A synchronous event handler is one that must complete before the system continues to the next event handler in a sequence. For the entire event to be handled successfully, all synchronous handlers in the sequence must complete successfully. If one event handler fails, other than for an illegal operation, and the system is set to ignore failures for that handler, the system can continue to the next synchronous event handler. Otherwise, the system returns a failure error, and no more event handlers in the sequence execute.
By contrast, an asynchronous event handler runs independently of other event handlers.
On the Event Handlers form:
To define the event handler as synchronous, select this check box. To define the event handler as asynchronous, clear this check box.
If this event handler includes any adjourning event action, this check box is disabled.
When the associated event:
On the Event Handler Sequence and Event Handler Revisions forms:
This field is display-only, indicating whether the event handler is defined as a synchronous or asynchronous event handler.
On the Event Action Generate Event form:
NOTE: You can reach this form only from the Event Actions form.
To instruct the system to treat the generated event as a synchronous event, select this check box. To allow the generated event to run asynchronously, clear this check box.
When you click OK to return to the Event Actions form, the system "wraps" this content within a SYNCHRONOUS( ) parameter, which yields the following final syntax:
For more information, see the following topics in the Guide to the Application Event System: