Using Task Scheduler for unattended execution - (Moved)

[Fritterandwaste]

Hello

As I understand it, any jobs scheduled with Task Scheduler cannot interact with any terminal/screen as such (whether visible or not).  Therefore I realise that any AutoIt logic that moves the cursor, clicks etc will be ineffective. However I'm interested in knowing what I can and cannot do in an AutoIt script in a Task Scheduler context.

The logic I have will, ideally, run overnight and gather information from specific web sites. To achieve this, it will:

a) For some sites it will use _INetGetSource to access the HTML of a web page directly.

b) For some other sites it will use _IECreate to trigger an Internet Explorer browser (with visible flag set to 0) and then use both _IENavigate and the browser's .document.body.innerhtml property.

c) In some other cases it will launch Google Chrome and interact with its "window" in order to navigate within the page and copy test into the copy/paste buffer from the page. I am assuming this will not be possible in a scheduled task.

Are either or both of the approaches described in a) and b) likely to give me problems when running under the task scheduler? I'd experiment but I do find it incredibly difficult to debug anything executed by the Task Scheduler as so little info is available when it fails.

Many thanks.

[ioa747]

Take a look Why doesn't my script work on a locked workstation?

[Jos]

Moved to the appropriate AutoIt General Help and Support forum, as the Developer General Discussion forum very clearly states:

Quote

General development and scripting discussions.

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Do not create AutoIt-related topics here, use the AutoIt General Help and Support or AutoIt Technical Discussion forums.

Moderation Team

[Nine]

Put some error handling and log some crucial informations, that way you will know where and why your script fails.

[mistersquirrle]

14 hours ago, Fritterandwaste said:

As I understand it, any jobs scheduled with Task Scheduler cannot interact with any terminal/screen as such (whether visible or not).

Depends on what the job is, and how it's launched from Task Scheduler. If you run a task as a logged in user while the computer is unlocked, there's shouldn't be an issue.

Otherwise for testing, just make your script log/write to a file for the steps that it's on, if it completed, if it was an error, etc. Then as Nine mentioned, you'll know when/where your script fails. You should always be handling and checking for errors, and you can likely get away with some of your actions completing and seeing what's possible and what isn't.

Your (a) and (b) points shouldn't have an issue from Task Scheduler even if the computer is locked, as long as you're not anything in the link from ioa747. (c) will likely give you troubles if the computer is locked.

 

https://www.autoitscript.com/autoit3/docs/libfunctions/_FileWriteLog.htm should be very useful for you logging your script.

[Fritterandwaste]

Thank you. That is helpful (and encouraging). I do use FileWriteLog quite a lot but, yes (and thank you), I'll need to use it more to verify that all is well. At least I now know it's worth taking further. If I remember I will come back and report outcome.

[Fritterandwaste]

I do now have it working for scenarios a) and b). Thanks again.