Will Standalones Work on a Server w/ Cron Job?

[b2bguy 0]

Have a site where a visitor/convention bureau wants to import a bunch of other site's calendars into their calendar. Currently using google calendar so I'd need to scrape the calendars and then convert them from a csv to an ical.

 

Can the standalone bot creator turn out a scraper we can run on a server with a cron job? (I'm not a programmer btw, can mess with a bit of code - just collecting info for our team & gauging how complicated this will be)

[jewcat 0]

I don't see why you couldn't set it up to run with Windows Scheduled Tasks. Shouldn't really need CRON, though you can install CRONw on a windows server.

[alcr 135]

Just make sure it's a windows server, got ie7 or ie8 and NET 3.5

[greencat 18]

I did this for a client. I set up two bots for them. One running every 5 mins - the other running once a hour making sure the other is running.

 

I used Windows task scheduler to manage the jobs. There are two approaches you can look at:

 

1. Compiled bots. If you use this - you'll need a way of starting and quiting the bots automatically. AutoIT can do this.

2. Using Ubot Studio itself. Ubot Studio can run bots automatically via the command line using the /auto switch.

 

Error trapping is key - otherwise you can end up with a bunch of bots which have generated pop up errors and somehow not managed to quit.

 

There are several gotchas with either approach which I learned by trial and error. If you use external config files for your bots and go the Ubot Studio route - you need to make sure all files including bot/config files are in the folder as Ubot Studio itself (unless you hardcode the paths into your bot).

 

AutoIT has great difficulty working out what the bot is doing eg when the compiled bot has finished. I used a javascript pop up alert to tell AutoIt the bot had finished (and then closed the bot from here). Note compiled bots will also occasionally generate errors when closing - which for smooth running you should monitor for and close the bot regardless.

 

It may also be worth your while scheduling a taskkill every so often so you don't end up with lots of bots which haven't quit properly. Note taskill bot.exe will kill every running bot so use with caution. You don't seem to be able to do a taskill "name of compiled bot" btw.

[iglow 8]

wheres the command line?