The External Program is a sub task that is optional and will only be run when configured in the analysis.  It can be configured to run either before or after an analysis. 

It is triggered to run when the user adds the specific action for this in either the 'Tools before analysis' or the 'Tools after analysis' sections in the Content Enrichment tab of the application configuration.

External program can be said to be an asynchronous process because CASTMS wont wait for the external program to be finished before the next task is started.

A separate log will be generated for the action of the External Program.

Please see the below documentation and example screenshots for more information on this step and an example of where it is located in the CAST Management Studio.

8.0.X Documentation: CMS - Content Enrichment tab

The screenshot below shows how Run External Program is configured as a tool before analysis:

Select the log lines that you are interested in from the list below

CAST-MS log file

Section of CAST-MS log file dealing with External Program step is shown below. 

Starting Tools Before Analysis

INF: 2016-08-08 15:40:19:           starting Task Tools before analysis

Run External Program Task

INF: 2016-08-08 15:40:19:           starting Task prog1

INF: 2016-08-08 15:40:19:           Task message: No Task message

INF: 2016-08-08 15:40:19:           Log file: C:\Users\JMC~1.CAS\AppData\Local\Temp\CAST\CAST\8.0\45d05b12c701491592c266cf6efa7678\ExternalProgram-20160808154017.log.txt

INF: 2016-08-08 15:40:19:           ending Task prog1

End Tools Before Analysis 

INF: 2016-08-08 15:40:19:           Task message: No Task message

INF: 2016-08-08 15:40:19:           No associated log file

INF: 2016-08-08 15:40:19:           ending Task Tools before analysis

ExternalProgram-<DateTime>.log.txt log file

Example screenshot showing the My External Program being executed:

Sample results of a External Program log (actual results will vary based on the program being run):

Configuration Section

INF: 2016-08-08 15:40:19:

INF: 2016-08-08 15:40:19: Program: C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.7.0_67\bin\java.exe

INF: 2016-08-08 15:40:19: Arguments: -version

INF: 2016-08-08 15:40:19: Wait for completion: true

INF: 2016-08-08 15:40:19:

Run External Program Results 

INF: 2016-08-08 15:40:19: java version "1.7.0_67"

INF: 2016-08-08 15:40:19: Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.7.0_67-b01)

INF: 2016-08-08 15:40:19: Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 24.65-b04, mixed mode)