MelisCron

Back-office scheduled-task manager: define CLI or HTTP tasks with flexible schedules, run them concurrently via a per-minute CLI runner, and inspect full run history. Package melisplatform/melis-cron.

Purpose

MelisCron replaces hand-written crontab lines with a managed list of tasks defined in the back-office. Each task points at a CLI command or an HTTP URL and declares when to run (every N minutes/hours/days, hourly, daily, weekly, or monthly). Every execution is recorded in a history table with state, duration and captured output. Actual execution requires one OS-level crontab entry that calls the melis:cronexec runner every minute; without it, tasks are defined but never fire.

Enable it

Add to config/melis.module.load.php:

return [
    'MelisCron',
];

Requires MelisCore (provided by the platform; not declared in composer.json). Composer dependencies: PHP ^8.1|^8.3, ext-curl, composer/composer ^2.9.6, laminas/laminas-cli ^1.5.

Key services

Service alias	Role
MelisCronService	Task and history CRUD, scheduling helpers, job queue management

MelisCronService API

$cron = $sm->get('MelisCronService');

// Active tasks
$cron->getActiveTasks();

// DataTable feeds
$cron->getList(...);
$cron->getHistoryList($cronId, $startDate, $endDate, ...);

// Task CRUD (fires events)
$cron->saveItem($data, $id);
$cron->deleteItem($id);

// Job queue
$cron->addJob($cronId, $forceRun);       // inserts a 'pending' row in melis_cron_history
$cron->getPendingJobs();
$cron->updateProcessingJob($jobId);      // claims job: pending → processing
$cron->finishJob($jobId, $data);         // writes state/duration/logs/status

// Helpers
$cron->getDateLastRunByCron($cronId);                      // last run DateTime
$cron->getWordingScheduleType($type, $optionsJson);        // human-readable schedule label

Events fired: cron_service_get_list_start, meliscron_service_get_list_end, meliscron_service_get_listhistory_end, meliscron_service_save_item_start/_end, meliscron_service_delete_item_start/_end.

Backoffice

Accessible at Left menu → Tools → Cron (fa fa-clock-o), melisKey cron_tool.

Area	Route / action
Task list (DataTable)	MelisCron/List/render-tool
Task properties form	MelisCron/Properties/render-properties-form
Run history page	MelisCron/History/render-history-page
Logs popup	MelisCron/History/tool-modal-logs-content
HTTP runner trigger	GET /melis/MelisCron/Cron/execute

Database tables

Table	Holds
melis_cron	Task definitions: cron_id, cron_name, cron_active, cron_target, cron_type (ENUM CLI|HTTP), cron_schedule_type (ENUM every|hourly|daily|weekly|monthly), cron_schedule_options (JSON)
melis_cron_history	Run records: id, cron_id, state (ENUM pending|processing|success|error), date_add, rerun, date_run, duration, logs, status

cron_schedule_options JSON shapes

cron_schedule_type	JSON structure
every	{ "everyItem": "minutes|hours|days", "everyValue": N }
hourly	{ "hourlyValue": MM }
daily	{ "dailyHour": HH, "dailyMinute": MM }
weekly	{ "weeklyDays": [1..7], "atHour": HH, "atMinute": MM } (ISO weekday, Mon=1)
monthly	{ "monthlyDay": D, "atHour": HH, "atMinute": MM }

Runner setup

The engine is MelisCron\Command\ExecCommand, registered with laminas-cli as melis:cronexec. Add one line to the server crontab:

* * * * * cd /path/to/project && php vendor/bin/laminas melis:cronexec --env=production >/dev/null 2>&1

Each tick runs two phases:

1. scheduleTasks() — evaluates each active task's schedule against the current time; calls addJob() for any task that is due.
2. runJobs() — claims each pending job (pending → processing) then executes it inside a PHP Fiber for concurrency:
   • HTTP — curl GET of cron_target; records HTTP status and response body.
   • CLI — exec() of cron_target; non-zero exit code sets state to error.

An HTTP fallback trigger is available at /melis/MelisCron/Cron/execute for environments where a CLI crontab is unavailable.

Scheduling resolution is one minute (the tick cadence).

Key files

Concern	Path
Runner command	vendor/melisplatform/melis-cron/src/Command/ExecCommand.php
Runner factory	vendor/melisplatform/melis-cron/src/Command/ExecCommandFactory.php
Cron service	vendor/melisplatform/melis-cron/src/Service/CronService.php
Task table model	vendor/melisplatform/melis-cron/src/Model/Tables/MelisCronTable.php
History table model	vendor/melisplatform/melis-cron/src/Model/Tables/MelisCronHistoryTable.php
Save/delete listeners	vendor/melisplatform/melis-cron/src/Listener/SavePropertiesListener.php, DeleteListener.php
Module config	vendor/melisplatform/melis-cron/config/module.config.php
Left-menu wiring	vendor/melisplatform/melis-cron/config/app.toolstree.php
History page wiring	vendor/melisplatform/melis-cron/config/app.interface.php
DataTables config	vendor/melisplatform/melis-cron/config/app.tools.php
DB install script	vendor/melisplatform/melis-cron/install/dbdeploy/24110301_meliscron_install.sql

See also: MelisCore