What is the best practice for stopping an ongoing job in Orchestrator?

The best practice for stopping an ongoing job in Orchestrator involves canceling the job and using a Should Stop activity. This approach allows for a controlled shutdown of the automation process. When canceling a job, it is important to ensure that the robot can finish its current transaction or activity gracefully, which minimizes the risk of leaving operations in an inconsistent state or corrupting data.

Using a Should Stop activity effectively integrates the cancellation process into the workflow itself. This activity provides the robot with the ability to periodically check if it should continue processing or stop. It enhances manageability and stability in automation, giving developers a proactive method to handle job cancellations.

This method stands out over simply letting a job stop on its own, as that could lead to unexpected behaviors if the job is in the middle of a critical operation. Terminating a job immediately can lead to loss of progress or data inconsistencies since the robot does not have a chance to complete its current task. Similarly, relying solely on timeout settings may not always be suitable depending on the nature of the tasks being performed, as some jobs may require more time to complete than initially anticipated.