D O N ' T   P A N I C   !   
                                 ;-)



WarpCron
========

                                WARNING

This is freeware. It is not guaranteed to do anything, or
not to do anything. Use it at your own risk.

Version: 1.47
Dated  : 9 December 1996

Desciption:
===========
- small tiny scheduler
- needs nearly no CPU-Time
- can reread its config during runtime
- native textmode (no PM required! Perfectly for systems with low memory
  and for example TShell)
- native OS/2 application (OS/2 2.x, 3.x. 4.x, I think 1.x will work too ;-) )
- can start OS/2-Window, OS/2-Fullscreen, OS/2-PM, DOS-Fullscreen and 
  DOS-Windows applications
- can start applications every X minutes/days/months
- can start applications on specific weekdays
- can start applications on a specific date
- can start applications on a semaphore (0-Byte File)
- writes log file with date/time
- automatically recognize a *.CMD as a progam, this means that you can
  simply start a *.CMD like an EXE; you do NOT have to write 
  "cmd.exe /c start "bla.cmd" ".
  WarpCron will do this automatically for you.
- WarpCron changes the directory when starting a program to the directory
  which is specified in the event.
  For example: PROGRAM  	f:\utils\test\warprobot.exe
  When starting this event WarpCron changes the current directory
  to f:\utils\test. 
  Some programs require this.

NEW FEATURES
============
see bottom of this document.

Getting started:
================
just see WARPCRON.CFG and you will understand I think ;-)

Hints:
- you can theoretically specify up to 99 events, but 23 lines on the screen
  are not enough for 99 events ;-)
  So WarpCron will change to 50-lines mode if you specify more than 18 events.
- for every weekday you can specify TRUE or FALSE; but in fact just the word
  FALSE is recognized by the program; so you can write everything for TRUE or
  simply write nothing.
- program types are:
  "w" for OS/2-Window
  "f" for OS/2-Fullscreen
  "p" for OS/2-PM
  "d" for DOS-WIndow
  "D" for DOS-Fullscreen
- you can lock an event for writing into the logfile with the LOG <false> 
  statement
- CAUTION!
  DO NOT specify a RunEveryXDay or RunEveryXMon without a DATE!!!
  CAUTION!
- You can change your warpcron.cfg while WarpCron is running! 
  When you finished your changes simply press 'r' on WarpCron's window or
  create a semaphore. The path of the semaphore has to be specified in the 
  warpcron.cfg. 
  Or you can specify a CfgReadTime-Statement in warpcron.cfg and WarpCron will 
  then reread its config every CfgReadTime-Hour.
  So you never have to end WarpCron... perfect for 24h-systems, eh?
- the keywords in the warpcron.cfg don't have to be in uppercase... write it
  like you want ;-)


Running DOS-programs
====================

no problem anymore :-)
Just write a 'd' as ProgramType for DOS-window or a 'D' for DOS-Fullscreen.

Contact
========

I'm looking forward for suggestions, critics, bugreports etc.
Email me at - jbuss@wiloyee.shnet.org
            - Julian Buss@2:240/5210.1
            - Julian Buss@81:449/2008.1

Money
=====

This program is postardware. 
If this program is the thing you ever want to have, please send me a nice 
postcard!
Send it to:

Julian Buss
Friedrichsruher Weg 206
24159 Kiel
Germany

Then I will be *very* glad :-) and send you a code via email, and the "will 
I get a postcard..." will change.

My english
===========

hey, it's not perfect, I know ;-)
If you see a big bug in this text, please email me and I'll change it.

Guarantee
=========

no guarantee for anything except the program will take space on your harddisk
(but not much ;-) ).

Compiled
========

with VirtualPascal 1.10. A damn good pascal compiler... I just love it!

ToDo
=====

- support memory semaphores, not just 0-Byte files
- support for pipes, even in networks,
  so that the output of the logfile cames through a pipe, too.
- a "!"-statement (for "not") in front of a SemPath-statement,
  so that WarpCron will schedule an event if a semaphore does NOT exists
- wildcards for semaphores ("*", "?")
- ExcludeTime / ExculdeDay statements for events, so that you can specify
  that an event must not run at a special time or day.
- your idea :-). Email me, if you have a good idea.

NewFeatures (for bugfixes see bottom of this document)
======================================================

Features added by version 1.47
(09 December 1996)
===============================
- WarpCron can start DOS-session now directly
  Write 'ProgramType D;' for fullscreen and 'ProgramType d;' for window
  I don't know if this works with Windoze-programs too... but:
  who care's anyway? ;-)
- exeption handling if logfile does not exists anymore
- help screen
- toggle between short event-infos (as usual) or long infos with
  program, type and parameters

Features added by version 1.45á
===============================
- WarpCron can read its warpcron.cfg again on runtime when
  - a special semaphore exists (0 byte file)
  - every X hour
  - on key 'r'
- WarpCron searches its warpcron.cfg in the etc-directory which is 
  defined by the "set etc=..." statement of OS/2 TCP/IP. 
- signtime default is now 24 hours.
- you can write the event name right after the event keyword, for example:
  event MyEvent;
        bla bla;
  end;
- The screen repaints only after an event launch now. This saves a little
  CPU-Time and looks nicer ;-)

Features added by version 1.42á
(08 October 1996)
===============================
- Textcolor and backcolor
- "next event to schedule" 
- new sorting of events

Features added by version 1.41á
(30 September 1996)
===============================

- Logfile in binkley-style
- signtime

Features added by version 1.4
(25 September 1996)
==============================

- calculating the RunEveryX... from TIME/DATE up to the actual time/date.
  For example: you write 'RUNEVERYXDAY 4' and 'DATE 2.03.1994'; then 
  WarpCron will calculate the next valid day to run from the 2.03.1994.
  Or: 'RUNEVERYXMIN 120' (two hours) and 'TIME 02:15'.
  You start WarpCron at 12:40, then the event will start at 14:15, 16:15 and 
  so on.
- semaphores for an event.
  For example: you write for event 'beam me up' a 'SEMPATH e:\ipc\mail_in.ipc' 
  and 'TIME 14:42'.
  Then the event 'beam me up' will start on 14:42 OR when the file 
  e:\ipc\mail_in.ipc exists.
- <no name> as name-default
- CTRL+BREAK will not corrupt the logfile
- 'q' quits every time now
- special path for the logfile 
- WarpCron changes to 50-lines mode if >18 events 
- you can lock an event for writing into the logfile 

Features added by version 1.3x
(5 September 1996)
===============================

- RunEveryXDays
- RunEveryXMonths
- changes to the program's directory before starting it
- run on a specific date
- weekdays default to true

Bugs fixed
==========

V1.47
- a bug with the config read routine; keywords were recognized after the
  terminator ';' too :-( This caused some strange errors.
- screen became blank if logfile does not exists anymore.
  Now WarpCron proofs the logfile every time it will write something in the
  logfile.

V1.45á
- some screen-painting bugs

V1.42
- signtime does not work correct
- sometimes the screen becomes black
- the boring "waiting for next minute..." is not needed anymore

V1.41á:
- calculating of minutes was not perfect

V1.4:
- events don't start at 00:00 

V1.3x:
- sometimes an event time went >23
- DATE showed day/month/day, not day/month/year ;-)
- some programs terminated immediately after starting.
  This was the thing with the wrong directory. 
- RunEveryXMin did not run >24 hours
  now hopefully fixed.

<Eof>