SPJobDefinition Quirks For Developers

I wanted to write a quick heads up on a couple quirks relating to the SPJobDefinition and wiring up Timer Jobs (may be relevant for deployments where the Timer Jobs are modified). We are building our solutions on Windows 2003 Server with MOSS 2007.

To debug SPJobDefinitions attach VS debugger to OWSTIMER.exe process after following install instructions below.

OWSTIMER is caching the SPJobDefinition somewhere and is tricking Visual Studio into thinking we are actually debugging the most recent compiled version when we are debugging the last loaded version.

To fix this, kill the OWSTIMER process in process explorer (or restart the Windows Sharepoint Services Timer by typing the following at the command prompt: net stop sptimerv3 & net start sptimerv3) and then refresh the portal you are performing development on (this will force a restart of OWSTIMER.EXE and clear the cache).

Between tests ensure you completely remove the SharePoint feature (deactivate + uninstall) from Sharepoint (see below). Then kill the OWSTIMER process, iisreset, rebuild the solution and reinstall / activate the solution again (see below).

Here are a couple batch files convenient for removing / installing the jobs (where ProvisioningVX is the name of the feature you are trying to install):

Uninstall Batch File

@ECHO OFF

set SPAdminTool=%CommonProgramFiles%\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\BIN\stsadm.exe
set TargetUrl=http://servername/sites/name

echo "Deactivating Feature"
"%SPAdminTool%" -o deactivatefeature -name ProvisioningVX -url %TargetUrl% -force

echo "Uninstalling Feature"
"%SPAdminTool%" -o uninstallfeature -name ProvisioningVX -force

iisreset

PAUSE

Installing and activating the feature

@ECHO OFF

set SPAdminTool=%CommonProgramFiles%\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\BIN\stsadm.exe
set TargetUrl=http://servername/sites/name

echo "installing feature"
"%SPAdminTool%" -o installfeature -name ProvisioningVX -force

echo "activating feature"
"%SPAdminTool%" -o activatefeature -name ProvisioningVX -url %TargetUrl% -force

iisreset

PAUSE