Checking the Status of the Query Activity using AsyncActivityStatus

Question

I am getting a timeout when trying to retrieve the status of a Query Activity. I have followed the SOAP example here: http://help.exacttarget.com/en-US/technical_library/web_service_guide/technical_articles/performing_a_query_activity_using_the_soap_web_service_api/#section_5

Here is an example of my SOAP call. I am using the TaskID returned by the API after starting the query. My timeout is set to 90 seconds.

<ns1:Body>
  <ns0:RetrieveRequestMsg>
     <ns0:RetrieveRequest>
        <ns0:ObjectType>AsyncActivityStatus</ns0:ObjectType>
        <ns0:Properties>Status</ns0:Properties>
        <ns0:Properties>StatusMessage</ns0:Properties>
        <ns0:Properties>TaskID</ns0:Properties>
        <ns0:Filter xsi:type="ns0:SimpleFilterPart">
           <ns0:Property>TaskID</ns0:Property>
           <ns0:SimpleOperator>equals</ns0:SimpleOperator>
           <ns0:Value>13646734</ns0:Value>
        </ns0:Filter>
     </ns0:RetrieveRequest>
  </ns0:RetrieveRequestMsg>

For reference here is the response XML after starting the query via the API, so you can see where I am getting the TaskID.

<soap:Body>
  <PerformResponseMsg xmlns="http://exacttarget.com/wsdl/partnerAPI">
     <Results>
        <Result>
           <StatusCode>OK</StatusCode>
           <StatusMessage>QueryDefinition perform called successfully</StatusMessage>
           <Object xsi:type="QueryDefinition">
              <PartnerKey xsi:nil="true" />
              <ObjectID>b001ea05-e93b-4ab8-88b7-06f7a48292ee</ObjectID>
           </Object>
           <Task>
              <StatusCode>OK</StatusCode>
              <StatusMessage>OK</StatusMessage>
              <ID>13646734</ID>
              <InteractionObjectID>abe92d6d-38a6-4ea9-a84f-18b6b6335eb4</InteractionObjectID>
           </Task>
        </Result>
     </Results>
     <OverallStatus>OK</OverallStatus>
     <OverallStatusMessage />
     <RequestID>6bc2105b-b9a5-4173-89c0-c131ef6a8878</RequestID>
  </PerformResponseMsg>

Answer 1

I was able to get the results back by adding in StartDate as a filter option. This was based on a response from ExactTarget's support team:

The issue here is that you're trying to filter on the InteractionID against the AsyncActivityStatus object. The AsyncActivityStatus is a special type of object and doesn't play by the same rules as other objects. For example, with this object, you can only filter on ParentInteractionID, TaskID, StartTime, and EndTime.

Here is the updated SOAP call I used that ran successfully:

<ns0:RetrieveRequestMsg>
  <ns0:RetrieveRequest>
    <ns0:ObjectType>AsyncActivityStatus</ns0:ObjectType>
    <ns0:Properties>Status</ns0:Properties>
    <ns0:Properties>TaskID</ns0:Properties>
    <ns0:Properties>StatusMessage</ns0:Properties>
    <ns0:Filter xsi:type="ns0:ComplexFilterPart">
      <ns0:LeftOperand xsi:type="ns0:SimpleFilterPart">
        <ns0:Property>TaskID</ns0:Property>
        <ns0:SimpleOperator>equals</ns0:SimpleOperator>
        <ns0:Value>14307763</ns0:Value>
      </ns0:LeftOperand>
      <ns0:LogicalOperator>AND</ns0:LogicalOperator>
      <ns0:RightOperand xsi:type="ns0:SimpleFilterPart">
        <ns0:Property>StartTime</ns0:Property>
        <ns0:SimpleOperator>greaterThan</ns0:SimpleOperator>
        <ns0:Value>2014-03-09</ns0:Value>
      </ns0:RightOperand>
    </ns0:Filter>
  </ns0:RetrieveRequest>
</ns0:RetrieveRequestMsg>

Here is the response I received stating the query had completed.

<RetrieveResponseMsg xmlns="http://exacttarget.com/wsdl/partnerAPI">
  <OverallStatus>OK</OverallStatus>
  <RequestID>c20413b5-5a05-4fe9-a4b2-0cddb1071d7d</RequestID>
  <Results xsi:type="ObjectExtension">
    <PartnerKey xsi:nil="true" />
    <ObjectID xsi:nil="true" />
    <Type>AsyncActivityStatus</Type>
    <Properties>
      <Property>
        <Name>TaskID</Name>
        <Value>14307763</Value>
      </Property>
      <Property>
        <Name>Status</Name>
        <Value>Complete</Value>
      </Property>
      <Property>
        <Name>StatusMessage</Name>
        <Value>QueryDefinition perform called successfully</Value>
      </Property>
    </Properties>
  </Results>
</RetrieveResponseMsg>

Answer 2

I noticed it did take a rather long time when only filtering by TaskID but if you also filter on Interaction then it comes back much quicker:

<ns0:RetrieveRequestMsg>
    <ns0:RetrieveRequest>
        <ns0:ObjectType>AsyncActivityStatus</ns0:ObjectType>
        <ns0:Properties>Status</ns0:Properties>
        <ns0:Properties>StatusMessage</ns0:Properties>
        <ns0:Properties>TaskID</ns0:Properties>
        <ns0:Filter xsi:type="ns0:ComplexFilterPart">
            <ns0:LeftOperand xsi:type="ns0:SimpleFilterPart">
                <ns0:Property>TaskID</ns0:Property>
                <ns0:SimpleOperator>equals</ns0:SimpleOperator>
                <ns0:Value>13646734</ns0:Value>
            </ns0:LeftOperand>
            <ns0:LogicalOperator>AND</ns0:LogicalOperator>
            <ns0:RightOperand xsi:type="ns0:SimpleFilterPart">
                <ns0:Property>InteractionID</ns0:Property>
                <ns0:SimpleOperator>equals</ns0:SimpleOperator>
                <ns0:Value>abe92d6d-38a6-4ea9-a84f-18b6b6335eb4</ns0:Value>
            </ns0:RightOperand>
        </ns0:Filter>
    </ns0:RetrieveRequest>
</ns0:RetrieveRequestMsg>