Subj : Re: Timed Event in windows file?  (batch possibly?)
To   : comp.programming
From : Rob Morris
Date : Tue Jul 19 2005 03:50 pm

ratedr1@aol.com wrote:
> Is it possible to add a timer/timed event in a batch or txt file?
[Snip!]

Hi, I think there are better ways to script on Windows than using batch 
files, but you can still do fairly powerful stuff with them, mainly with 
the 'FOR' and 'IF' commands.  There is a %TIME% environment variable, 
which you could send to a file, and then parse it using the 'FOR /f' 
command (it reads through files and can be told a separator token). 
Maybe something like this:

@echo off
: start

rem Put time in h:m:s into a file
echo %time% >temp_time.txt

rem Pull out number of seconds, loop until it's zero.
for /f "delims=:. tokens=3" %%i in (temp_time.txt) do (
   if %%i==00 (
     echo 0 seconds.  Starting...
   ) else (
     echo %%i
     goto start
   )
)

Now, this is fairly naff and is linked to seconds in the minute, not 
time elapsed.  But it could be extended to a whole list of commands by 
using another FOR loop with a list of commands and when to do them.

e.g. a control.txt file with a list of what to do

=== control.txt ===
00:echo 00:echo Hello
15:echo 15
30:echo 30
===================

A helper, wait_until.bat
=== wait_until.bat ==========
@echo off

: start

rem Put time in h:m:s into a file
echo %time% >temp_time.txt

rem Pull out number of seconds, loop until it's zero.
for /f "delims=:. tokens=3" %%i in (temp_time.txt) do (
   if %%i neq %1 (
     goto start
   )
)
===========================


And the main file:
=== timing.bat ===
@echo off

rem Read control.txt one set of commands at a time
rem
for /f "delims=: tokens=1,2,3" %%a in (control.txt) do (
     echo Current line says %%a %%b %%c
     wait_until %%a
     @echo off
     rem Now do commands
     %%b
     %%c
)
==================


You see?  timing.bat reads control.txt, waits until the number of 
seconds it's told to, then executes up to two commands (the second and 
third tokens on the line in control.txt).  Then it reads the next line 
of control.txt, and so on.  (Note the separate wait_until.bat, I had 
problems trying to do it all in one file).

Anyway, this isn't a great way of doing things.  I'm sure someone could 
write something better in C in about five minutes.  I ploughed on with 
it once I'd started but I don't think it's very good.  Good luck anyway.
Cheers,
Rob M

-- 
Rob Morris: arr emm four four five (at) cam dot ac dot uk

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