---
title: "system.eam.runTask"
description: "Takes the name of a task as an argument as a string (must be configured on the Controller before hand), attempts to execute the task."
---

# system.eam.runTask

> Takes the name of a task as an argument as a string (must be configured on the Controller before hand), attempts to execute the task.

This function is used in **Python Scripting**.

## Description
Takes the name of a task as an argument as a string (must be configured on the Controller before hand), attempts to execute the task. This function can only be called from the Controller.

To run in the client, the user needs a [role-based permission](platform\security\gateway-general-security-settings\gateway-general-security-settings.md). This permission is disabled by default.

## Client Permission Restrictions
[Permission Type](../../../ignition-modules/vision/vision-project-properties/vision-project-properties.md#vision-permissions-properties): EAM Task Execution

## Syntax
`system.eam.runTask(taskname)`

### Parameters
Type | Parameter | Description 
------- | ------- | -----
String | `taskname` | Name of the task to run. If more than one task has this name, an error will be returned.

### Returns
A `UIResponse` with a list of infos, errors, and warnings. The [UIResponse](https://sdk.inductiveautomation.com/javadoc/ignition81/latest/com/inductiveautomation/ignition/common/messages/UIResponse.html) object is functionally a list of runTask objects.

### Scope
Gateway, Vision Client, Perspective Session

### UI Response
The `UIResponse` is an object containing three lists, each containing different logging information about the task that was run. The contents of the lists are accessible from the getter methods.
* `getWarns()` - Returns a list of warning messages that were encountered during the task.
* `getErrors()` - Returns a list of error messages that were encountered during the task.
* `getInfos()` - Returns a list of "info" messages that were encountered during the tasks.

These messages represent normal logging events that occurred during the task, and can be useful when trying to visualize the events that lead up to a task failure.

## Code Examples
```python title="Example #1"
# Simply execute a task called 'Collect Backup'
taskName = "Collect Backup"
response = system.eam.runTask(taskName)
```

```python title="Example #2"
# Execute a task and display the responses from it.

# create a function to print out the responses in a nice format
def printResponse(responseList):
    if len(responseList) > 0:
        for response in responseList:
            print "", response
    else:
        print " None"
 
# Run the task
taskName = "Collect Backup"
response = system.eam.runTask(taskName)
 
# Print out the returned Warnings (if any)
warnings = response.getWarns()
print "Warnings are:"
printResponse(warnings)
 
# Print out the returned Errors (if any)
errors = response.getErrors()
print "Errors are:"
printResponse(errors)
 
# Print out the returned Info (if any)
infos = response.getInfos()
print "Infos are:"
printResponse(infos)
```