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Text File | 1996-10-22 | 28KB | 571 lines

- - - - - - - - - - EVENTMAN.EXE vs 1.5 Notes (10/14/96) - - - - - - - - Thanks for checking out SRO's Eventman! ___________________________________________________________________________ EVENTMAN is SHAREWARE - NOT FREEWARE. If you use it for an extended period (like 30 days) you are expected to register. If you do, you'll receive the latest copy of the program (without that annoying guilt screen). The cost is $15 plus $2 s/h in US, $4 s/h outside US. California residents must slso add 8.25% state sales tax. Send to: SRO SYSTEMS P.O. Box 5028 Blue Jay, CA 92317 You can also register with your credit card by calling (909) 337-7535. Or you can register on Compuserve's shareware registration forum. Just GO SWREG, ID# 5021. Print the "Register.txt" file for order info. ___________________________________________________________________________ DISCLAIMER The very nature of Task Scheduling software makes it more particularily dangerous than most any other kind of program. It is designed to unleash processes on a PC unchecked by the user. TEST ALL OF YOUR EVENTS BEFORE LETTING THEM RUN WHEN YOU'RE NOT THERE! The FINE Print Due to the variety of software and harware that may be present on a user's PC, SRO SYSTEMS makes NO WARRANTEES NOR GUARANTEES OF ANY KIND. SRO SYSTEMS, its employees, or anyone who had a part in developing this software will never be held responsible or liable for any damages to the software, hardware, physical being or emotional status of any user in any actual or consequential methods which might result from the use, misuse, or abuse of this software. ____________________________________________________________________________ REQUIREMENTS EVENTMAN.EXE is a Windows (3.1x, '95, NT) task scheduler written in VB Pro vs. 3.0. Event Manager was designed to run on any 100% IBM compatible PC with a 386 or better CPU and at least 4 megabytes of ram. Eventman itself uses only 200K of ram and 3% of system resources when idle, however, when running events, your system must be able to load the event program, and Event Manager will just about double in size. THIS PROGRAM REQUIRES VBRUN300.DLL TO BE IN YOUR WINDOWS\SYSTEM DIRECTORY. IF YOU HAVE ANY OTHER RECENT VISUAL BASIC PROGRAMS, YOU PROBABLY HAVE IT ALREADY. OR YOU CAN UPLOAD IT FROM MOST BBS's. INSTALLATION Installing is easy. Just run INSTALL.EXE from File Manager/Explorer. ______________________________________________________________________________ DESCRIPTION EVENTMAN.EXE is a Windows (3.1x, '95, NT) task/alarm scheduler. Its purpose is to let your computer do things (like download files or do backups..) while you're away (or asleep). You can schedule an unlimited number of EVENTS, ALARMS, or TASKS to be run on any date, or any time during the week. Alarms can play a wave file and/or flash a message on the screen and can be set to dissapear after a specified amount of time or stay on screen until you hit OK. Events can use command line parameters to specify options, or load files. You can also have Event Manager send keystroke macros to your programs to make them do just about ANYTHING you could do sitting in front of them. You can exit or restart Windows, and send keystrokes to ANY open Windows application. What is an "EVENT" An "EVENT" in Event Manager is a Program (.EXE, .COM, .BAT or .PIF) set to run on a specific day and time, with certain user definable options. See "EVENT EDITOR" below for a description of event options. What is an "ALARM" An "ALARM" is simply a message to yourself set to appear on a specific day and time. A wave file can be played back at the alarm time also. What is a "TASK" "TASK" editor lets you : A) Send keystrokes to ANY open window (launched by EM or not). B) Exit/restart Windows or exit Event Manager. Startup Screen 1) Button Bar Duplicates some of the most frequently used menu functions. 2) File Name of the currently loaded event data file. 3) Current Day/Time There to let you know the current system time and day of week as set in Window's Control Panel. 4) Scheduled Events The event list shows the descriptive titles assigned to your events. You can copy, paste, and clear events using the "Event Menu", or the standard Windows "Ctl C", "Ctl V" and "Ctl X" commands. To edit an event, click the "Edit Event" button, double click on the event title, or choose "Edit" from the "Event Menu". You can run any event immediatly by clicking the "Run NOW" button or by choosing "Run" from the "Event Menu". 5) Type List The list in the middle shows the alarm/event status of each item. Double click the list to switch between "event", "alarm" and "task". 6) Enabled List The small list on the far right shows the enabled on or off status of each event. Double clicking the list enables/disables individual events. You can still run any event immediately with the "Run NOW" button even if the event's enabled status is set to "Off". Also, events run with the command line option "/R" will run regardless of the "Enabled" setting (see "command line options" near the end of this file). 