Retrieve the context of a running SSJS script

Question

Does anyone know how to get the details of the parent automation from within an SSJS script?

We are looking to develop a generic SSJS script that can be used in multiple automations, but whose behaviour is defined by which actual automation is running it.

So looking for something like the ID of the Automation, or even AutomationActivity or AutomationActivityInstance which is executing the SSJS script.

The wsProxy documentation shows examples of retrieving these objects, but you need to pass in a filter referring to a specific item rather than using a 'this' for instance. It doesn't seem that the Core and Platform libraries can help much with what I am trying to achieve.

Has anyone done anything similar?

As an example of code that does not work

var prox = new Script.Util.WSProxy();
var cols = ["ActivityID","AutomationID","Status","AutomationInstance"];
var filter = {
    Property: "ActivityID",
    SimpleOperator: "equals",
    Value: this
};

var desc = prox.retrieve("AutomationActivityInstance", cols, filter);

This fails with

ExactTarget.OMM.InvalidFunctionParameterException: Null filter value supplied.

Clearly I can't supply 'this' as it seems to be undefined. I need a way of identifying the context under which this script activity is running.

Answer 1

Exactly what you are looking for does not exist.

What I do to replicate this ability is to create a content block code snippet that contains your SSJS code - keeping it ready for global use.

You then create a SSJS activity in each of these automations where you set the context there via a var and then use a 'ContentBlockByKey' call or something similar to pull in your code block to run the repeatable code.

For example:

Code block: (key: myExternalKey)

<script runat=server>

    if(myVar == "test") {

        Write('Wahooo')

    }else{

        Write('Boooo')

    }

</script>

Script activity:

<script runat=server>

    Platform.Load("Core","1.1.1");
    var myVar = 'test';

    var content = Platform.Function.ContentBlockByKey("myExternalKey");

    Write(TreatAsContent(content));    

</script>

This will cause the Script Activity to output Wahoo.

Using the SA to act as the 'input' or environmental setting and the content block as the function itself is the only way I am aware of to reuse code based on context.