Custom Seeding

Use custom seeding logic to programmatically create initial jobs with full control over job properties, request data, and business logic.

UseTickerSeeder

Configure custom seeding functions for TimeTicker and CronTicker jobs on the core TickerOptionsBuilder. The same seeding pipeline runs regardless of whether you use the in-memory provider or EF Core.

Methods:

TickerOptionsBuilder<TTimeTicker, TCronTicker> UseTickerSeeder(
    Func<ITimeTickerManager<TTimeTicker>, Task> timeSeeder);

TickerOptionsBuilder<TTimeTicker, TCronTicker> UseTickerSeeder(
    Func<ICronTickerManager<TCronTicker>, Task> cronSeeder);

TickerOptionsBuilder<TTimeTicker, TCronTicker> UseTickerSeeder(
    Func<ITimeTickerManager<TTimeTicker>, Task> timeSeeder,
    Func<ICronTickerManager<TCronTicker>, Task> cronSeeder);

Basic Example

Use `UseTickerSeeder` directly on `AddTickerQ` so seeding logic applies regardless of persistence provider (in-memory or EF Core):

```csharp
builder.Services.AddTickerQ(options =>
{
    // Optional: disable auto seeding of code-defined cron tickers
    options.IgnoreSeedDefinedCronTickers();

    options.UseTickerSeeder(
        async timeManager =>
        {
            await timeManager.AddAsync(new TimeTickerEntity
            {
                Function = "WarmUpCache",
                ExecutionTime = DateTime.UtcNow.AddMinutes(1)
            });
        },
        async cronManager =>
        {
            await cronManager.AddAsync(new CronTickerEntity
            {
                Function = "HealthCheck",
                Expression = "0 */5 * * * *" // Every 5 minutes
            });
        });
});

## Accessing Services in Seeder

Since seeders run during application startup, you can't directly inject services. However, you can access configuration:

```csharp
var configuration = builder.Configuration;

builder.Services.AddTickerQ(options =>
{
    options.UseTickerSeeder(
        async timeManager =>
        {
            var adminEmail = configuration["Admin:Email"];
            var jobDelayMinutes = int.Parse(configuration["Jobs:InitialDelayMinutes"] ?? "60");
            
            await timeManager.AddAsync(new TimeTickerEntity
            {
                Function = "NotifyAdmin",
                ExecutionTime = DateTime.UtcNow.AddMinutes(jobDelayMinutes),
                Request = TickerHelper.CreateTickerRequest(new { Email = adminEmail })
            });
        },
        null
    );
});

Error Handling

Handle errors in seeding functions:

builder.Services.AddTickerQ(options =>
{
    options.UseTickerSeeder(
        async timeManager =>
        {
            try
            {
                var result = await timeManager.AddAsync(new TimeTickerEntity
                {
                    Function = "MyJob",
                    ExecutionTime = DateTime.UtcNow.AddHours(1)
                });
                
                if (!result.IsSucceeded)
                {
                    // Log error but don't throw - seeding continues
                    Console.WriteLine($"Seeding failed: {result.Exception?.Message}");
                }
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                // Log but don't throw - application startup shouldn't fail
                Console.WriteLine($"Seeding exception: {ex.Message}");
            }
        },
        null
    );
});

Seeding Custom Entity Types

When using custom entity types:

public class CustomTimeTicker : TimeTickerEntity<CustomTimeTicker>
{
    public string TenantId { get; set; }
}

builder.Services.AddTickerQ<CustomTimeTicker, CustomCronTicker>(options =>
{
    options.UseTickerSeeder(
        async timeManager =>
        {
            await timeManager.AddAsync(new CustomTimeTicker
            {
                Function = "TenantSpecificJob",
                TenantId = "tenant-001",
                ExecutionTime = DateTime.UtcNow.AddDays(1)
            });
        },
        null
    );
});

Best Practices

1. Use batch operations when seeding multiple jobs
2. Make seeding idempotent - handle cases where jobs might already exist
3. Use configuration for environment-specific seeding
4. Handle errors gracefully - don't let seeding failures block application startup
5. Log seeding operations - track what was seeded for debugging
6. Combine with automatic seeding - use both automatic and custom seeding

When to Use Custom Seeding

Use custom seeding when:

• You need to seed jobs with request data
• Jobs depend on configuration or environment
• You need conditional logic for seeding
• You want to seed one-time (TimeTicker) jobs
• Jobs require custom properties or relationships
• You need to seed jobs based on database state

Execution Order

Custom seeding executes after automatic cron seeding:

1. Automatic cron seeding (from attributes)
2. Custom TimeTicker seeding
3. Custom CronTicker seeding

Logging

Custom seeding operations are logged:

[INF] TickerQ start seeding data: CustomTimeTicker
[INF] TickerQ completed seeding data: CustomTimeTicker

With OpenTelemetry, you'll see separate activities for each seeding operation.

See Also

• Automatic Seeding - Attribute-based cron job seeding
• Disable Seeding - Prevent automatic seeding