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Text File | 1990-08-06 | 13KB | 344 lines

IBM/PC PROGRAM SCHEDULER USER'S GUIDE Copyright 1986-1990 (All rights reserved) Real Time eXecutives, Inc. P. O. Box 160 686 South Street Wrentham, MA 02093 Tel: (508) 384-7717 MCI Mail: 431-4677 SCHEDULE.EXE is a ShareWare program written and distributed by: Real Time eXecutives, Inc. (RTX) 686 South St. P.O. Box 160 Wrentham, MA 02093 USA Tel: (508) 384-7717 Feel free to pass this program on to others. However, please pass on the original self-extraction program, RTXSCHED.EXE, instead of the individual files. If you find this program useful and of value, a donation of $25.00 would be greatly appreciated. To become a registered user, send $45.00. This entitles you to receive the next version of the program free of charge, when it becomes available. Real Time eXecutives, Inc. disclaims all warranties whether express or implied, including implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, functionality, data integrity or protection. See documentation for further disclaimers and information. Thanks for your support. OVERVIEW This program can be used to schedule the periodic execution of programs or batch files on the IBM/PC/XT/AT/PS2 and compatibles running DOS 2.x or greater. Even though the program is similar in function and appearance to the DOS command processor ("COMMAND.COM"), it is not a replacement for it. Instead it sits on top of the command processor and acts more like a pre-processor. There are some important things that must be kept in mind: A. First and most important, never load software from the scheduler that will remain resident in memory (ie. SIDEKICK, SUPERKEY, etc.). Loading resident software from the scheduler can trash the DOS memory allocation tables leaving the user with no alternative but to reboot the computer. Make sure that all memory resident programs that might be needed are loaded before execution of the scheduler. If a memory resident program must be loaded after the scheduler has been run, exit the scheduler using the /EXIT command, then load the resident software and re-execute the scheduler. B. Because it would be redundant, the execution of either COMMAND.COM or SCHEDULE.EXE from within the scheduler is not permitted. If the user attempts to execute either of these programs, the scheduler will reject the request and issue an error message. C. The files and programs used by the schedule program can either reside in the default directory or in the DOS path. SCHEDULE TABLE DEFINITION The ASCII text file SCHEDULE.DAT is the file that the user will create or edit to define the execution times and command lines to be executed by the scheduler program. This file can be created or edited using any ASCII text editor (ie. Brief, PMATE, EDLIN etc.) and can reside either in the current directory or in the DOS path. The schedule table is built from this file on initial execution of the program scheduler or by issuing the "/REBUILD" command (see below). There are three fields in each record (text line), separated from each other by one or more spaces. The first field is the time of day (since midnight last night) of the first or initial execution of the command line. The second field is the time interval between executions and the third field is the command line to be executed. The general format is: START_TIME INTERVAL COMMAND_LINE_TO_BE_EXECUTED Times are specified as 1 to 3 integers separated by colons, in 24 hour format. The first integer read will be considered the hours, the second the minutes and the third the seconds. It is not necessary to enter all three integers. For example, if the desired start time is 11 PM, the user can simple enter 23. If the interval time was ten minutes, the user could enter 00:10. If the start time was 1 AM plus 10 seconds the user would have to enter 1:00:10. The hour field can be greater than 24. For example, if the desired execution interval is every 2 days, the user would enter a 48 for the time interval. If the execution interval time is zero, the command line will be executed once and only once at the start time specified. If the start time is specified greater than the current time, the command line will be executed once only at that time. If the start time is less than the current time, the command line will be executed once only at the specified start time + 24 hours. After a "run once only" command has been executed, its entry will be removed from the schedule table. It will not be removed from the SCHEDULE.DAT file. The command line can be re-scheduled by re-executing the schedule program or by re-building the schedule table using the "/REBUILD" command. If the first character in a schedule definition record is anything other than an ASCII digit (0 -9), the entry will be considered a comment and ignored. This will allow for the inclusion of comments in the schedule definition file. The exception to this rule is the reserved word "NOW". If "NOW" is entered for a start time, the command will be executed at program load (or any time the schedule table is rebuilt). Examples of comment entries and the "NOW" execution, can be seen below in the definition file entry examples. If the schedule definition file is not found or is empty, the scheduler will function properly but no commands will scheduled for execution. The user will be notified if there are no table entries. The following are examples of entries in the schedule definition file. Note that the command line must be <= 127 characters and each field is separated by one or more spaces. Example 1: ---------- * Whenever the first character is not