Wcron V2.3a Periodical Task Scheduler What is Wcron? -------------- Wcron is a periodical task scheduler. Wcron is inpired on Unix's cron utility. It is very commonly used on Unix systems. In fact most Unix systems depends a lot on cron. Cron (and Wcron for that matter) is most useful for machines that runs 24 hours a day, but it can be of a great help even for casual user. Wcron lets you specify the time of execution of specific tasks. It can be used for on-shot executions and for periodical executions. People use it to make regular backups, remind them of something, start backgroud tasks like file transfer or automated BBS systems and much, much more... Testimonials ------------ "I am very pleased with Wcron. You've got a winner there. Well worth the registration. I have spent alot more for alot less!" - Bill Dougherty [Project Manager Quality Services Inc. @ Convex Computer Corp.] "Other products like Central Point's scheduler included with PCTOOLS and Norton's scheduler included with Norton Desktop for Windows don't even come close to the flexibility of Wcron." - Jim D. Norris "I like what I see so far in Wcron. Norton's Desktop for windows and PCTools 7.1 both have schedulers but they are limited in functionality. Yours offers more." - Brian Blackman [Director of Marketing for Window group] "Great program! My life was saved by a backup scheduled using Wcron." - Chris Maslyar [Desing Engineer - Teradyne, Inc.] Changes for 2.3a ---------------- o Added Edit/View button to the option dialog to edit and/or view the logfile directly from Wcron. Note that clicking on this button calls notepad.exe with your logfile as parameter so you must have notepad.exe in your Windows directory. o Fixed a little quirk in the About dialog that causes Wcron to display "Windows 3.0" instead of "Windows 3.10" o Fixed a little bug that caused the help file to stay open after closing Wcron's main window. o Modified some information in the Help file. o Fixed a bug in the installation program (registered copy only). Changes for 2.3 --------------- o Added Execute, Enable and Disable sub-menus to the task menu to execute, enable and disable a task from the main window. Also added keyboard equivalents for these menus. o Task list now shows enabled/disabled state of each task with a '+' sign (enabled) and a '-' sign (disabled). o Screen saver warning added when choosing the time option in the option dialog. o Easy to use install program for registered users. o Cinétic Systems address change in dialogs, help and text files. Changes for 2.2g ---------------- o Fixed a crash bug that happened in some situations when the file WIN.INI was modified by another application (actually, the only case I have seen is with Excel (File|Printer|OK) but it could have happened with some other application. This was a weird one! Changes for 2.2f ---------------- o Changed the "Delete" button image to something less confusing. The old one seemed always "grayed". This is for you Jim! :-) o Added an "Help" button to the Option dialog. o Udated Microsoft's COMMDLG.DLL and SHELL.DLL o There was still a small bug with the "Day Of Week". This was causing day-of-week specific task to be started every day of the week. Fixed. o Fixed a bug introduced in 2.2e in the option dialog. The options were not saved correctly in the "Wcron.ini" file. Changes for 2.2e ---------------- o Now remembers main window's last position on the screen when exiting. o Help button in the task edit window didn't work properly. Fixed. o Fixed a bug when restoring Wcron from the iconized state to the normal by clicking on the icon text rather than on the icon... The caption of the normal window would not change to "Wcron". Instead it would show the same thing as the iconized text. o Sometimes started at wrong date because of a mixe-up between the "Hour" and "Date" fields. Fixed. o If spaces only were specified in any numeric field in the task info window, Wcron was not saving it as an "*" but it was acting as if it has. Fixed. o Compiled using size optimization to reduce program's size. Changes for 2.2d ---------------- o Fixed a bug introduced in 2.2b that was crashing the program the first time you entered a task. For that reason, version 2.2d was unusable for new users (no wcron.ini on the system) or when you deleted all the tasks and tried to enter a new one. Sorry! :-( o Now disables menu options and keyboard shortcuts for "Edit" and "Delete" when there is no task in the list. Changes for 2.2c ---------------- o Fixed a bug introduced in 2.2b that disabled the "Edit" feature. This was due because when clicking on "OK" in the Task Edit window, Wcron was finding another task that has the same name but it was in fact the task itself. Changes for 2.2b ---------------- o Full keyboard support in main window - 'Insert' to add a task. - 'Return' to edit a task. - 'Delete' to remove a task. o Task edit dialog refuse to let the user enter a task name (description) that already exist. o Added "Task" menus to add, edit and delete tasks o Fixed some inconsistancies in the help file, particularly in field descriptions' examples. Changes for 2.2a ---------------- o Now has association support. Entering a document filename in the "command" field will execute