Tell us how Macro Scheduler helps you, what you use it for.

[Marcus Tettmar]

I started this thread a while ago and got some really interesting replies, but the thread seems to have disappeared! Not sure what happened, but I think automatic pruning might have been enabled - still getting to grips with this board software. Sorry about that.

So, let's start again. It is always interesting and very helpful to know what people use Macro Scheduler for. So, please post a paragraph or two here on how Macro Scheduler helps you in your work.

Cheers,
Marcus

[ho]

Hi,
I start started using this - I'm new.
I use it for setting my IExplorer printer settings before printing webpage.
I use it to set my Proxy settings in IE.

Also use it to call up applications that require passwords etc.

=0)

[labrat]

Greetings Everyone!

I primarily use this to launch other executable scripts at the desired times. I've been using Macro Scheduler for a couple of years now and have never experienced any problems.

John F.

[Ernest]

Hi Marcus,
I'm still using it (which was formerly planned as a temporary solution) to automate the provisioning process (24/7) of a big tele-communication company. That's activation/deactivation of phone numbers on the frontend of an inhouse billingsystem.

Cheers
Ernest

BTW: Still wishing a compiler to compile a MSched script (e.g. a script which contains a password for a login) to a self running Script.exe.

[gambetm]

Hi Marcus;
I use it to automate opening diferrent programs that require login ID and password.
Most are different password, and due to the amount of applications that I need to carry out my job I have to constantly open/close different applications.
Saves me a lot of typing, time & frustation at rrmembering the passwords.

[heretic]

Hi all - this is my first post here.

Mostly my work with MS has been small utilities for automating a routine which had repeated itself so many times I grew up tired of typing it over and over again.

Examples:
Macro which starts DOS prompt and types doskey+enter automaticly when I hit F12. I use it every day.

Macro which prompts for a job number, connects to UNIX workstation with telnet, creates a tar archive of the job files in UNIX, FTP's it to PC and e-mails it to the customer. Seeing this macro in operation my collegue said that this is what he calls automatic data processing.

Last but not least: Macros which run periodically using SQL server and send out those weekly and monthly reports are really something.
Bad thing is that sendin reports work even when I do not happen to be in the office.

[ldevito]

Hello Everyone,

I just purchased Macro Scheduler Pro and love what I have seen so far. We recently went live in our hospital with a new computer system. The system does not have macro capabilities or the ability to schedule processes to kick off at a specified time. I am using Macro Scheduler Pro to automate a process where we generate four reports, spool them, copy them down to our PCs and email them to another vendor that uses the reports to turn on/off phone service. It is scheduledd to run hourly and works great.

As soon as I learn all of the intricacies of the software, I am going to put out a memo to our hospital staff to see if I can help them automate any of their tasks. I have already had requests to generate monthly reports for different departments. Looking forward to seeing what the end users come up with.

[altquark]

Hi Marcus !

You of course know me well !

What do I use macroscheduler for ? For major load and stress testing of ERP software at customer sites - there is nothing easier and more configurable to implement, and with a terminal server I can run hundreds of sessions to stress test custom applications at my customer sites.

I tell my customers constantly to buy macroscheduler - I've been using it for years (though I started using it initially to "macro" my skills on Ultima Online !!!) - and I am really looking forward to helping implement Rapidfire at my customers.

Good to see this board up and running !

[dbish]

Hi Marcus,

I have used MS for about five years both for automating a small business and personal projects. Some of the more unique applications came in tying macros from Excel and Word together. Just could not get Word to stop/start at the right time based on some Excel processing. Set up dummy message windows in Excel and had MS wait until they were closed to nudge Word.

Lately I have been automating data harvesting from the internet. I have a list of stock tickers (1200 in one project) which I want info on - use LineRead of MS to bring up correct Stock ticker from a file and run multiple websites and harvest data then move to next ticker.

I also use it to initialize my computer at 6:00 am while I am still in bed. Starts Outlook Express, brings up three websites, and everything is ready for me when I look at machine at 6:30 (I trade securities at that time).

The functionality of MS is impressive - I frequently find myself amazed at how creative logic and simple commands can solve a problem.

