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 Š2009 by James K. Lawless

Save to del.icio.us
Save to StumbleUpon
Digg it
Save to Reddit
Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter
More bookmarks