7) Help Bar The help bar at the bottom of the screen gives you instant information on most of the controls and buttons you see on the screen. Anything you move the mouse over,or TAB to in the startup or editor screens will be described here. In addition to help, Eventman will also show here any errors that occur during processing. See "ERRORS" at the end of this file for more information. Event Editor The Event Editor is where you set all the options for running your event. You can reach this screen by double clicking an event, clicking the "Edit Event" button, or selecting "Edit" from the Event Menu. 1) Event This is a descriptive title for your event. It's the title that appears in the main screen's event list. 2) Schedule Mode This selects whether to schedule your event by "DAY" (day of week) or "DATE". 3) Event Day / Date This sets the day of week (or date) for your event to run on. In addition to scheduling an event on a specific date, you can make your event run on a single day, have it run every day, run on weekdays only, or Never. When the "Sched mode" is set to BY DATE, the event day list becomes the "event date" box. You can enter any valid date (in any date format). Event Manager will verify the date, then (if valid) convert it to "mm-dd-yyyy" format. You can double click on the "Event day/date" caption to select TODAY. Event Manager checks Windows for the current day and date, and displays them at the top of the startup screen. Be sure your computer's clock is set right! NOTE : By day "never" selection has been added to allow unscheduled events for running with the new command line "AutoRun" option. (see end of this document) 4) Event Time Selects the time to run your event based on a 24 hour clock. You can double click on the "Event time" caption to select NOW as the time. Event manager checks Windows for the current time every 1/10th a second, and displays it at the top of the startup screen. NOTE : You can use CTRL+N to set both day/date and time to "NOW". 5) Max Length This sets a limit on how long your event will be allowed to run. You can set this interval between 1 minute and 4 hours. A setting of 00 will disable the timer, and the event will run until it ends by itself. The timer starts after the program is loaded, and after any keystrokes sent to the program have been processed. After the timer expires, Event Manager ends the program whether it is finished or not! This might be helpful if your event logs onto an online service and you want to limit your phone bill, but beware. If your event is doing a backup or system maintainence, early termination could be dangerous to your system. Your best bet is using an application that can shut off when done. NOTE 1: TO TERMINATE A PROGRAM, EVENTMAN SENDS THE "ALT+F4" KEY SEQUENCE. NEARLY ALL WINDOWS PROGRAMS CAN BE CLOSED THIS WAY. IF A PROGRAM YOU USE CAN'T, DISABLE THE EVENT TIMER AND SEND THE EXIT KEYS AT THE END OF THE KEYSTROKE SEQUENCE (explained below). NOTE 2: EVENT MANAGER CANNOT TERMINATE DOS PROGRAMS. IF YOU RUN DOS EVENTS, THEY SHOULD BE "SELF TERMINATING" AND THE EVENT TIMER SHOULD BE SET TO "00" SO EVENTMAN DOESN'T TRY TO SHUT THEM DOWN. 6) Ask before running Event This enables a dialog that will prompt the user before running this event. Normally, events are expected to be run unattended, so this box should be left UNCHECKED unless you are sure someone will be using the system when this event is scheduled to run. 7a) Program The set button in this box lets you choose the program this event will run. You can choose any .EXE, .COM, .BAT or .PIF file. Event Manager is designed to run Windows applications, however, Dos programs can also run with a few limits you MUST OBSERVE. Event Manager cannot Send Keys to a Dos program, and it cannot terminate a Dos Event. If you select a Dos program as an event, disable (set to 00) the "Max Length" timer, and pick a program that will "self terminate" and return you to Windows after it's done. 7b) Window Style Window style sets the way the program loads. The Normal, Minimized and Maximized settings work just like the controls in the upper left corner of most Windows programs. If you use any of these three modes to run your event, Event Manager stays in the background and lets the program do it's work. NO OTHER scheduled EVENTS will be run. The background setting is different, it makes the program load as a minimized icon at the bottom of the screen. When run in this way, a program is launched and forgotten by Event Manager. It continues to run in the background until it's finished. OTHER scheduled EVENTS WILL be run. 8) Command Line This sets an optional parameter that is placed after the program name on the command line. Many programs can load a data file or run with special options you specified on the command line. See the program documentation for command line options. 