Implementing and executing cron jobs

Sometimes, an application requires some background tasks, such as regenerating a site map or refreshing statistics. A common way to implement this is by using cron jobs. When using Yii, there is a way to use a command to run as a job.

In this recipe, we will see how to implement both. For our recipe, we will implement writing the current timestamp into a t imestamp.txt file under the protected directory.

Getting ready

Create a new yii2-app-basic application by using the Composer, as described in the official guide at http://www.yiiframework.com/doc-2.0/guide-startinstallation.html.

How to do it...

Running the Hello command

Let us try to run app\commands\HelloController::actionIndex as a shell command:

<?php
namespace app\commands;
use yii\console\Controller;

/**
 * This command echoes the first argument that you have entered.
 */
class HelloController extends Controller
{
    /**
    * This command echoes what you have entered as the message.
    * @param...