Walk to end Alzheimer's

I just saw this link on facebook, there are no walks in Holland...

There is one terrible thing on earth that should bind us all together. It is not white against black, Muslims against Christians, Arabs against Jews, "left wing politics" against "right wing politics"....

It is a terrible disease that can affect all of us or the people we love.

It should be All Of Us against Alzheimer's. Next year I will again give my February income to www.alz.org (or to the Dutch http://www.alzheimer.nl/ ). Yes I am cheap, the shortest month of the year.

Can you perhaps spare an hour, day or month of your income to fight Alzheimer's? Everything helps and who knows, you may be helping your parents, yourself or your children.

After printing the PDF, I want to...

Some of the WatchDirectory plugins are actually small batch file scripts (.bat or .cmd). Those scripts are typically called by WatchDirectory when new files are detected.

For example, the "Print PDF using FoxIt Reader" plugin is a .bat script that calls Foxit to print the pdf.

Some customers want to have a bit of extra functionality after printing the PDF, for example Delete, Copy or Move the pdf. Here is how you do it, should be easy enough if you know a little bit of batch scripting.

Locate the batch Script to change

In this blogpost I will assume your WatchDirectory task is called PrintPDF, change the directory name below accordingly.

• Make sure the task (PrintPDF) is not running while you make changes to its script
• Inside the WatchDirectory Control Center select the menu "Tools -> Explore Task Directory"
  (this opens Windows Explorer inside the directory where WatchDirectory stores all its settings)
• Navigate one directory "deeper" into the subdirectory with the name of your task (PrintPDF)
• Inside this directory you will find a file called wd.bat, this is the script started by WatchDirectory

Make the changes

Open the file wd.bat in a text editor (notepad) and scroll to the bottom where you will find the following 2 lines

"%FOXCMD%" %OPTIONS% "%WD_FILE%" "%PRINTER%"
%ANNOTATE% Info done

Any changes you want to make after the file has printed should be just before the "%ANNOTATE%" line.

Delete the PDF after printing

Insert the following line

DEL "%WD_FILE%"

Move the PDF after printing

Insert the following line

MOVE "%WD_FILE%" "C:\Some Other Directory"

Print the PDF twice

Just repeat the FOXCMD line, like this

"%FOXCMD%" %OPTIONS% "%WD_FILE%" "%PRINTER%"
"%FOXCMD%" %OPTIONS% "%WD_FILE%" "%PRINTER%"
%ANNOTATE% Info done

WatchDirectory v4.6.7 Beta 3

On our forum we have a new beta for WatchDirectory v4.6.7. Changes in this beta:

• Improved: Implemented "Clear Command Channel" for FTPS protocols
• Fixed: The Upload Files task will now retry to connect when it receives a 40425 error
• Fixed: The Environment variable WD_FILE_E was not properly set for files without extensions
• Fixed: WatchDirectory crashed (or just didn't work) on Vista and Windows-7 when not running as an Administrator
• Improved: The WatchDirectory Control Center is more efficient (cpu and resources)
• New: Filter Events can now also filter with bat scripts for complex filter situations.
• New: A new plugin to Remove the Oldest Files from a Directory: Use it to delete old log files while keeping the 10 newest.
• New: The Zip File task can now be used as a Subtask.
• Fixed: The task that Upload Files to an FTP Server would send false email warnings when renaming files.

Download the beta from our forum.

WatchDirectory v4.6.7 Beta 2

On our forum we have a new WatchDirectory beta available. The highlights of this new beta are:

• Fixed: WatchDirectory crashed (or just didn't work) on Vista and Windows-7 when not running as an Administrator
• Improved: The WatchDirectory Control Center is more efficient (cpu and resources)
• New: "Filter Events" can now also filter with bat scripts for complex filter situations.
• New: A new plugin to Remove the Oldest Files from a Directory: Use it to delete old log files while keeping the 10 newest.
• New: The Zip File task can now be used as a Subtask.
• Fixed: The task that Upload Files to an FTP Server would send false email warnings when renaming files.

