Unable to get policy object when running pipeline from Startup class Config method in Commerce Engine in Sitecore Commerce 8.2.1

Question

I created a pipeline with only one block, on the block implementation I get a Policy object, something like this:

var testPolicy = context.GetPolicy<TestPolicy>();
Condition.Requires(testPolicy).IsNotNull("testPolicy is missing");
Condition.Requires(testPolicy.Test).IsNotNullOrEmpty("The testPolicy.Test can not be null or empty");

I need to run this pipeline only once, since it will spin one thread that will be doing some work while the app is running, so that's why I'm trying to run it from the Startup class Configure method like this:

Task.Run(() => testPipeline.Run(string.Empty, NodeContext.GetPipelineContextOptions()));

But in this case the testPolicy.Test won't be loaded properly, so the assertion will fail.

If I setup this pipeline to run as part of any existing one for example any of the carts pipeline it will properly load the testPolicy.Test so it is not an issue with the policy setting on the environments json files or anything like that. My guess is that at that point (running from Startup class Configure method) the CommerceContext or something else is not completely loaded/setup...?

Anyway, I guess the question really is, where can I start this pipeline so that it gets executed only once (as soon as the app starts) without any issue loading policy objects?

Answer 1

You need to run your pipeline in another way from Configure method in Startup.cs:

testPipeline.Run(this.NodeContext, this.NodeContext.GetPipelineContextOptions()).Wait();

This is OOTB example how to run pipeline. Also, try to add your code in the end of Configure method.

Answer 2

IStartEnvironmentPipeline is run every time the environment process starts, so if you'd like to run some code on startup it's best to define a block for that pipeline.

Also, it's a good idea to guard for HasPipeline<TestPolicy> and return early if it doesn't exist. This will let you continue to use the engine engine code and start your custom job in environments that define the policy, but not ones that don't.