Contents
Contents:
Please select:
Conditions on use

CronEdit contents
Cronapp contents


Cronedit:Contents
CronEdit contents:

Purpose of CronEdit

Dialog boxes
The crontab file
Examples


Purpose of CronEdit

CronEdit helps you modify your crontab file. You could also modify it using notepad. CronEdit lets you modify the crontab file in a dialog. CronEdit actually does not do anything else than this. However, it is easier to use CronEdit than using a text editor.


CronEdit dialog boxes
Dialog boxes

Crontab editor dialog

Job edit dialog


cronedit:editor dialog
The Crontab tab editor dialog

This dialog lets you add, modify and delete jobs in the crontab file.

It contain a list box and six buttons:

Jobs.	This is a list of the jobs cron will perform. It is shown in the file format.
Ok	When you press this button the crontab editor will save any changes to the crontab file.
Cancel	Pressing this button terminates Crontab Editor without saving any changes.
Modify	This button brings of the job edit dialog which allows you to modify the job you have selected in the list box.
Add	Pressing this button brings up the job edit dialog where you can enter the new job.
Delete	Deletes the current selected job.
Help	Brings up help on the crontab editor.

For an explanation of the format of the crontab file select the The crontab file.


cronedit:Job edit dialog
The Job edit dialog

This dialog allows you to modify a job/add a new job. It contains these items:

Month	You can here specify in which months a job should be performed. You can press the All button to select all months. You must select at least one month.
Date	You enter here on which dates the job should be performed. You can enter several dates by seperating them with an '+' (plus). eg '1+2+3+26'. If you want to specify all month you can enter a '*' (asterisk) or press the All button.
Day	You can here specify on which week day the job should be performed. You must at least specify one day.
Hour	Here you specify on which hours the job should be performed. Hours in in 24-hours format (NO 'am'/'pm'). You can specify several hours by seperating the hours with an '+'.
Minute	Here you specify on which minutes the job should be performed. Same rules ashours.
Program	Here you specify the program to execute when the time specification is right. You can enter the full path of the program (eg `c:.exe') as well as the base name (eg `notepad'). You can enter parameters to the program as well.

Buttons:

Ok	Adds/modifies the job. Brings you back to the Crontab Editor dialog.
Cancel	Guess what...
Help	Brings up this help.
Every morning	Pressing this button sets the time specification so that the job will be performed every morning at 7:00.
Every afternoon.	Pressing this button sets the time specification so that the job will be performed every afternoon at 17:00.
Every week	Pressing this button sets the time specification so that the job will be performed every week. Actually, it sets the specification to sunday 7:00, so that every (normal) people when they start windows monday morning get the job done.
Every month	This button set the specification to every month (actually the first in the month at 00:00)

See also: Examples


The crontab file

The crontab file is a file called `crontab' located in your windows directory. It contains a number of lines which specifies jobs to do on different times of the day/week/month.

Each line consists of six items seperated by commas:

month,date,day,hour,minute,program
where:

month is the month specification. Eg `Jan', `Jan+Feb+Mar', `*'.

date is the date specification. Eg `1', `1+2+3', `*'.

day is the day specification. Eg `Mon', `Mon+Tue+Wed', `*'.

hour is the hour specification. Eg `0', `1+2+14', `*'.

minute is the minute specification. Eg `0', `10+20+30+45', `*'.

program is the program to start. Eg `notepad', `backup', `sendmoney $1000' or the like.

The crontab file is used by the Windows application `cronapp' and the program `cron'. The crontab editor does nothing else but allowing you to modify the crontab file in a more user-friendly way. You could (if you wanted) modify it using Notepad.

See also: Examples


A DOS-based equivalent to cronapp


Crontab examples
Examples

The examples are show in file-format. If you dont know the format yet select The crontab file.

Examples 1: A backup procedure

We want to automate the backup of the hardisk. It is a quite large hardisk so we dont want to create a total backup every day. The backup program offers us two backup-types: full and incremental.The normal backup cycle is a full backup every monday and an incremental backup all other days. We can automate this procedure by specifying these to lines in the crontab file:

*,*,Mon,7,0,Backup /full
*,*,Tue+Wed+Thu+Fri,7,0,Backup /incremental
Explanation:

The first line specifies all months, all dates, Mondays, 7:00 in the morning. When cronapp scans the crontab file monday morning (after 7:00) is starts the program `Backup'with the parameter `/full'.

The second line specifies all months, all dates, Tuesday-Friday, 7:00 in the morning. When cronapp scans the crontab file monday-friday morning (after 7:00) is starts the program `Backup'with the parameter `/incremental'.