You can find the beta on our forum: http://www.watchdirectory.net/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1312278065/1#1

Gandlake - a WatchDirectory customer

Gandlake is a market leader in the supply of web channels, e-Transaction solutions, document storage, print and mail management and site wide authentication models.

Having experienced significant growth and increased demand for their services, Gandlake required an automated file handling solution which would improve the reliability of their services.

"In order to service file transfers uniquely for many individual clients at any one time we needed a scalable system which could handle multiple file uploads from our customers". said Paul Shepherd, IT Systems Administrator, at Gandlake.

Through research we found the product WatchDirectory and quickly established that its rich set of features gave us the perfect solution to our problem.

We have been using the product for several years now and it has proved invaluable to the business. It does not end there, I have to give a special mention to the Support we receive on the odd occasion when we have raised a query, you know that a reply is going to come quickly which is more important than one of those annoying automated processes.

Many Thanks to you and your team Gert.

Paul Shepherd
System Administrator
Gandlake Limited
www.gandlake.com

WatchDirectory v4.6.7 Beta

We have a first beta of WatchDirectory 4.6.7. New/Improved in this release:

• A new task that will remove the oldest files from monitored (sub-) directories (just keep the 10 latest log files, for example)
• The Zip task can now be used as a Sub-Task
• The FTP/Upload task would send warnings when renaming files.

The download and more info is available on our forum.

Bubble Sort

If you wonder how the classic Bubble Sort works, below is a nice illustration

(the fun starts at ~50 seconds.) Advanced students, make sure to view the Selection Sort.

For those....

For those interested in future releases of our programs...

• WxRemote 1.6 will be released soon.
• After that, probably an Android interface for WxRemote
• After that, the most requested feature for WatchFTP will be implemented: SFTP support
• And then... Probably WatchDirectory 5.0..., it may be 2012 by then.

Great Customers - Operating Engineers Funds Inc.

Sometimes customers surprise me...

They see the "tag line" of my email (Support the Fight against Alzheimer's disease!, see also this post) and decide to help.

A few days ago, I received this:

Jon Lee (xxxxx@oefi.org) wrote:
> Just thought you might want to know that we made a donation .  it
> is because of your simple email to me about your mother, Alzheimer feels more personal.
> Thank you for making me more aware of this disorder.
>
> Jon Lee II
>
> Director of Information Technology
> Operating Engineers Funds Inc.
> 100 E. Corson St., Pasadena, CA 91103
>
>
> From: Linda Hughes
> Sent: Tuesday, May 10, 2011 4:21 PM
> To: Jon Lee II (xxxxx@oefi.org)
> Subject: Golf Donation
>
>
> Congratulations!  Mr. Graydon has selected Alzheimer's
> Association of So. California to receive a donation of $2,000 from
> the tournament proceeds.
>
> If you have a personal contact which you would like the donation to
> go to, please let me know asap as I will be sending out the check
> by Friday, May 13, 2011.
>
> Thank you for the charitable suggestion.
>
>
> Linda E. Hughes
> Tournament Coordinator
> IUOE Local 12 Charity Golf Tournament
> P. O. Box 7063, Pasadena, CA  91109

A big Thank You to the Operating Engineers Funds Inc. for their donation!

> Thank you for making me more aware of this disorder.

I wonder.... Is that what is lacking? Awareness? I used to ignore Alzheimer's, even make fun of it. If this was an illness affecting young people, I bet research would get all the funds it needs.

Just for a minute, try to imagine it is your mother who is the patient... After that search google for the Alzheimer support group in your country and make a small donation.

Cober electronics - a WatchFTP customer

As a small business we look to reduce administrative tasks as much as possible.  Document scanning is one of those necessary functions that tends to be labor intensive especially when it needs to be shared by multiple people. We wanted to centralize scanning to a single inexpensive all-in-one device and automate document delivery to the proper person to ensure privacy.

