spring batch sleep between steps

Question

How can I make a spring batch job sleep between executions if the next step is itself?

For example

<batch:step id="messages" next="messages">
.....
</batch:step>

I have tried using the parent="simpleJob" with the following configuration only to get unique key constraints. Not sure what I am missing.

<bean id="simpleJob" class="org.springframework.batch.core.job.SimpleJob" abstract="true">
    <property name="jobRepository" ref="jobRepository"/>
</bean>

<bean id="runScheduler" class="com.test.boa.scheduler.RunScheduler">
    <property name="dataSource" ref="dataSource"/>
</bean>

<task:scheduled-tasks>
    <task:scheduled ref="runScheduler" method="run" fixed-delay="500000"/>
</task:scheduled-tasks> 

The runScheduler is getting the next key but it seems like that doesn't get incremented upon step completion.

Any help would be appreciated.

Answer 1

You will need to set up listeners to intercept the before and after methods for your steps. http://docs.spring.io/spring-batch/trunk/reference/html/configureStep.html#interceptingStepExecution