Jim Lawless' Blog


A Command Line Scheduler

Originally published on: Wed, 12 Aug 2009 02:28:54 +0000

In the post Throwaway Software: HangUp, I discussed creating a small utility due to customer demand that I thought was just a nice-to-have item to complement my other offerings. HangUp surprised me with the money that it brought in as did another program created the same day; TSched, the tiny command-line scheduler.

TSched employed a simple command-line syntax: General format:

TSched [TSched options] [command options]

Where valid TSched options are:

-runat HH:MM

The above option executes a given command at the time specified. Time must be specified in military 24-hour format ( 6:05 p.m. is specified as 18:05 ).

-waituntil HH:MM

This option simply pauses until the specified time.

-quiet

This option suppresses the running status message.

The regular monthly sales from TSched were not noteworthy. Gross sales reached a total of $100 via my credit-card processor from 1999 to 2007 when the last copy was sold. Not monumental. However, TSched did attract the attention of a company who sold training software on CD. They paid me around $3,000 for an unlimited redistribution license with their training CD's.

Like HangUp, the overall amount of money I made on the product far outweighed the effort it took to write.


// TSched
// Tiny command-line scheduler
//
// License: MIT / X11
// Copyright (c) 1999. 2009 by James K. Lawless
// jimbo@radiks.net http://www.radiks.net/~jimbo
// http://www.mailsend-online.com
//
// Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person
// obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation
// files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without
// restriction, including without limitation the rights to use,
// copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
// copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the
// Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following
// conditions:
//
// The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be
// included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
//
// THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
// EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES
// OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND
// NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT
// HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY,
// WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING
// FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR
// OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.


#include <windows.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <time.h>

int __argc;
char ** __argv;

char stopTime[9];
char cmpTime[9];
int bWait=0;
int bRun=0;
int bQuiet=0;
char cmdline[1024];

void load_cmd_line();
int hasSpaces(char *);
void syntax();

int main(int argc,char **argv) {
   printf("TSCHED - Tiny Scheduler v1.05\n");
   printf("Copyright (c) 1999, 2009 by Jim Lawless\n");
   if( __argc < 3 ) {
      syntax();
      Sleep(2000);
      exit(1);
   }


   load_cmd_line();
   for(;;) {
      _strtime(cmpTime);
      if( !bQuiet) {
         printf("Waiting until %s current time is %s\r",
            stopTime,cmpTime);
      }
      cmpTime[5]=0;
      if( !strcmp(cmpTime,stopTime)) {
         if(!bQuiet) {
            if( bRun ) {
               printf("\nLaunching %s\n",cmdline);
            }
         }
         if( bRun ) {
            system(cmdline);
         }
         break;
      }
      Sleep(500);
   }
   if( !bQuiet ) {
      printf("\nExiting.\n");
   }
   exit(0);
}


void load_cmd_line() {
   int i;
   for(i=1;i<__argc;i++) {
      if( *__argv[i] == '-' ) {
         if( !stricmp(__argv[i],"-runat")) {
            bRun=1;
            if( strlen( __argv[i+1]) != 5 ) {
               fprintf(stderr,"\aError! Time format is HH:MM!");
               exit(1);
            }
            strcpy(stopTime,__argv[i+1]);
            i++;
            continue;
         }
         else
         if( !stricmp(__argv[i],"-waituntil")) {
            bWait=1;
            if( strlen( __argv[i+1]) != 5 ) {
               fprintf(stderr,"\aError! Time format is HH:MM!");
               exit(1);
            }
            strcpy(stopTime,__argv[i+1]);
            i++;
            continue;
         }
         else
         if( !stricmp(__argv[i],"-quiet")) {
            bQuiet=1;
            continue;
         }
         else {
            break;
         }
      }
      else {
         break;
      }
   }

   *cmdline=0;
   for(;i<__argc;i++) {
      if( hasSpaces(__argv[i] )) { // wrap in quotes
         strcat(cmdline,"\"");
         strcat(cmdline,__argv[i]);
         strcat(cmdline,"\"");
      }
      else {
         strcat(cmdline,__argv[i]);
      }
      if( (i+1) < __argc) {
         strcat(cmdline," ");
      }
   }
   if( !(bRun ^ bWait )) {
      syntax();
      exit(1);
   }
}

int hasSpaces(char *s)
{
   while(*s) {
      if( (*s==' ')||(*s=='\t')) {
         return(1);
      }
      s++;
   }
   return(0);
}

void syntax() {
   printf("\nSyntax:\n TSched [TSched options] [command arguments ]\n");
   printf( "\nValid TSched options:\n");
   printf(" -runat HH:MM Execute command at specified time.\n");
   printf(" -waituntil HH:MM Just wait until specified time ( no \n");
   printf(" commands are executed.\n");
   printf(" -quiet Suppress status messages.\n\n");
   printf("Time (HH:MM) values must be entered in \"military time\" format.\n");
   printf("( 6:05 p.m. would be specified as 18:05. )\n");
}

The source and EXE files for TSched can be found here.

http://www.mailsend-online.com/wp/tsched.zip

Unless otherwise noted, all code and text entries are Copyright ©2009 by James K. Lawless

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