Our all-in-one can send documents to an FTP server but we had no automated way of downloading and sending the scan. Using WatchFTP we created tasks to download the documents from the FTP server and email them to the right person. The entire process is now automated with a couple off button presses on the scanner.

Matthew Krieger
Cober electronics, Inc.

Just Released - WatchFTP 2.4

Free Upgrade

We just released a new version of WatchFTP, our tool to monitor FTP sites for new files. This is a free upgrade for all WatchFTP customers, just download and install the latest version from our website.

New in this Release

• New: You can now also CC and BCC emails for detected files.
• New: You can now also send HTML emails, rich formatting.
• New: You can delay the delete of the FTP file (delete X hours after downloading).
• Fix: The History window behaves better when refreshing.

WatchFTP is available in English, German, Spanish and French.

WatchFTP 2.4 last beta

Delete FTP File, but NOT now

WatchFTP downloads new files from your FTP server and can also "cleanup" after downloading: remove the files from the FTP server after download.

Several customers requested a "delay" for this removal, delete the file after X hours instead of immediately. This is now implemented in this new beta. We expect to release this new version in one or two weeks.

The beta download is available on our forum here.

This will be a free upgrade for all customers, just install "on top" of your current release.

See also

Previous Beta Info

WatchDirectory v4.6.6 beta

On our forum we have a new beta for WatchDirectory v4.6.6. See http://www.watchdirectory.net/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1299412357/0#0 for the download and "what's new".

A world without Alzheimer's disease

I almost forgot to honor one of my heroes, Ronald Reagan. Here in Holland there is not much news about this Great President of the USA, our press in Holland seems to forget that the fall of the wall would never have happened without him (and Gorbachev).

A Terrible Disease

The last years of his life, Mr Reagan suffered from Altzheimer's disease, a terrible illness affecting one of the things separating us from animals: our brain.

In one of his last letters to the American nation, he said:

I have recently been told that I am one of the millions of Americans who will be afflicted with Alzheimer's Disease... At the moment I feel just fine. I intend to live the remainder of the years God gives me on this earth doing the things I have always done... I now begin the journey that will lead me into the sunset of my life. I know that for America there will always be a bright dawn ahead. Thank you, my friends. May God always bless you.

My Mother

... I am not sure what to say ...
She will be 80 soon and asked for donations to the Dutch Alzheimer support group instead of presents (she already has everything, grand-child nearby and a loving husband taking care of all her needs).

GdP Software will donate all February earnings to the Dutch Alzheimer Stichting. Mom, I love you!

Your Mother?

Please help fight this terrible disease! Support your local Alzheimer support group! For example The American Alzheimer's Association.

WatchFTP beta

On our forum we have a new beta for WatchFTP 2.4. See this post for download links and all details.

New in this Beta

• The Email action can now also send to CC and BCC email addresses
• The Email action can send html formatted emails
• The Email action supports a so-called Repeat block

Is a WatchDirectory task Running?

Here is an example how you can check if a WatchDirectory task is running from inside a batch script. The example relies on Microsoft's Handle.exe to check if there is a wdrun.exe process that has the history database of the given task open.

The wdIsTaskRunning.bat Script

@echo off
rem this example script checks if a WatchDirectory task is running
rem usage:
rem  wdIsTaskRunning abc
rem     this checks if the task abc is running
rem  
rem This script uses Handle.exe ( http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896655 )
rem to see if the history.db file of the task is opened by a wdrun.exe process.
rem
SET HANDLE=C:\SysInternals\Handle.exe
SET TMPFILE=C:\Temp\handle_%RANDOM%.txt

"%HANDLE%" -p wdrun.exe \%1\history.db > "%TMPFILE%"
FINDSTR /L /C:"No matching handles found." "%TMPFILE%">NUL
if %errorlevel% equ 0 (
   echo The task %1 is NOT running
   SET TASKRUNNING=N
) else (
   echo The task %1 is running
   SET TASKRUNNING=Y
)
del "%TMPFILE%"

Alternative Implementation

The script above works for all WatchDirectory tasks but it needs Admin privileges to run handle.exe. If the task is configured to run as a Windows Service, you can also parse the output of the NET START command to see if the task is running.

