Custom Job Steps Skill

This skill guides you through creating new custom job steps for Salesforce B2C Commerce batch processing.

Running an existing job? If you need to execute jobs or import site archives via CLI, use the

b2c-cli:b2c-job

skill instead.

When to Use

• Creating a new scheduled job for batch processing
• Building a data import job (customers, products, orders)
• Building a data export job (reports, feeds, sync)
• Implementing data sync between systems
• Creating cleanup or maintenance tasks

Overview

Custom job steps allow you to execute custom business logic as part of B2C Commerce jobs. There are two execution models:

File Structure

my_cartridge/
├── cartridge/
│   ├── scripts/
│   │   └── steps/
│   │       ├── myTaskStep.js       # Task-oriented script
│   │       └── myChunkStep.js      # Chunk-oriented script
│   └── my_cartridge.properties
└── steptypes.json                  # Step type definitions (at cartridge ROOT)

Important: The

steptypes.json

cartridge/

steptypes.json

Step Type Definition (steptypes.json)

{
    "step-types": {
        "script-module-step": [
            {
                "@type-id": "custom.MyTaskStep",
                "@supports-parallel-execution": "false",
                "@supports-site-context": "true",
                "@supports-organization-context": "false",
                "description": "My custom task step",
                "module": "my_cartridge/cartridge/scripts/steps/myTaskStep.js",
                "function": "execute",
                "timeout-in-seconds": 900,
                "parameters": {
                    "parameter": [
                        {
                            "@name": "InputFile",
                            "@type": "string",
                            "@required": "true",
                            "description": "Path to input file"
                        },
                        {
                            "@name": "Enabled",
                            "@type": "boolean",
                            "@required": "false",
                            "default-value": "true",
                            "description": "Enable processing"
                        }
                    ]
                },
                "status-codes": {
                    "status": [
                        {
                            "@code": "OK",
                            "description": "Step completed successfully"
                        },
                        {
                            "@code": "ERROR",
                            "description": "Step failed"
                        },
                        {
                            "@code": "NO_DATA",
                            "description": "No data to process"
                        }
                    ]
                }
            }
        ],
        "chunk-script-module-step": [
            {
                "@type-id": "custom.MyChunkStep",
                "@supports-parallel-execution": "true",
                "@supports-site-context": "true",
                "@supports-organization-context": "false",
                "description": "Bulk data processing step",
                "module": "my_cartridge/cartridge/scripts/steps/myChunkStep.js",
                "before-step-function": "beforeStep",
                "read-function": "read",
                "process-function": "process",
                "write-function": "write",
                "after-step-function": "afterStep",
                "total-count-function": "getTotalCount",
                "chunk-size": 100,
                "transactional": "false",
                "timeout-in-seconds": 1800,
                "parameters": {
                    "parameter": [
                        {
                            "@name": "CategoryId",
                            "@type": "string",
                            "@required": "true"
                        }
                    ]
                }
            }
        ]
    }
}

Task-Oriented Steps

Use for single operations like FTP transfers, file generation, or import/export.

Script (scripts/steps/myTaskStep.js)

'use strict';

var Status = require('dw/system/Status');
var Logger = require('dw/system/Logger');

/**
 * Execute the task step
 * @param {Object} parameters - Job step parameters
 * @param {dw.job.JobStepExecution} stepExecution - Step execution context
 * @returns {dw.system.Status} Execution status
 */
exports.execute = function (parameters, stepExecution) {
    var log = Logger.getLogger('job', 'MyTaskStep');

    try {
        var inputFile = parameters.InputFile;
        var enabled = parameters.Enabled;

        if (!enabled) {
            log.info('Step disabled, skipping');
            return new Status(Status.OK, 'SKIP', 'Step disabled');
        }

        // Your business logic here
        log.info('Processing file: ' + inputFile);

        // Return success
        return new Status(Status.OK);

    } catch (e) {
        log.error('Step failed: ' + e.message);
        return new Status(Status.ERROR, 'ERROR', e.message);
    }
};

Status Codes

// Success
return new Status(Status.OK);
return new Status(Status.OK, 'CUSTOM_CODE', 'Custom message');

// Error
return new Status(Status.ERROR);
return new Status(Status.ERROR, null, 'Error message');

Important: Custom status codes work only with OK status. If you use a custom code with ERROR status, it is replaced with ERROR. Custom status codes cannot contain commas, wildcards, leading/trailing whitespace, or exceed 100 characters.

