#$Contents:
Please select:
Conditions on use

CronEdit contents
Cronapp contents

#$KCronEdit contents:

Purpose of CronEdit

Dialog boxes
The crontab file
Examples

#$KPurpose 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.

#$KDialog boxes
Crontab editor dialog
Job edit dialog

#$KThe 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.

#$KThe 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

#$KThe 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

#$KExamples
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.