Cron

In the previous section, we created an awesome multi-request batch processing of our JSON product import. In the next section, we’ll jump into the Queue API and see how we can plan the processing of multiple items at a later stage. However, before we dive into that, let’s talk a bit about how the Drupal cron works and what we can do with it. This is because our discussion about the Queue API is closely related to it.

Drupal doesn’t actually have a fully-fledged cron system. That is because it’s an application and not a server capable of scheduling tasks that run at specified times of the day. However, what it does have is a cron-like system, which can come very close, especially on busy websites. Often, it is affectionately referred to as the poor man’s cron. Why? Since Drupal cannot by itself do anything without any sort of input, it relies on visitors coming to the website to trigger the cron tasks. So, even if we can configure the frequency...