a digit, it is a comment line * Example 2: ---------- * Execute the program PROG1.COM every 10 minutes starting at * midnight, with command line arguments ARG1 to ARGn. * 00:00:00 00:10:00 PROG1 ARG1 ARG2 ... ARGn Example 3: ---------- * Execute the program PROG2.EXE every 1 hour and 1 minute starting * at 10:01:10 AM. * 10:01:10 1:01 PROG2 Example 4: ---------- * Execute the internal command /HELP once and only once * at 2:11:32 PM. * 14:11:32 00:00:00 /help Example 5: ---------- * Execute the DOS command DIR once and only once on load (or rebuild) * NOW 00:00:00 DIR Example 6: ---------- * Execute the batch file JOB.BAT with the command line arguments ARG1 * to ARGn once every 2 days starting at 12 AM * 12 48 JOB arg1 arg2 ... argn SCHEDULER LOG FILE If the /LOG function is activated (see below) then entries will be written to the file SCHEDULE.LOG. The log file can either be in the current directory or in the DOS path. If it is not found, it will be created in the current directory. The user should be aware that the log file is never deleted by the program. If the /LOG function is used extensively the file can grow very large. It is up to the user to delete this file when appropriate. INTERNAL COMMANDS This is a list of the internal commands that can be entered on the SCHEDULE command line and a brief explanation of their function : /EXIT - Exit the scheduler. /HELP or "?" - Quick reference of commands. /LIST - List the current schedule table. /REBUILD - Rebuild the schedule table. /LOG - Set (or report) Log mode. /SPACE - Set (or report) Save Space mode /DISABLE - Disable schedule table checking. /ENABLE - Enable schedule table checking. /FLAGS - Display current flag settings. /NOTICE - Display shareware notice. On the following pages we will explain in detail the function of each of these commands: Command : /EXIT Function : Exit from the scheduler. Entering "/EXIT" on the command line will exit the scheduler program. Command : /HELP or "?" Function : Display a list of internal commands. This command is provided so that a "quick reference" list of the internal commands is available on line to the user without having to refer to the manual. Command : /LIST [PR] Function : List the current schedule table. This internal command will display a list of the current schedule table. If a hard copy of this list is desired, the user can enter the command followed by "PR" (ie. "/LIST PR"). This will send the output list to the printer instead of the screen. Command : /REBUILD Function : Rebuild the schedule table. This internal command rebuilds the schedule table on line. If the schedule table needs to be changed, the user can edit the schedule file and then enter "/REBUILD". The current schedule table will be deleted and a new table built from the file. Command : /LOG [=level] [ON] [OFF] Function : Log program execution in the log file. This internal command will set the log level and select output to the log file. If the log level is set to 1 (ie. "/LOG=1") only the scheduled executions will be logged. If the log level is set to 2 or greater, both the scheduled executions and the manual executions (user typed command lines) will logged. When a program execution is logged, the time and date stamp, the execution request type ("MANUAL" or "SCHEDULED"), and the command line will be written to the log file. The keyword OFF turns logging off. The key word ON restores logging to the level that it was set to before an OFF was issued. Command : /SPACE [ON] [OFF] Function : Set Save Space mode (or report current setting). This internal command will set the Save Space mode "ON" or "OFF". If the selected Save Space mode is "ON" the program will try to execute commands as child processes before passing the command to the DOS command handler. This will save space as the command handler does not always have to be loaded into memory. The default mode is "OFF". <<WARNING>> If the selected Save Space mode is "ON", you can NOT redirect or pipe the output of a program. Mode "ON" should be selected only if you have problems with not enough memory. Command : /DISABLE Function : Disables schedule table checking. In the normal operation of the scheduler, the program will check to see if there is a scheduled program to execute and then check to see if you are pressing keys on the keyboard. If you are pressing keys, the program will temporarily suspend the schedule table check, allowing you to enter the entire command without interrupting you. There is however a 10 second timeout on key hits. That is, if you wait more than 10 seconds, the program will go off and check again for a scheduled program. If you're like me, you may sometimes spend more than 10 seconds thinking before pressing another key, or maybe you want to write down something that is displayed on the screen. This internal command forces the program to stop all schedule table checking, allowing you as much time as you need. A warning will be displayed with each prompt if checking is disabled. ** Remember ** if you disable schedule table checking, you must re- enable it or none of the scheduled programs will get executed. Command : /ENABLE Function : Enable schedule table checking after it has been disabled. This internal command allows you to start up the schedule table checking again, after it has been disabled. Command : /FLAGS Function : Display current flag settings. This internal command will display a list of the current flag settings. These flags include: Schedule checking, Save space, Debug, and Logging mode. Command : /NOTICE Function : Display shareware notice. This internal command will display the shareware notice.