9) Working Directory The Working directory line allows you to specify an alternate directory to use as the application's startup directory. This (normally) changes where the program looks for it's files. EX : Window's Notepad.exe would normally be launched by running "notepad.exe" from "c:\windows", and would therefore default to the "c:\windows" directory when you use the "file\open" command. With the Working directory set to "c:\files\text", Event Manager switches to "c:\files\text" then runs "c:\windows\notepad.exe". If you then selected "file\open", you would get "c:\files\text" as the default directory. Note : (double click for a directory selection dialog) 10) Keystrokes NOTE: You can double click, or press enter in the keystroke box to use a multi-line keystroke editor. You can also double click on the "Keystrokes" caption to see a keystroke reference screen. OK, heres the big one! This option lets you send keystrokes to a program as if they were entered at the keyboard. If your event program is capable of running by itself, you should never need this function. Unfortunately, most programs can't do anything without user input. Windows comes with a macro recorder (recorder.exe) for just this purpose. In fact, if you know how to use recorder, you can launch your macros from Event Manager and have the extra ability to use mouse functions to run your programs. Below are guidelines for using the Keystrokes option to run your programs. NOTE : You CANNOT send keystrokes to a Dos application, or to any program set to run in a "BACKGROUND" window. A) KNOW THE PROGRAM! This is the most important! You must know what keys your program can respond to if you want to send "key codes" to it. Run the program, and note what keys you press. If you normally use the mouse, look at the underlined letters on the menus and buttons as well as the key combinations to the right of menu commands to know what keystrokes are required. If you use items that don't have underlines or key combinations, you can usually use the arrow or tab keys to get to them. B) KEYCODES NOTE: Event Manager has a keystroke reference screen. You reach it by double clicking the word "Keystrokes" in the "Event Edit" screen. Once you know what keys it takes to make the program do something, you turn those keystrokes into "KEYCODES". Don't be intimidated, many key- codes are exactly what you type on the keyboard. Here are the rules : - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - * The alphanumeric characters (A-Z, 0-9) stay just the way they are. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - * "Action keys" and F-Keys (keys that "do things") are used by enclosing the "key name" in braces. # of times to press them goes to the right. Example: {TAB} {TAB 3} {ESC} {F10} {UP} {DOWN 4} {LEFT} {ENTER} The "ENTER" key can be specified either with {ENTER} or ~ A "SPACE" or " " can be specified using { } - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - * The "ALT" "SHIFT" & "CONTROL" keys "modify" other keys. These have special symbols. Alt = % - Shift = + - Control = ^. EXAMPLE : ^C is "Control+C" which usually means "COPY" %E is "ALT+E" which will usually access the edit menu. These "modifier" codes modify the immediatly following key. To show several keys held down at once, you enclose the "modified" keys in parentheses (). EXAMPLE : If you had an application that does something when you press "ALT", "SHIFT", and "F2" simultaneosly, you would use the following : %(+{F2}) If you want to use any of the special symbols (~,%,^ or +) as text instead of their "code" meanings, enclose them in braces. EXAMPLE : To put the characters "100% + 10" into Notepad, then print them, you could use the following : 100{%}{+}10%FP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - C) COMMA'S Event Manager uses comma's to separate commands. You can specify any number of keys to send to a program, and in most cases, the program will be able to process them all at once. However, if you need to give the program time to finish something before sending the next set of keystrokes, insert a comma in the key sequence. Eventman will wait one second for each comma it finds. This is also helpful when you're testing your keystrokes as it allows you to see a menu item getting highlighted before the next key is sent. NOTE : Event Manager see's the comma as an "END OF COMMAND" character. You must also put a comma at the end of the keystroke-sequence or the last characters will be ignored! COMMA'S CANNOT BE USED IN ANY OTHER WAY! REMEMBER NOT USE COMMA'S IN TEXT YOU ARE PASTING INTO AN APPLICATION. D) DELAY TIME The delay time control in the keystroke box sets the amount of time Eventman waits after the application loads to send keystrokes to it. Some programs take quite a while to load, and will not accept commands until the loading process is finished. If you find that the first keystrokes don't get to your program, you should increase this time. 11) Repeating Events Check "Repeat this Event" to run the event multiple times at specific intervals. Event Manager can repeat an event up to 99 times at minute, hour, day, week and month intervals. Note that the event checking timer performs a calculation loop every 1/2 a second to determine if any of the repeats should be run. This routine is quite efficient, but you will want to avoid setting more than 80 events repeating 10 times in the same day as this is as many as we have tested. Theoretically, you could schedule 2000 events to run in the same day and not miss any of them, but I wouldn't want to put this to the test! 12) Kill Program This feature lets you select a program for Event Manager to kill before running the event. If you have a program that might conflict with