This tutorial shows how to use Ask Question and Show Message actions in Advanced ETL Processor. Use them for interactive debugging, confirmations, and visible status messages while testing a package. They are useful, but they are not a substitute for proper unattended error handling. Nobody wants a midnight batch job waiting politely for a human.
What You Will Learn
- Add an Ask Question action to pause an interactive package run.
- Show calculated or fixed messages while debugging workflow logic.
- Use variables in questions and messages.
- Know when interactive actions should stay out of unattended execution.
Before You Start
Use a test repository or safe sample data while following the tutorial. Production jobs are a poor place to experiment.
Ask Question And Show Message Action Docs
This tutorial uses the Ask Question action and Show Message action. They are mainly debugging actions. Ask Question can pause an interactive run and wait for a user response. Show Message can display or log a message so you can see what the package is doing.
The Ask Question docs cover the parameters tab, variables tab, execution log tab, and calculated question examples.
The Show Message docs cover the parameters tab, variables tab, execution log tab, and calculated message examples.
Ask Question does not work when the execution agent runs the package or when execution happens in a separate thread. For related debugging work, review User Input Action, Select Value Action, debugging actions, and working with variables.
Need Advanced ETL Processor First?
Download the Advanced ETL Processor trial before following the tutorial, or review Enterprise if you need scheduled unattended execution.