How to create a cron job programatically?

Question

How can I create a cron job in Magento without defining <run><model></model></run> in the XML?

I have a lot of jobs that need to be changed programmatically and we couldn't define all of these jobs in the XML as these need to be dynamic.

So far, this insert the job in the magento cron, however, there's no run/model defined:

Mage::getModel('core/config_data')
                ->load(self::CRON_STRING_PATH, 'path')
                ->setValue($cronExprString)
                ->setPath(self::CRON_STRING_PATH)
                ->save();

Answer 1

This code inserts the cron job into cron_schedule table:

$job_code='my_great_job_code';
/* */
$time = time(); // or time()+60 if you want...
$date = strftime('%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:00', $time);
/* */
$schedule = Mage::getModel('cron/schedule');
$schedule->setCreatedAt(strftime('%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:00', time()));
$schedule->setScheduledAt($date);
$schedule->setStatus(Mage_Cron_Model_Schedule::STATUS_PENDING);
$schedule->setJobCode($job_code);
$schedule->save();

Answer 2

Try this

$timecreated   = strftime("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S",  mktime(date("H"), date("i"), date("s"), date("m"), date("d"), date("Y")));
$timescheduled = strftime("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S", mktime(date("H"), date("i")+ 5, date("s"), date("m"), date("d"), date("Y")));
$jobCode = 'job_id';

try {
    $schedule = Mage::getModel('cron/schedule');
     $schedule->setJobCode($jobCode)
        ->setCreatedAt($timecreated)
        ->setScheduledAt($timescheduled)
        ->setStatus(Mage_Cron_Model_Schedule::STATUS_PENDING)
        ->save();
   } catch (Exception $e) {
     throw new Exception(Mage::helper('cron')->__('Unable to save Cron expression'));
   }

Also check More Details...

Answer 3

Like you said, you also need a run model defined otherwise Magento just skips the entry. I am just having the same problem, here is what you need additionaly to the one you already have.

Mage::getModel('core/config_data')
        ->load('crontab/jobs/JOBNAME/run/model', 'path')
        ->setValue('classhandle/class_name::run')
        ->setPath('crontab/jobs/JOBNAME/run/model')
        ->save();

Magento actually does something like this if you check class Mage_Backup_Model_Config_Backend_Cron.