, or create the file if it does not exist.
Set the akka.quartz.defaultTimezone property to the desired time zone. For example, to use Eastern Standard Time, set:
```
akka.quartz {
    defaultTimezone = EST
}
```
Save the file and restart Release.

Special characters

Character	Meaning
`*`	Select all values within a field. For example, `*` in the minute field means “every minute”.
`?`	Allowed for the day and day of week fields. It is used to specify “no specific value”. This is useful when you need to specify something in one of the two fields, but not the other.
`-`	Used to specify ranges. For example, `9-12` in the hour field means “the hours 9, 10, 11 and 12”.
`,`	Used to specify additional values. For example, `MON,WED,FRI` in the Day of week field means “the days Monday, Wednesday, and Friday”.
`/`	Used to specify increments. For example, `0/15` in the seconds field means “the seconds 0, 15, 30, and 45”, and `10/15` in the seconds field means “the seconds 10, 25, 40, and 55”.
’#’	Used to specify “the nth” weekday of the month. For example, `MON#1` means “the first Monday of the month”

Sample patterns

0 0 * * * * = the top of every hour of every day.
*/10 * * * * * = every ten seconds.
0 0 8-10 * * * = 8, 9 and 10 o’clock of every day.
0 0/30 8-10 * * * = 8:00, 8:30, 9:00, 9:30, and 10:00 every day.
0 0 9-17 * * MON-FRI = on the hour nine-to-five weekdays
0 0 0 25 12 ? = every Christmas Day at midnight
0 0 0 ? * MON#1 = every first Monday of the month

Manage triggers

The Triggers management page displays an actionable list of all triggers that you have permissions to view and manage, and provides the entry point for creating new triggers. For details, see Triggers.