So, last week a task came across to send sales executives their target reports on Friday at 5.00 PM.
You might have encountered such tasks where you must schedule a task to run at a specific time.
So in this blog, I will show you how to schedule a task in Node.js using node-cron package.
Prerequisites
Basic knowledge of JavaScript
Basic knowledge of npm
Basic knowledge of Node.js and Express.js
Lets break down the task into smaller steps.
Create a new Node.js project
Install express and node-cron package
Create a src folder and create a new file index.js inside it
Create a new route to test the functionality
Schedule the task to run the functionality
Step 1: Create a new Node.js project
cd node-cron-example
npm init -y
Step 2: Install express and node-cron package
Step 3: Create a src folder and create a new file index.js inside it
cd src
touch index.js
For windows users, you can use type nul > index.js to create a new file.
Step 4: Create a new route to test the functionality
const express = require(‘express‘);
const app = express();
app.get(‘/send-target-reports‘, (req, res) => {
console.log(‘Sending target reports to sales executives‘);
res.send(‘Target reports sent successfully‘);
});
app.listen(3000, () => {
console.log(‘Server is running on port 3000‘);
});
Verify the router by opening route http://localhost:3000/send-target-reports in your browser.
Step 5: Schedule the task to run the functionality
const express = require(‘express‘)
const app = express()
const cron = require(‘node-cron‘)
const generateTargetReports = () => {
console.log(‘Generating target reports‘)
console.log(‘Target reports generated successfully‘)
console.log(‘Sending target reports to sales executives‘)
console.log(‘Target reports sent successfully‘)
}
app.get(‘/send-target-reports‘, (req, res) => {
console.log(‘Sending target reports to sales executives‘)
res.send(‘Target reports sent successfully‘)
})
app.listen(3000, () => {
console.log(‘Server is running on port 3000‘)
})
cron.schedule(‘0 17 * * 5‘, generateTargetReports)
In the above code, we have scheduled the task to run on Friday at 5.00 PM using cron.schedule(‘0 17 * * 5’, generateTargetReports). The first parameter is the time when the task should run and the second parameter is the function that should run at that time.
Break down of cronjob schedule
0 stands for minutes
17 stands for hours ie 5.00 PM
* stands for any day of the month
* stands for any month
5 stands for Friday
Additional Resource
You can find more about the cronjob schedule here
Conclusion
That’s it. You have successfully scheduled a task to run on a specific time in Node.js using node-cron package. I hope you find this blog helpful. If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments below or contact me on Twitter @thesohailjafri
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