.. _pgagent-steps:


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`pgAgent Steps`:index:
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Each Job consists of a number of steps, each of which may be an SQL script,
or an operating system batch/shell script. Each step in a given job is run in 
turn, in alphanumeric name order.

Steps may be added to a job through the job properties dialogue, or added
as a sub-object. The *Properties* tab of the main pgAdmin window will display 
details of the selected step, and the *Statistics* tab will display details
of each run of the step, including and output or errors from the script.

.. image:: images/pgagent-stepstats.png

Each step consists of the details shown on the screenshot below, most of
which are self-explanatory. If *Kind* is set to SQL, then it goes without
saying that a database against which to run the script must be selected. If 
set to *Batch*, the database/connection string should be left blank. 
The *On Error* option controls how failure of this step will affect the
status of the overall job.

.. image:: images/pgagent-stepdetails.png

The *Definition* tab contains a single text box into which the step
script should be entered. For SQL steps, this should be a series of one or more
SQL statements. For batch jobs, when running on a Windows server, standard
batch file syntax must be used, and when running on a *nix server, any shell
script may be used, provided that a suitable interpreter is specified on the
first line (e.g. *#!/bin/sh*).

