JCapper Message Board

          General Discussion
                      -- command line or script operation?

"One of the things I did earlier this summer was create a proof of concept project where the HDW File Manager could respond to command line switches.

The name of the .exe file for the HDW File Manager is HDWReader.exe and it is found on the c:\JCapper\Exe folder.

When you launch the HDW File Manager with a button click from the Main Module, the button click event that launches this or any other module causes Windows to perform the same task as if you had navigated to the c:\JCapper\Exe folder and manually typed in the name of the module's .exe file - in this case the characters "HDWReader.exe" (without the quotes) from a DOS command line.

From there, once the module launches, you have to use the module's user interface (buttons, drop downs, calendar controls, etc.) to tell it what you want it to do.

But imagine if the HDWReader.exe module were programmed to respond to "switches." A switch being additional characters embedded in the command line used to launch the module.

For example, what if you launched the module using the following command line?

"HDWReader.exe /T1" (without the quotes.)

And what if the module were programmed to recognize the switch "/T1" (without the quotes) and react to it by:

1. queuing up data files for today's races.

2. queuing up chart files for yesterday's races.

3. downloading both (and committing a list of downloaded files to memory.)

4. running JCP and XRD file build routines for the list of downloaded files.

And what if there were no "Done." message boxes that you had to click through along the way?... Except maybe a "Done." message box at the very end after steps 1-4 above had been performed?

If the HDW File Manger could be programmed to do the above - and it can - then the entire file download and file build process could be executed as a single (macro) operation instead of a dozen or more (micro) operations."