Comments on: Automating a process in Windows

Question: Automating a process in Windows

sfluke20 — Mon, 31 Jan 2005 10:38:09 -0800

I'd like to automate some sort of synchronize process to run every time I start/close a separate application in Windows. It should download a data file on launch and upload after exiting, without having to think about it. Is there any easy way to do this? Preferably using SFTP or another secure method.

By: orthogonality

orthogonality — Mon, 31 Jan 2005 11:17:16 -0800

Do you mean you want to edit a file which is on an ftp site, and upload the modified file to the same site?

One option is to make the ftp site into a "network drive"; there are a couple of ways to do this under ms windows, samba being the best bet.

If that's not possible, WinSCP is a Windows SFTP client that'll allow you to click and edit files on the foreign server.

If that doesn't work, you can do explicitly what the above solutions really do: write a batch file to download the files, save it to a temporary location, start your editing application on the local copy, and upload the modified copy after your editing application closes.

By: RikiTikiTavi

RikiTikiTavi — Mon, 31 Jan 2005 11:21:29 -0800

If I understand you correctly, I'd write a quick batch script that starts the transfer (using whatever means you like), and then starts your program. Use the batch script's shortcut instead of your program's.

By: tuxster

tuxster — Mon, 31 Jan 2005 11:51:37 -0800

I think sfluke20 is looking for a solution to automate the following:

1) Download data from remote server
2) Use application to use (edit?) data
3) On application exit, upload modified data back on the website

For example, if the application was Firefox, and the data was bookmarks, I would say Bookmark Synchronizer (although mine stopped automated dl/ul for no reason, I now have to do it manually).

sfluke20, I think if you give us a little more specifics (what is the data and what application are you talking about), perhaps we could be more helpful...

By: sfluke20

sfluke20 — Mon, 31 Jan 2005 11:58:29 -0800

Right tuxtster, exactly what you described.

I have an application that has a single binary data file. I'd like to be able to run the app in multiple places, using the same data file, without having to worry about manually synchronizing the data.

(Bonuses would be to somehow backup the data file somewhere in the process)

By: tuxster

tuxster — Mon, 31 Jan 2005 11:59:01 -0800

heh, meanwhile the page I linked to actually had the solution to the problem I'm having with Bookmark Synchronizer...

By: zsazsa

zsazsa — Mon, 31 Jan 2005 13:58:29 -0800

sfluke20, download pscp, which will let you upload/download a file to a remote server running ssh or sftp. Then make a .bat file with the contents:

pscp user@site.com:somefile.dat "C:\some directory\" "C:\Program Files\Some App\app.exe" pscp "C:\Some Direcotory\somefile.dat" user@site.com:

That should do it. The pscp process will ask you for a password each time. You could avoid the password process by using a public/private key in conjunction with puttygen/pageant, available on the PuTTY page I liked to above. It's kind of involved, so get the normal password way working first.

By: sfluke20

sfluke20 — Mon, 31 Jan 2005 14:16:40 -0800

Cool -- I just came back to say I'd gotten that exact same thing working. With the public/private key stuff. Exactly what I want -- although the little batch file window is a little annoying (I'll deal with it!). Thanks everyone!

Now just gotta figure out how to create a date variable in the batch file.

By: seanyboy

seanyboy — Mon, 31 Jan 2005 15:37:09 -0800

Be careful with batch files though. If your batch file says (for example)

notepad
word
notepad

It won't run one program, wait for it to finish and then run the other. It'll run all three programs at once. (not strictly true, but that's what it'll look like to you).

for Date, use command line variable %date%
e.g. echo %date%

To do this properly some kind of vbscript may be the answer.

By: TimeFactor

TimeFactor — Mon, 31 Jan 2005 17:25:56 -0800

In Win2K, batch files do execute commands sequentially; a command doesn't execute until the previous command finishes and the command doesn't finish until any application it calls terminates. That may not be the case with other versions of windows though.

If you create a shortcut to the batch file you can specify in the properties of the batch file for it to run minimized (or maximized or normal, the default). The annoying command window will still be there, you just won't see it. Again, I'm talking about Win2K.

By: TimeFactor

TimeFactor — Mon, 31 Jan 2005 17:27:17 -0800

...the properties of the shortcut to the batch file...

By: seanyboy

seanyboy — Tue, 01 Feb 2005 02:40:35 -0800

Not always. Try putting this in a batch file, and see what happens.

"C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe"
"C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe"
"C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe"
explorer
explorer

You'll have to run app.exe, and see if it waits.

By: TimeFactor

TimeFactor — Tue, 01 Feb 2005 10:01:25 -0800

seanyboy: yup, I get three instances of firefox and two of explorer. Your earlier example and others I've tried do behave as I described; I'm not sure why there's a difference but there is.

By: sfluke20

sfluke20 — Tue, 01 Feb 2005 10:06:34 -0800

Huh. Runs sequentially for me in Windows XP ... Exactly what I want.