the scheduled event, Event Manager will end the program and reload it after the event is finished. To do this, you must specify both "Window Title", and "program name". A) Window Title Event manager finds the program to end by its "Window Title". This is the name that appears in Windows Task List (run by double clicking desktop in Windows 3.1) and below a program's icon when minimized. When the event finishes, Event Manager loads the program selected with the "set" button. NOTE : You can now select the window title by double clicking on the "Window Title" box to bring up a list of currently open program windows. B) Shutdown Method This specifies the keystrokes used to terminate the program that will be shut down. Most Windows software can be closed using the default "ALT+F4". If the program you are killing can not, you can specify what keystrokes are to be used by typing them in this box. You can also hit the "DEF" button to restore the default shutdown keystrokes. C) Reload This specifies the .EXE file name of the program to be loaded once the event has finished executing. It is presumed (but not required) that this will be the same program which is terminated (listed under "Window Title"). Alarm Editor The Alarm Editor is where you set the options for your alarms. You can reach this screen by double clicking an alarm, clicking the "Edit Alarm" button, or selecting "Edit" from the Event Menu. The functions are identical to the Event Editor with the following exeptions. 1) Alarm Text Text you want to show when the alarm panel appears onscreen. Up to 250 characters can be displayed. 2) Alarm Style Mode to run alarm. "Simple" just shows the alarm text, and plays a wave file (if selected) once when the alarm loads. "Flashing" will alternate the style of the alarm text at regular intervals. "Loop Wave" will repeat the selected wave file until the alarm is deactivated. 3) Play Wave Enables wave audio playback to punctuate your alarm. To use, an audio device must be set up in Window's "Control Panel / Drivers" "Task" Editor The "Task" Editor is where you set options for sending keystrokes to open windows, or restarting Windows. You can reach this screen by double clicking a "task" in the list, clicking the "Edit Task" button, or selecting "Edit" from the Task Menu. 1) Name This is a descriptive title for your task. It's the title that appears in the main screen's event list. 2) Schd Mode Selects scheduling by "Day of week" or "Date". 3) Task Day/Date When to run your task. When "Sched mode" is set to "BY DATE" . The "task day" list becomes the "task date" text box. You can enter any valid date (in any date format). Event Manager will verify the date, then (if a valid date) convert it to "mm-dd-yyyy" format. You can also double click on the "Task day/date" caption to select the current day or date. 3) Task Time Sets the time to run your task based on a 24 hour clock. You can double click on the "Task time" caption to select the current time. Event manager checks Windows for the current time every 1/10th a second, and displays it at the top of the startup screen. NOTE : You can use CTRL+N to set both day/date and time to "NOW". 4) Task Length This is different for a "TASK" than it is for an "EVENT" since there is no program to terminate. In this case, the max length setting makes Event Manager wait until the selected amount of time expires before returning to process other events. This means you can have Event Manager wait until the Window you sent keystrokes to is finished processing before any other events can be run. You can set this interval anywhere from 1 minute to 4 hours. A setting or "00" will disable the timer, and other events will be run immediately after your keystrokes are sent. 5) Ask before running Task This enables a dialog that will prompt the user before running this task. Normally, tasks are expected to be run unattended, so this box should be left UNCHECKED unless you are sure someone will be using the system when this task is scheduled to run. 6) TASK FUNCTION Exit / Restart Windows This allows Event Manager to Shut down Windows in one of four different modes. * Exit Windows - Just what it says, dumps you at the DOS PROMPT. * Restart Windows - Exit and immediately restart. Like what Windows does when you install drivers. * Reboot System - Shut down the whole system. * Exit/Run/Restart - Exit Windows, run the specified DOS program or batch file (with command line if specified), then restart windows. Send keys to open window (Same as "Event" sendkeys, but different!) In this case, you're sending keystrokes to ANY open Window (whether EM launched the program or not). Keystrokes are the same as with EVENTS. You can double click on the "Window" box to select from currently opened windows. You can still double click on the Keystrokes window to open a Keystroke Editor, and you can still double click the "KEYSTROKES" caption to open the keystroke reference. Command Line Options Though a bit unusual (or just "unused" ?) in Windows, Event Manager now has three command line options : Filename, /R and /X. FileName - event data file ( EX : "C:\EVENTMAN\MYDATA.DAT" ) Loads the specified data file instead of the default (last file saved). The file you specify must