Document Properties: Scheduling
The Scheduling properties page allows you to set up
conversion schedules.
A given document entry can have zero,
one, or multiple schedules for conversion. If an entry has
one or more schedules for conversion then when a scheduled
conversion is called upon for the conversion list file
containing it, then its schedules are checked to see whether
it is scheduled for conversion at that time. A schedule can
be set to cause a conversion to happen once, hourly, daily,
weekly, monthly, or always whenever a scheduled conversion
occurs.
An example of where multiple schedules can come in handy
is in the case of a news site that has daily, weekly, and
monthly summaries of the corresponding period's most popular
news articles. The daily schedule might be set to occur every
day at 8PM, the weekly schedule might be set to occur every
week on Saturday at 9AM, and the monthly schedule might be
set to occur every month on the last day of the month at 10PM.
When you have a conversion list open in iSiloX and an
entry is scheduled for conversion, you will be prompted
for whether you want the scheduled conversion to occur.
If you do not answer the prompt within 30 seconds, the
scheduled conversion occurs automatically. The prompt
also gives you the option of delaying the scheduled conversion
until some number of minutes later.
If you use iSiloX to save a conversion list that has one
or more entries with conversion schedules, when you exit
iSiloX or close that conversion list, iSiloX automatically
sets up a scheduled task using the Windows Task Scheduler
to call iSiloX to perform a scheduled conversion for the
earliest next scheduled conversion time among the entries
in the list. So even if you do not have the document list
open in iSiloX, scheduled conversions can still occur.
Note that your computer must be on at the time of the scheduled
conversion for the scheduled conversion to occur.
Windows XP and Windows 2000 require an account to have a
password if it is to run a scheduled task. So if your account
does not have a password, you must create a password
for it. See your Windows documentation for information
about creating a password for your account.
On Windows XP and Windows 2000, if you want scheduled conversions
to occur even if you are logged out, you need to exit out of the
Properties dialog. Then go to the Document menu and click
"Scheduled Conversion Account". Uncheck the option
"Run scheduled conversions only if logged on". On Windows NT, you
must be logged in for scheduled conversions to occur.
On Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows Me, scheduled conversions
occur regardless of whether you are logged in or not.
The Scheduling property page shows the schedules for the document
entry in a two-column list, one schedule per row. For a given
schedule, the first column, labeled Schedule, displays a summary
of the schedule and the second column, labeled Disable, shows whether
the schedule is disabled or not. You can quickly disable or enable
a schedule by clicking in its Disable column. To disable all schedules,
check Disable scheduled conversions.
The Last scheduled conversion field shows the most recent
scheduled conversion that occurred. It is for informational purposes
only. To remove the information, uncheck the checkbox.
The Next scheduled conversion field shows when the next
scheduled conversion is to occur. It is the earliest next conversion
time among the enabled schedules in the list.
Click Add new schedule to add a new schedule. Doing
so displays the Add New Schedule dialog. A schedule
can be one of the six types listed as selections in the
Frequency box. Select the type of schedule you want
to add, then fill in the relevant details. The following
subsections describe the schedule types and the options
available.
A Once schedule is a scheduled conversion that occurs
only once at a date and time that you specify. To set up a Once
schedule do the following:
- In the Frequency box, select Once.
- To the right of the Once option, specify the date and time
of the conversion.
An Hourly scheduled conversion occurs at a specified number
of minutes after the hour either once every specified number of hours or at
chosen hours of the day. An hourly schedule can also have an effective
start and/or end date and time. To set up an Hourly schedule,
do the following:
- In the Frequency box, select Hourly.
- To the right of the Hourly option, specify the number
of minutes after the hour at which to perform the conversion.
- To have the conversion performed once every given number of hours,
in the Hours box, select Every and specify the hourly interval.
- To have the conversion performed only at given hours of the day,
in the Hours box, select Only these hours of each day
and check the hours during which you want scheduled conversions
to occur.
- To have the schedule take effect starting from a given date
and time, in the Options box, check Start date and specify
the start date and time.