Chunk-Oriented Steps

Use for bulk processing of countable data (products, orders, customers).

Important: You cannot define custom exit status for chunk-oriented steps. Chunk modules always finish with either OK or ERROR.

Required Functions

read()

process(item)

write(items)

Optional Functions

beforeStep()

afterStep(success)

getTotalCount()

beforeChunk()

afterChunk()

Script (scripts/steps/myChunkStep.js)

'use strict';

var ProductMgr = require('dw/catalog/ProductMgr');
var Transaction = require('dw/system/Transaction');
var Logger = require('dw/system/Logger');
var File = require('dw/io/File');
var FileWriter = require('dw/io/FileWriter');

var log = Logger.getLogger('job', 'MyChunkStep');
var products;
var fileWriter;

/**
 * Initialize before processing
 */
exports.beforeStep = function (parameters, stepExecution) {
    log.info('Starting chunk processing');

    // Open resources
    var outputFile = new File(File.IMPEX + '/export/products.csv');
    fileWriter = new FileWriter(outputFile);
    fileWriter.writeLine('ID,Name,Price');

    // Query products
    products = ProductMgr.queryAllSiteProducts();
};

/**
 * Get total count for progress tracking
 */
exports.getTotalCount = function (parameters, stepExecution) {
    return products.count;
};

/**
 * Read next item
 * Return nothing to signal end of data
 */
exports.read = function (parameters, stepExecution) {
    if (products.hasNext()) {
        return products.next();
    }
    // Return nothing = end of data
};

/**
 * Process single item
 * Return nothing to filter out item
 */
exports.process = function (product, parameters, stepExecution) {
    // Filter: skip offline products
    if (!product.online) {
        return;  // Filtered out
    }

    // Transform
    return {
        id: product.ID,
        name: product.name,
        price: product.priceModel.price.value
    };
};

/**
 * Write chunk of processed items
 */
exports.write = function (items, parameters, stepExecution) {
    for (var i = 0; i < items.size(); i++) {
        var item = items.get(i);
        fileWriter.writeLine(item.id + ',' + item.name + ',' + item.price);
    }
};

/**
 * Cleanup after all chunks
 */
exports.afterStep = function (success, parameters, stepExecution) {
    // Close resources
    if (fileWriter) {
        fileWriter.close();
    }
    if (products) {
        products.close();
    }

    if (success) {
        log.info('Chunk processing completed successfully');
    } else {
        log.error('Chunk processing failed');
    }
};

Parameter Types

string

"my-value"

boolean

true

long

12345

double

123.45

datetime-string

"2024-01-15T10:30:00Z"

date-string

"2024-01-15"

time-string

"10:30:00"

Parameter Validation Attributes

@trim

true

@required

true

@target-type

long

date

date

pattern

min-length

max-length

min-value

max-value

enum-values

Configuration Options

steptypes.json Attributes

@type-id

custom.

@supports-parallel-execution

true

@supports-site-context

true

@supports-organization-context

true

module

function

timeout-in-seconds

transactional

false

chunk-size

Context Constraints:

@supports-site-context

@supports-organization-context

true

false

true

false

Best Practices

1. Use chunk-oriented for bulk data - better progress tracking and resumability
2. Close resources in

   afterStep()

   - queries, files, connections
3. Set explicit timeouts - default may be too short
4. Log progress - helps debugging
5. Handle errors gracefully - return proper Status objects
6. Don't rely on transactional=true - use

   Transaction.wrap()

   for control

Related Skills

• b2c-cli:b2c-job

  - For running existing jobs and importing site archives via CLI

• b2c:b2c-webservices

  - When job steps need to call external HTTP services or APIs, use the webservices skill for service configuration and HTTP client patterns

Detailed Reference

• Task-Oriented Steps - Full task step patterns
• Chunk-Oriented Steps - Full chunk step patterns
• steptypes.json Reference - Complete schema