@echo off
rem this example script checks if a WatchDirectory task is running
rem usage:
rem  wdIsTaskRunning abc
rem     this checks if the task abc is running
rem  
rem
SET TMPFILE=C:\Temp\netstart_%RANDOM%.txt

NET START > "%TMPFILE%"
FINDSTR /L /E /C:"watchDirectory:%1" "%TMPFILE%">NUL
if %errorlevel% equ 0 (
   echo The task %1 is running
   SET TASKRUNNING=Y
) else (
   echo The task %1 is NOT running
   SET TASKRUNNING=N
)
del "%TMPFILE%"

WxRemote v1.5 released - includes Web interface

We just released version 1.5 of our WxRemote software. WxRemote shows you the status of your WatchDirectory and WatchFTP tasks on other computers, allowing you to start and stop tasks remotely.

New in this release

This release includes a small webserver, allowing you to use your smart phone or browser to manage your tasks.

For more info and download link, see the WxRemote Webpage.

WatchDirectory v4.6.5 released

We just released a new version of WatchDirectory. New in this version:

• New: WatchDirectory Services will now "Delay Load" on systems that support it.
• New: Hide a task from WxRemote.
• New: The Folder Size plugin allows you to set how often it should email.
• Fixed: Tasks that create directories always created them without any permissions. Now those directories are created with default permissions.
• Fixed: The Control Center and Tasks loaded very slow on some systems with Intel based RAID.
• Fixed: Tasks will not write to the Windows Event log anymore.
• Fixed: The Polling and File Age monitoring methods will not wake up the computer anymore.
• Fixed: The Upload task has been improved so it handles closed connections better.

You can download the new version from our download page.

This release is a free update for all v4.x customers. Just install it "on top" of your current version so it will keep your settings and tasks.

Happy New Year!

000010 IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
000020 PROGRAM-ID. NEWYEAR2011.
000040 AUTHOR. GERT.
000050
000100 ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
000200 CONFIGURATION SECTION.
000210 SOURCE-COMPUTER. GERT-LAPTOP.
000230
000300 DATA DIVISION.
000310 WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
000320 01 TEKST1 PIC X(80)
000330     VALUE "WE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS,".
000340 01 TEKST2 PIC X(80)
000350     VALUE "AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!".
000410 01  IX  PIC S9(5) COMP-3.
000420
000500 PROCEDURE DIVISION.
000710    PERFORM VARYING IX FROM 1 TO 3
000720        DISPLAY TEKST1
000730    END-PERFORM.
000740    DISPLAY TEKST2.
000760    STOP RUN.

It has been some time ago I wrote COBOL for a living, please forgive me if it doesn't compile ;-)
(thanks to Jan Frut for the inspiration for the program above).

Old and New technology

This new year we plan to bring our program WatchDirectory to the current technology level. No, don't worry, WatchDirectory isn't written in COBOL ;-) It is written with Microsoft C++, but a rather old version of their compiler.

You can expect several new WatchDirectory releases this year where we will have spent a lot of time on improving our toolset (compiler and other tools). We will obviously also implement nice new features and plugins, but the new tools will at first be quite invisible for you.

One thing that will be possible with those new compiler/tools is to create a 64bit version of WatchDirectory. The current (32bit) version runs fine on Windows 64, but to keep up with all future Windows improvements we need a 64bit version.

And a Batch script

The COBOL program as a batch script ;-)

SET GREET1=We wish you a merry Christmas,
SET GREET2=And a Happy New Year!

Call :DoGreet1
ECHO %GREET2%
GOTO :EOF

:DoGreet1
SET COUNT=0
:DoGreet1_Again
SET /A COUNT=COUNT + 1
IF %COUNT% GTR 3 GOTO :EOF
ECHO %GREET1%
GOTO :DoGreet1_Again