- To have the schedule no longer active after a given date and time,
in the Options box, check End date and specify the
end date and time.
A Daily scheduled conversion occurs at a specified time
of the day either every specified number of days or on chosen
days of the week. A daily schedule can also have an effective
start and/or end date and time. To set up a Daily schedule,
do the following:
- In the Frequency box, select Daily.
- To the right of the Daily option, specify the time
of day at which to perform the conversion.
- To have the conversion performed once every given number of days,
in the Days box, select Every and specify the daily interval.
- To have the conversion performed only on given days of the week,
in the Days box, select Only these days of each week
and check the days of the week during which you want scheduled conversions
to occur.
- To have the schedule take effect starting from a given date
and time, in the Options box, check Start date and specify
the start date and time.
- To have the schedule no longer active after a given date and time,
in the Options box, check End date and specify the
end date and time.
A Weekly scheduled conversion occurs at a specified time of the day
on a given day of the week either every specified number of weeks or on
chosen weeks of the month. A weekly schedule can also have an effective
start and/or end date and time. To set up a Weekly schedule,
do the following:
- In the Frequency box, select Weekly.
- To the right of the Weekly option, specify the time of day
and the day of the week on which to perform the conversion.
- To have the conversion performed once every given number of weeks,
in the Weeks box, select Every and specify the weekly interval.
- To have the conversion performed only on given weeks of the month,
in the Weeks box, select Only these weeks of each month
and check the weeks during which you want scheduled conversions
to occur.
- To have the schedule take effect starting from a given date
and time, in the Options box, check Start date and specify
the start date and time.
- To have the schedule no longer active after a given date and time,
in the Options box, check End date and specify the
end date and time.
A Monthly scheduled conversion occurs at a specified time
of the day on a given day of the month either once every specified
number of months or on chosen months of the year. A monthly schedule
can also have an effective start and/or end date and time. To set up a
Monthly schedule, do the following:
- In the Frequency box, select Monthly.
- To the right of the Monthly option, specify the time of day
and day of the month on which to perform the conversion.
- To have the conversion performed once every given number of months,
in the Months box, select Every and specify the monthly interval.
- To have the conversion performed only on given months of the year,
in the Months box, select Only these months of each year
and check the months during which you want scheduled conversions
to occur.
- To have the schedule take effect starting from a given date
and time, in the Options box, check Start date and specify
the start date and time.
- To have the schedule no longer active after a given date and time,
in the Options box, check End date and specify the
end date and time.
An Always schedule says that a conversion should happen
whenver the scheduled conversion of any other entry occurs.
To set up an Always schedule, do the following:
- In the Frequency box, select Always.
- To have the schedule take effect starting from a given date
and time, in the Options box, check Start date and specify
the start date and time.
- To have the schedule no longer active after a given date and time,
in the Options box, check End date and specify the
end date and time.
The bottom of the Add New Schedule dialog shows the date and time
of the last scheduled conversion for the schedule as well as the
next computed scheduled conversion time according to the current
Frequency and Options choices you have made. iSiloX uses
the last scheduled conversion time along with the schedule settings
you have chosen to determine the next scheduled conversion date and
time. When you add a new schedule, there is no last conversion
time, so iSiloX computes the next scheduled conversion time as some
future time after the current time. You can modify this
behavior by checking Last and specifying the last scheduled
conversion time, but it is unlikely you will need or want to do so
since you can always specify a starting date and time for the
schedule by checking Start date in the Options box
and specifying the date and time when the schedule first takes effect.
If you want to disable a schedule but keep its settings around
for a future time when you may want to enable it again, you can
check Disable. Uncheck it at some future time to enable
it again. You can also easily enable and disable a schedule
from the schedule list for the document
entry.
Double-click a schedule in the schedule list
to get the Edit Schedule dialog to edit the schedule's settings.
The Edit Schedule dialog is identical to the Add Schedule dialog.
See Adding a New Schedule above
for information about the dialog.
Select one or more schedules in the
schedule list then click
Delete selected schedules to delete the selected schedules.
iSiloX asks for confirmation before deleting the schedules.