Best,

Dave Bish
(you may remember giving me a lot of help on a big project 4-5 years ago)

[Bob Hansen]

I just left the forum for TextPad http://www.textpad.com/forum/ where "Kevin" asked for samples of what he could do with Macro Scheduler and TextPad. I left him with this:
===================

Some sample of my MS scripts look like these:

WEEKLY FTP UPLOAD:
Open up Q&A (Symantec Data Base still alive and kicking!)
Export records meeting certain specs from database to ascii file
Close Q&A
open up TextPAd
Reformat ascii format replacing ; delimiters with |
Count lines/records (always different)
Add a header to the file with information including record count
Add a footer to the file with information including record count
Saving the file with todays date as part of file name
Closing TextPad
Call WinZip to zip the file just saved (include password),name with todays date
Start FTP session and upload zip file
Confirm FTP was good/bad.
Move uploaded original files to archive folder
Sent SMTP good email to destination and to administrator confirming upload, date and time, filename, size, and number of records. or bad email to administrator if problem encountered.

This is scheduled to run at night, off hours, no human intervention needed. All steps are date/timestamped and written to a log
=======================
DAILY OUTLOOK BACKUPS
Another routine (no TP involved here) copies Outlook.pst files from 30 workstations to central server folder prior to nightly server backup so local Outlook files get 2 backups, one on server, and one on server backup.

This is scheduled to run at night, off hours, no human intervention needed. All steps are date/timestamped and written to a log
========================
WEEKLY WEB NEWSLETTER
Another routine (no TP here) opens Netscape, calls up a page, enters password, reads 5 newsletter web pages with dynamic names (every run the names are different), Closed Netscape, Opens Acrobat to converts each of the HTML pages to PDF format. Combines all PDF pages, deleting extra pages not needed, and combines all into one PDF document. Close Acrobat. Open FrontPage goes to a web site, uploads the latest PDF file, and places a link on the web page, enters the titles of each of the original pages to a table of contents, closes FrontPage and is done. You can see final web page at http://www.joelhschwartz.com/newsletters.htm

This is scheduled to run at night, off hours, no human intervention needed. All steps are date/timestamped and written to a log
============================

After I submitted the section above, I remembered this page and thought it should be included here. Perhaps it will raise some ideas for others.....enjoy.....

[SteveW]

Hi,

I use the software for a whole host of things. I wrote an email parser in it which takes incoming emails and attachments from clients and creates a
broadcast SMS message all automatically. I run end of month billing routines, create customer itemised billing reports, distribute daily service usage figures, clean lists, just about anything.

If ever I need to do a task which involved processing information in a repetitive way I sit and write a script.

[Captive]

Checks a list of logs files on a few FTP servers, downloads logs that are older than 2 days, stores them in a sub-folder named by date, zips them up, emails them.

5 years ago, I used to use MSched as an alarm clock to wake us up by playing MP3's.

One script logs me on @ work, putting in passwords, positioning and sizing windows. My co-workers heard about this, and so I compiled an .exe for them.

Delete unused temp files (although I must improve on this), and cleares certain cache files over x hours old. This significantly improves loading time for some of the applications I use.

Checking that certain programs are running, and connected to their host (using DDE).

I also use MSched to SPANK THE MONKEY! http://tfcc.proceed.net/downloads/SpankTheMonkey.scp (just some fun)

[Hakarien]

I use Macro Scheduler for repetitive tasks of course, for exchanging information between programmes, but also a lot for anything that is application and/or PC independent:

-- A input dialog with 10 choices of my most used strings, like full name or email address or Credit card numbers. So Hot-Key, a number 0 to 9, and it's inserted at the cursor location

-- Parsing the selected line into an eMail database

-- Input a date-time stamp at will

-- Have a company wide sequential numbering generator

-- Change the wav file associated to incoming mail every now and then

-- Check that the virus files are up to date

etc..

[tony_smith]

Marcus,

We also began using MSched to plug a hole and have continued using it as the functionality of the product increases. I believe that part of our success has been in using small but nimble tools to obtain results similar to large-footprint applications. We have been using Msched (MS) for about three years now with great success… one of my favorite tools.

We use MS extensivley in our e-commerce area in a variety of applications including automation, file handling, report writing and error checking.

We use MS concurrently with Trading Partner (Owner was Mercator, now Emanio), an e-business program for scheduling our EDI and other communication requirements, including FTP and X25. Trading Partner calls other applications and in our case, besides some DOS batch files, TP calls MS scripts to perform functions that TP does not handle.

We are running MS on a Compaq 1850R server (Pentium III 500 MHz with 256 meg of RAM) running Win-2000 (V-5.00.2195 SP2) Advanced Server.

We access the server user Terminal Services and always have one session open as we have one script that sends keystrokes to another Windows application. We built all other scripts to run without screen interaction.

[Marcus Tettmar]

I have resurrected this thread and elevated it to a sticky so it doesn't get buried away again. It is always helpful to see how others benefit from Macro Scheduler and we love to hear your stories so please contribute.