Example 2: Remembering something

You are a computer-freak. You sit in front of your computer all day long. However, if you dont make your mother a cup of tea every day at 16:00 she will turn off your computer (10 hours work has vanished!). So to avoid this inconvenience you can specify this line:

*,*,*,15,45,remember MakeTea
Explanation:

The line specifies all months, all dates, all days, and every day at 15:45. The time is specified to 15:45 so there is time for cronapp to scan the crontab file and for you to make the tea.


cronapp:Contents
CronApp contents:
Purpose of CronApp

About dialog
Setup dialog

How to use CronApp


cronapp:About box
The about box

This box tell you about the version and the developer of cronapp.See also: Dialogs


cronapp:Setup dialog
The setup dialog

This dialogs lets you configure Cronapp. It contains two fields:

One input field where you can specify the interval between scanning the crontab file. Recommended values: if you have got a slow hardisk: 10 otherwise 5.

A checkbox. If you turn this off Cronapp will not scan the crontab file and perform any jobs.

If you press the button "Save" CronApp will save the settings in its initialization-file.

Note: Even if you specify the minute interval to be 10 minutes don't expect that CronApp will scan the crontab file 6 times per hour. CronApp may be delayed of other running applications. The actual scanning interval will be close to, but at least, 10 minutes.


Purpose of CronApp

CronApp is a program which runs in the background (looking at you mouse cursor). After a user-defined time interval CronApp scans a crontab file. This file contains a list of jobs to do on certain times of the hour/day/week/month. When CronApp finds out that it is time to start a job it starts the specified job. The jobs are programs (Windows or DOS).

See also: Purpose of CronEdit Examples The crontab file


How to use CronApp

First:

Make sure that you have specified the DOS-environment variable "TZ". CronApp uses this variable to determine timezone/daylight saving

If TZ is not set (or garbage) cron assumes that the timezone is "EST5EDT" meaning US time (Greenwich mean time + 5), daylight savings on. The format of the contents of the environment variable TZ is:

zzz[+/-]d[d][lll]

Where:

zzz	Three-character string representing the name of the current time zone. All three characters are required.
[+/-]d[d]	Required field containing an optionally signed number with 1 or more digits. This number is the local time zone's difference from GMT in hours. - Positive numbers adjust westward from GMT. - Negative numbers adjust eastward from GMT. This number is used in the calculation of timezone.
lll	Optional three-character field that represents the local time zone's daylight saving time. - If this field is present, daylight savings are on. - If this field is absent, daylight savings are off.

Examples:
If you live in England you would use "GMT0".

If you live in Central Europe you would use "CET-1".

You should not specify the daylight savings, because if you do so cron assumes that the MS-DOS time and file time stamps are without daylight savings (A file created 18:00 on 1st of July is stamped 17:00)

Second:

Start CronEdit to create a crontab file.

Third:

Start CronApp. You will have to start CronApp each time you start Windows unless you append 'CronApp' to the 'load=' line in '[windows]' section of your WIN.INI file.

Fourth:

You must have the BetterLook library in order to use any of the Cron programs.

Note: CronApp uses a file called 'lastcron'. This file is empty. CronApp uses it to remember when the last scan of the crontab file was done. If you delete this file CronApp will not perform the jobs which should have been performed between the last time you ran CronApp and the next time you run CronApp. You can modify the date of the file to make CronApp believe that is was run on a different time.

See also: Examples CronEdit The crontab file


Global variables used by DOS. They are usually set in the file AUTOEXEC.BAT


GMT - Greenwich Mean Time.


Conditions on use

Cron is Bannerware. You may freely use and distribute cron as long as:

- No files are altered (cron and documentation)

- Cron is distributed with all files present

- Only a nominal fee is charged for distribution

CronApp and CronEdit are Shareware. You are granted a trial period of 30 days. After that period you should register.

You may freely distribute CronApp and CronEdit as long as:

- No files are altered.

- CronApp and CronEdit is distributed with all files present

- Only a nominal fee is charged for distribution

LIMIT OF LIABILITY:
The programs are provided "AS IS" without any warranty, expressed or implied, including, but not limited to fitness for a particular purpose.
The author is under no obligation of fixing bug or erros int the cron utilities.

All that legal stuff above approx. state that if you use the programs and they smashes your harddisk, uses your modem to invite your mother-in-law for 3-weeks visit or causes World War III to break out, the author is not responsible.

Registration

Please register one copy of Cron for each user at your site. Registered users will be notified of updates and will be sent a free upgrade of the next version of Cron utilities.

Registration form: (print it using the "Print topic" in the File menu in Windows Help)

Cron version: 1.1

Number of copies: ___ each 100.00 DKK = total ______ DKK.

Pay by international money order in DKK (saves me the exchange fee).

Name:

Address:

Country:

Signature:

If you have any suggestions for future versions of cron please write to me.
Send the registration to:

Ivan Skytte Joergensen

Vestergade 9

8732  Hovedgaard

DENMARK