Timed Scripts in FMSA7 on Mac OSX

[txjcfsr]

I've read some posts here referring to scripts, but none completely address my situation. I converted my FMP6Unlimited files to FMSA7 and have them working in Custom Web Publishing. Now, however, I cannot find any way to run my scripts. On my FMP6 server, I had iDo script scheduler setup to activate my applescripts at specific times. These applescripts told FMP6 what script to run, and when. For example, the server sent me emails twice a day to let me know it was still functioning properly. In addition, the system sent emails with weekly reports on Monday night, including information from the FMP6 files. I thought that by moving up to FMSA7 I would find "built in" capability to do these type of automatic timed script activation, but I can't seem to find it. After reading some of the posts here, it appears that others have encountered the same issue.

If anyone knows how to make applescipts work on a timed basis for activating my scripts in the converted files being served by FMSA7, please let me know.

Thank you,

John C. Foster

[Reed]

Since FMSA doesn't actually have a FMP client interface as FMU did, you'll need to run your scripts from another machine that's running FMP, and is connected to the FMSA database. I'm using the MMScript plugin from CNS to do just that. (There are free ways to do this using cron and applescript (or VB on windows)), but the plugin was easier and only $35.

In my system, the client machine sends out the automated emails on a schedule, and also uses ODBC import to synchronize some of my tables with data from our departmental SQL server.

I actually don't use a dedicated machine for this, I just use two accounts on my Desktop machine with Fast-user switching enabled. There's just a logged in account in the background that does all the automated stuff, while I work in my account. (You need a VLA or two different installs (like one FMP and one FMD) to make this work) I haven't noticed a slowdown, but I have >1GB RAM on a dual G5, so your mileage may vary.

There are ways to automatically run scripts using FMS as well. You use the same scheduling system that runs the backups to call shell scripts. A shell script can make a call to an applescript and vice-versa. The problem is that you shouldn't run FMP on the same machine when FMS is serving files... too much risk for corruption of data.

[txjcfsr]

Thanks! I would like to discuss this with you further. How can I reach you, email, phone, chat?

Thanks again,

John C. Foster