Create a tumbling window trigger dependency

APPLIES TO: Azure Data Factory Azure Synapse Analytics

This article provides steps to create a dependency on a tumbling window trigger. For general information about Tumbling Window triggers, see How to create tumbling window trigger.

In order to build a dependency chain and make sure that a trigger is executed only after the successful execution of another trigger within the service, use this advanced feature to create a tumbling window dependency.

For a demonstration on how to create dependent pipelines using tumbling window trigger, watch the following video:

Create a dependency in the UI

To create dependency on a trigger, select Trigger > Advanced > New, and then choose the trigger to depend on with the appropriate offset and size. Select Finish and publish the changes for the dependencies to take effect.

Tumbling window dependency properties

A tumbling window trigger with a dependency has the following properties:

{
    "name": "MyTriggerName",
    "properties": {
        "type": "TumblingWindowTrigger",
        "runtimeState": <<Started/Stopped/Disabled - readonly>>,
        "typeProperties": {
            "frequency": <<Minute/Hour>>,
            "interval": <<int>>,
            "startTime": <<datetime>>,
            "endTime": <<datetime – optional>>,
            "delay": <<timespan – optional>>,
            "maxConcurrency": <<int>> (required, max allowed: 50),
            "retryPolicy": {
                "count": <<int - optional, default: 0>>,
                "intervalInSeconds": <<int>>,
            },
            "dependsOn": [
                {
                    "type": "TumblingWindowTriggerDependencyReference",
                    "size": <<timespan – optional>>,
                    "offset": <<timespan – optional>>,
                    "referenceTrigger": {
                        "referenceName": "MyTumblingWindowDependency1",
                        "type": "TriggerReference"
                    }
                },
                {
                    "type": "SelfDependencyTumblingWindowTriggerReference",
                    "size": <<timespan – optional>>,
                    "offset": <<timespan>>
                }
            ]
        }
    }
}

The following table provides the list of attributes needed to define a Tumbling Window dependency.

Property Name	Description	Type	Required
type	All the existing tumbling window triggers are displayed in this drop down. Choose the trigger to take dependency on.	TumblingWindowTriggerDependencyReference or SelfDependencyTumblingWindowTriggerReference	Yes
offset	Offset of the dependency trigger. Provide a value in time span format and both negative and positive offsets are allowed. This property is mandatory if the trigger is depending on itself and in all other cases it is optional. Self-dependency should always be a negative offset. If no value specified, the window is the same as the trigger itself.	Timespan (hh:mm:ss)	Self-Dependency: Yes Other: No
size	Size of the dependency tumbling window. Provide a positive timespan value. This property is optional.	Timespan (hh:mm:ss)	No

Note

A tumbling window trigger can depend on a maximum of five other triggers.

Tumbling window self-dependency properties

In scenarios where the trigger shouldn't proceed to the next window until the preceding window is successfully completed, build a self-dependency. A self-dependency trigger that's dependent on the success of earlier runs of itself within the preceding hour will have the properties indicated in the following code.

Note

If your triggered pipeline relies on the output of pipelines in previously triggered windows, we recommend using only tumbling window trigger self-dependency. To limit parallel trigger runs, set the maximimum trigger concurrency.

{
    "name": "DemoSelfDependency",
    "properties": {
        "runtimeState": "Started",
        "pipeline": {
            "pipelineReference": {
                "referenceName": "Demo",
                "type": "PipelineReference"
            }
        },
        "type": "TumblingWindowTrigger",
        "typeProperties": {
            "frequency": "Hour",
            "interval": 1,
            "startTime": "2018-10-04T00:00:00Z",
            "delay": "00:01:00",
            "maxConcurrency": 50,
            "retryPolicy": {
                "intervalInSeconds": 30
            },
            "dependsOn": [
                {
                    "type": "SelfDependencyTumblingWindowTriggerReference",
                    "size": "01:00:00",
                    "offset": "-01:00:00"
                }
            ]
        }
    }
}

Usage scenarios and examples

Below are illustrations of scenarios and usage of tumbling window dependency properties.

Dependency offset

Dependency size

Self-dependency

Dependency on another tumbling window trigger

A daily telemetry processing job depending on another daily job aggregating the last seven days output and generates seven day rolling window streams:

Dependency on itself

A daily job with no gaps in the output streams of the job:

Monitor dependencies

You can monitor the dependency chain and the corresponding windows from the trigger run monitoring page. Navigate to Monitoring > Trigger Runs. If a Tumbling Window trigger has dependencies, Trigger Name will bear a hyperlink to dependency monitoring view.

Click through the trigger name to view trigger dependencies. Right-hand panel shows detailed trigger run information, such as RunID, window time, status, and so on.

You can see the status of the dependencies, and windows for each dependent trigger. If one of the dependencies triggers fails, you must successfully rerun it in order for the dependent trigger to run.

A tumbling window trigger will wait on dependencies for seven days before timing out. After seven days, the trigger run will fail.

Note

A tumbling window trigger cannot be cancelled while it is in the Waiting on dependency state. The dependent activity must finish before the tumbling window trigger can be cancelled. This is by design to ensure dependent activities can complete once started, and helps reduce the likelihood of unexpected results.

For a more visual to view the trigger dependency schedule, select the Gantt view.

Transparent boxes show the dependency windows for each down stream-dependent trigger, while solid colored boxes above show individual window runs. Here are some tips for interpreting the Gantt chart view:

• Transparent box renders blue when dependent windows are in pending or running state
• After all windows succeeds for a dependent trigger, the transparent box will turn green
• Transparent box renders red when some dependent window fails. Look for a solid red box to identify the failure window run

To rerun a window in Gantt chart view, select the solid color box for the window, and an action panel will pop up with details and rerun options

Next steps

• Review How to create a tumbling window trigger