the application that created the document and open the document. o No longer need to specify the extension. If not specified, Wcron will search for an executable file with the base name specified. o Use Microsoft's "shell.dll" to execute tasks. o Fixed a small bug with the icon's date & time under Windows 3.1 Changes for 2.1a ---------------- o Changed the behavior of the "Run" button. Now this button acts as a "test" button. It does _not_ save task info. o Standardized the Time & Date everywhere in Wcron and Reminder. Now uses international settings (set from the control panel). o Bug fix: The months field was off by one. (i.e. 1 was February instead of January) o Bug fix: When deleteting a task that add a description > 17 chars. o Bug fix: When Wcron was unable to run a task, it somtimes crashes. o New mode of distribution. We now accept credit card order via PsL (Public software Library). See below for more info. Changes for 2.0b ---------------- o Fix problem with EGA display o Added EGA bitmaps for controls (buttons) Changes for 2.0a ---------------- o Made the task list sort ordered (bug introduced in 2.0) o Centered the "Last modifications" string in the Task info dialog o Added a confirmation messagebox when clicking on DELETE button to prevent unwanted deletions! o Corrections in the help file Changes for 2.0 ---------------- o Totally revamped user interface. Much more eye-catching and fun to use. o Reminder and Trimfile have been updated for the "new look" o Option to turn off the logfile. o More useful messages in the logfile. o Better error message in logfile (English text as opposed to plain numbers!) o Edit button in the main window that does just the same as double clicking on the currently selected task. o Browse button in the Option dialog to browse for a logfile o Starting directory field in the Edit task dialog o Browse button in the Edit task dialog to browse for a command. o System information in the about box (Windows version, Windows mode, DOS version, processor type and free memory. o Added system menu options. When Wcron is iconized, you won't have to open it to go to the option dialog, get some help, enable/disable Wcron and open the About box. o Registration form. o And couple of minor bug fixes (Well, there is no major bug! :-) Changes for 1.0 ---------------- o First official release! :-) This archive should contain the following files: ------------------------------------------------ wcron.exe Wcron itself wcron.hlp Wcron's help file wcron.txt This file. licenses.txt Site license prices in US dollars. clicense.txt Site license prices in CDN dollars. remind.exe Little reminder for use with Wcron. Documented in the help file. trimfile.exe A DOS and Windows program to trim files to a certain length. Documented in the help file. bwcc.dll Borland's ressource workshop library commdlg.dll Microsoft's common dialog library shell.dll Microsoft's shell library If you get an uncomplete archive, please tell us about it and if possible try give us info on the System, BBS, shareware vendor or other that distributes such an "illegal" version of Wcron. BWCC.DLL is copyrighted by Borland International. COMMDLG.DLL and SHELL.DLL are copyrighted by Microsoft Corporation. Installation (archive): ----------------------- 1) Wcron.exe, wcron.hlp, trimfile.exe and remind.exe should be copied to a directory in your path. 2) DLLs should be installed in your system directory (typically c:\windows\system). Be careful with the DLLs. Check to see if you have versions of these and if they are older than the one distributed with Wcron before overwriting them. You should only keep only the latest version of these files on your hard disk and on one location only. COMMDLG.DLL and SHELL.DLL are part of Windows 3.1. 3) Go to the program manager and do a "FILE/NEW/PROGRAM ITEM" and browse for WCRON.EXE. Wcron's icon should appear when clicking on OK. Installation (registered disk): ------------------------------- 1) Using program manager FILE|RUN menu, start the program install.exe found on the installation disquette. 2) Choose an instalation path and follow instructions. How to order: ------------- Wcron is not free. If you decide on using it, after a reasonable trial period, you are obligated to purchase a license for its use. A license for the use of Wcron can be obtained by filling out the Registration form found in the Help file and by sending a check or money order to the amount of $25 US ($30 Cdn) to: Cinetic Systems P.O. Box 51074, Montreal (Quebec) Canada, H1N 3T8 Internet: Cinetic@Speedy.CAM.ORG Compuserve: 71640,666 or with MC, Visa, Amex or Discover from the Public (software) Library by calling 1-800-2424-PSL or 1-713-524-6394 or by FAX to 1-713-524-6398 or by CIS Email to 71355,470. Ask for part number 10450. These numbers are for orders only. PsL will give you a registration code to unlock the program. Any questions about registration options, product details, technical support, volume discounts, dealer pricing, site licenses, etc, must be directed to Cinetic Systems (see addresses above). You can also mail credit card orders to PsL at P.O.Box 35705, Houston, TX 77235-5705. For more information about Wcron, please refer to the Windows Help file provided with Wcron.