Perpetual process in autoexec script fails

[Jay Talbott]

I would like Alpha to append one table to another table every 15 minutes. The records in the table to be appended are changed regularly and have to be appended to the original table.

I tried this script on an autoexec script:

re_run:
sleep(900)
append.run_silent("append_hemo_to_web")
goto re_run

but Alpha appears to hang, as the autoexec script never finishes running.
How can I accomplish the "perpetual updating"?

Thanks.
Jay Talbott

[Tbaker]

Re: Perpetual process in autoexec script fails

Jay

First of all, the autoexec code is run once, when the application is opened - in your case it is running in a loop - I take it that you had to invoke CTRL-ALT-DEL to stop the scipt from running.

Just based on the little that you have given, if you have a main menu form that is always open, you could set the timer on that form for 15 minutes and then put your code in the forms OnTimer event.

My question is how were you doing it before you decided to use the autoexec script?

The one problem I forsee is that the append could take place while someone is adding a record to the table. The append operation would lock the master table. (The table that the records are being appended to) Is that file in use at any time.

You may want to look at "appending" or writing it to the table in an onSave event from the form that the data entry is being made. This would be done every time you save the record and would not need a "Perpetual append".

Is the whole record being appended to the new file or partial fields? Is there a reason for waiting 15 minutes? I take it you are only appending new records from the transaction table to the master table.

When I need to append records to another table, I usually write them at the time the record is saved and not use an append - using tbl.enter_begin() and tbl.enter_end().

Tom Baker

[Jay Talbott]

Re: Perpetual process in autoexec script fails

Tom,
Thanks for your response. I am going to use the main menu idea.

The complete situation is like this:

Client has a web and desktop application which are related. Nightly, files from the desktop app are FTP'd automatically up to the web server. In rare instances, the clients wants to update the web files immediately (within a few minutes) and not wait for the nightly update. So since no data entry is taking place on the web server, the onTimer event of the main menu is a great way to handle it.

Thanks again.
Jay

[Tbaker]

Re: Perpetual process in autoexec script fails

Jay

The OnTimer event will fire every 15 minutes for as long as the main menu form (the one that you will be using) is open. If that form is open 24/7 the OnTimer event will try to append records to the master continuously every 15 minutes.

How to you determine what records to append. I would think that you would have a logical field that is true to append that record and after appending is set to false so it will be appended just one time.

Tom

[Jay Talbott]

Re: Perpetual process in autoexec script fails

Tom,

The append operation allows "Unique, replace existing" which will prevent multiple records. Each night the "temporary asap" file will be zapped and the next day, it can be refilled with new "asap" names.

Your onTimes suggestion with a main_menu will work perfectly. Thanks again.
Jay

[Tbaker]

Re: Perpetual process in autoexec script fails

Jay

Thanks for the reply.

Tom

[CALocklin]

Re: Perpetual process in autoexec script fails

FWIW:

The sleep() command does just that - it puts Alpha to sleep. And, just like when you go to sleep, it won't do anything else while it's sleeping. In your example it puts it to sleep for 900 seconds or 15 minutes. Of course, to a user it appears to be hung up but it really isn't; it's just doing what you told it to do.

You also might want to check out the Script_schedule() function. This could be used to schedule a script to repeat every 15 minutes without needing a form open and, with a little more work, it could be set to schedule the script to run only during particular times of day/night.