Drupal 7: How to implement cron tasks (hook_cron and hook_cron_queue_info) that takes much time

Problem Statement

hook_cron() suggests to put tasks that executes in shorter time or non-resource intensive tasks.

Mine was neither executing in shorter time nor non-resource intensive!

Solution

Drupal provides two hooks:

• hook_cron
• hook_cron_queue_info

Create a Module

Create a file: mytestmodule.module

function mytestmodule_cron() {
   $queue = DrupalQueue::get('name-of-my-queue'); //queue name can be any string you want
   $test = array('29102', '1322', '2322'); //some random numbers
   foreach ($test as $t) {
      $queue->createItem($t);
   }
}
function mytestmodule_cron_queue_info() {
   $info['name-of-my-queue'] = array(
      'worker callback' => 'mytestmodule_do_tasks',
      'time' => 60,
   );
   return $info;
}
function mytestmodule_do_tasks($data) {
   //do something with data
   //For each cron run, this function will get called number of times I have created tasks
}

In hook_cron function, I have defined a queue, and put 3 tasks to it. Note: a single task can be to save a node. Here, you should have all the data you require to initiate a task.

In hook_cron_queue_info function, I have defined a callback function which will receive each task separately. And, specified a timeout value in seconds.

My callback function will be called as many number of times, as the number of tasks.

So, in this example, mytestmodule_do_tasks will receive values: 29012, 1322, 2322 independently.

Hope it helps.