have the extension ".DAT" for Event Manager to see it, and Event Manager will create a new blank file if it isn't found. The filename can appear anywhere on the commandline and in combination with the switches listed below. /R - "AUTORUN" ( EX : "/R1" or "/R10,8,5,2" ) This allows you to have Event Manager run the specified Event number(s) (in event list order) immediately on startup. Any number of events can be specified, you must simply separate them with comma's. /X - "AUTOEXIT" ( EX : "/X" or "/X20" ) This switch causes Event Manager to unload itself after finishing specific tasks. You can specify a delay time after the /X to wait that number of seconds before unloading. NOTE : Autrun events will always be run first. Password Protection Note : The initial password was preset to "abcdefg". The "Password" menu provides access to Event Manager's extensive password protection options. "Enter Password" will call a dialog box to enter your password and disable the password protection, "Password Options" brings up the password options screen, and "Secure" immediately enables password protection with whatever options are specified. If password protection is enabled with no protection specified in the options screen, Event Manager will only disable the password options box. Password data file "eventman.pdf" is encrypted using our own Multiple Unknown Code Key (MUCK) encryption algorithm which renders the ecrypted file (by itself) impossible to decode. Even with the key codes, it would take a decryption genius at least a couple of seconds to break. If this file is tampered with (or deleted) when protection is enabled, Event Manager will load in "full protection mode", with no possible access whatsoever! Password Options The "Password Options" screen sets all your protection options including restrictions, time out value, password and password messages. Restrictions 1) Disable all file commands. This disables the "open" and "save" buttons, as well as the entire file menu. 2) Disable all edit commands. Disables the edit functions in the edit menu, the startup menu, and the "edit event" button. Will also activate the password screen when an event is double- clicked. 3) Disable run (now) event. Disables the event menu "run" item and the "run now" button. Events will still launch as scheduled. 4) Hide event list. Removes the event list. Note : This does not disable event editing! 5) Stay minimized. Forces Event Manager to remain minimized. Prompts for the password if a user double clicks the icon. Hides startup screen until correct password is entered. 6) Disable exit. Disables the file menu "exit" item as well as the "exit" button. "ALT+F4" no longer shuts down Event Manager at any time. 7) Make invisible. (watch out with this one!) This is the most stealthy and formidable protection. Makes Event Manager completely invisible! No screen, no icon, nothing. Can NOT be reached using "ALT+TAB" unless it was previously accessed with Task Manager, and Even then, it's invisible. We had to create some way for the supervisor to reach Event Manager without being easy for the average user to find, so here is the trick. First, bring up Task Manager and click on Event Manager. Next, select "switch to". You won't be able to see it, but Event Manager will become the active program. Pressing "Ctrl+F4" (password hotkey) will now bring up the password dialog box. If you enter the correct password, Event Manger will be visible again, if not, it stays invisible PERIOD! You will have to reboot to try again! Options Enable Protection on Startup Does just that. Any restrictions selected will be automatically engaged when the program is launched. Timeout Password entry screen will time out after the interval (4, 8, 12, 16 seconds) has expired. (Since there's no limit to attempts, this is only as useful as its annoyance to someone trying to guess the password!) ERRORS Since Event Manager is meant to be run unattended, it wouldn't be much good for it to generate error message boxes like most programs. If it did, no events would execute until the user hit the "OK" button. When Event Manager encounters (harmless) errors either in its own processing or in the way it was configured by the user, it shows them in an overlay on the help bar at the bottom of the startup screen. Errors are displayed this box (even after Eventman is closed) and are saved in the eventman.ini file. They don't go away until the user double clicks on the error message to clear it. Errors without error numbers are USER errors. Check your settings and try again! If you get an error message with an error number ahead of it, DON'T FREAK OUT, ALL PROGRAMS GENERATE ERRORS, (they don't always tell you!) If you run into an error that stops or crashes eventman, then FREAK OUT (or at least let us know so we can fix it)! - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To : A) Register Eventman B) Receive product information C) Give us comments or suggestions Please call, write, fax or email us. You can reach us at: SRO SYSTEMS P.O. Box 5028 Blue Jay, CA 92317 Phone (909) 337-7535 Fax (909) 337-0575 Email: INTERNET : srosystems@local.net COMPUSERVE : 75604,3535 AMERICA ONLINE : SROSYSTEMS We answer most calls/faxes/email within one day.