Cron20

Cron v2.0 Multiple event scheduler Paul Merriman 15th Jan 95 Cron v2.0 is a considerable improvement over the original version I released last year, and as a result I have made it shareware rather than public domain. The registration fee is 5 pounds sterling and will ensure you will receive preferential treatment when new versions come out and can bend my ear to include new features. Registration details are included at the start of the program. General description Cron v2.0 is a scheduler for the automatic triggering of macros written using Tom Dolbilin's excellent Macro package (v2.0). It reads a specially formatted database dbf file to get descriptions of jobs to run. Several Cron dbf files can be kept and you can even run several copies of Cron at once - though this is probably unnecessary. Cron supports up to 20 jobs in each cron file and automatically wakes the machine when it is time to execute the next job. It could be used to automate backups, or even dialing into your Internet system to exchange mail late at night! By carefully constructing macros you could even have one cron file for weekday use, and another for weekends - and use a cron macro to cause automatic switching between the two! I'd be interested to hear what uses you might devise so please feel free to mail me, or drop me a line when you register! Installation Install files as follows Cronedit.als in X:\APP\ Cron20.opa in X:\APP\ Crondemo.dbf in X:\DAT\CRON\ where X: is either M:, A:, or B:. snd1.mco in M:\MACRO\MCO\ snd2.mco in M:\MACRO\MCO\ snd3.mco in M:\MACRO\MCO\ You can then install the Cronedit and Cron icons using the 'Install Application' system menu option. Usage The crondemo database is included as an example and runs two macros which play alarm sounds. You can create your own cron files by copying this dbf file using the system menu 'copy file' option. The format of the dbf file for each job is as follows:- Typical cron dbf entry Time interval: 1 Units (s,m,h,d): d Number of events: 0 Next Event (dd/mm/yyy): now Next Event (hh:mm:ss): 09:00:00 Macro file (file.mco): m:\macro\mco\bond.mco File type (P,M): M The first entry is numerical, the second entry indicates Seconds, Minutes, Hours or Days. These combined specify the regular interval between occurences of this job. The number of events is specified by the next value - use zero to indicate that execution should never stop. The next two entries allow you to delay starting runs of this job until some time in the future. The special keyword 'now' indicates that the job should start at the next relevant opportunity. If you specify a time you should use 24hr clock notation (e.g. 19:00:00 for 7pm). Finally you specify the full path name of the file to run and the option 'file type' should always be set to 'M' for macro (later versions might support the ability to run programs as well as macros). This version of Cron has a limit of 20 jobs defined in each dbf file. To execute the job file, you should close it in cronedit and select it in the Cron file list. Hitting enter will start Cron - which reads and checks the file of jobs and then goes into a quiessant state waiting for the next job to execute. Note that you can turn your machine off when you see the message 'waiting for event' (or let auto-off take effect) as Cron will automatically wake the machine when the next event comes round. If you want to terminate a running Cron session simply use Psion-Esc to exit.