How to optimize a recursive service

[aiGreek]

Greetings.

I'm trying to build a service to call the BrowseGroups service from the root of a channel and then recursively call it on all of its subgroups (if they're not a System group) until they've all been visited and then return them in an InfoTable.

So, for example, I'd call the service on "HiProfile_LBR" and it would then call itself on "HiProfile_LBR.HiProfile" and so on... 

(I collapsed the groups, but the channel in the example has more levels than what's shown in the image.)

This is the code I've written at the moment:

var query = {
  "filters": {
      "type": "EQ",
      "fieldName": "IsSystemGroup",
      "value": "true"
  }
};
var tempTable, unionParams, groupTable;

var newField = new Object();
newField.name = 'Color';
newField.baseType = 'STRING';

groupTable =  Things[indConnector].BrowseGroups({
	filter: undefined /* STRING */,
	path: path /* STRING */
});
groupTable.AddField(newField);

//-------------------------------------------------------

groupTable = Resources["InfoTableFunctions"].DeleteQuery({
	t: groupTable /* INFOTABLE */,
	query: query /* QUERY */
});

recBrowse(indConnector, groupTable);
 
function recBrowse(indConnector, groupTable){
    
    /*let debugJSON;*/
	let tableLength = groupTable.rows.length;
	for (let x=0; x < tableLength; x++) {
	    let row = groupTable.rows[x];
	    if(row.Color != "Black"){
	    	row.Color = "Black";
            if(row.HasNonSystemSubGroups){
               	tempTable = Things[indConnector].BrowseGroups({
					filter: undefined /* STRING */,
					path: row.FullPath /* STRING */
				});
                tempTable.AddField(newField);
				
 	        	unionParams = {
					t1: groupTable // INFOTABLE,
					t2: tempTable // INFOTABLE                  
              	};
	        	tempTable = Resources["InfoTableFunctions"].Union(unionParams);   
				
                recBrowse(indConnector, tempTable);
            }
	    }
	}
}

var result = tempTable;

The service unfortunately times out for complex trees (such as the one in the image above) and I have no idea on how to solve this issue. Besides increasing the service time out (to a value at the moment I don't know), how can I solve the issue? How would you optimize my code?

Thank you.

[slangley]

Hi @aiGreek.

Have you checked the logs located in \ThingworxStorage\logs for possible errors?  If it is actually timing out, how much data are you trying to process?

Regards.

--Sharon

[aiGreek]

Hi @slangley,

I can't check the log files as the platform is hosted on the PTC Cloud. I did check the ScriptLog from the Monitoring interface and I can confirm it's timing out, as I get this message: Execution of Script terminated after : 42 seconds. Timeout configured for 30 seconds.

The data I'm trying to process at the moment is this channel/device tree on a Kepware (note that PLM2/3/4 and Controller_H2/3/4 have the same underlying structure as PLM1/Controller_H1): 

[slangley]

Hi @aiGreek.

Since this is a hosted implementation and you don't have access to the logs, it's best to open a case.  We can then engage with the Cloud team for requesting them and any other troubleshooting that may be needed.

Please let me know if you would like me to open a case on your behalf.

Regards.

--Sharon

[aiGreek · Accepted solution]

Hi @slangley,

I've actually been able to find a work around for the issue. Since the service is meant to run from a mashup, I've changed the code so that the service is restarted via a validator rather than from the code itself. So it shouldn't time out as it restarts through a new "instance".

I don't think a ticket is needed for this case, but thanks anyway.

Regards.

[slangley]

Hi @aiGreek.

Glad you found a workaround.  If you're running Manufacturing Apps, there is a recommendation to increase the timeout setting.  If you are interested, I can have the Cloud team check this setting.  You will need to provide the url of the instance (under private message).

 Regards.

--Sharon

[aiGreek]

Hi @slangley,

thanks for the suggestion. Does that reccomendation also apply to TWx 8.5 which is what we're running?

I'll have a talk with my team and if it's needed I'll open the request to increase the timeout on the esupport platform. Thanks anyway.

[slangley]

Hi @aiGreek.

Yes, that setting also applies to 8.5.  Here is a link to the installation instructions with that information (step 3 under "Update the Script Timeout Setting").

Regards.

--Sharon

[slangley]

Hi @aiGreek.

If you're satisfied with the workaround you found, please mark your post as the Accepted Solution for the benefit of others in the community.

Regards.

--Sharon