bearcav

I've been thinking about writing a backup program myself, this is a good start. Its hard to justify the time as there are a couple of really cheap (as in free to $29) and full featured programs out there. My biggest need is in a school network for teacher and staff files. I would love to automate their backup in a way that is secure and then also allow them to retrieve files themselves. Maybe a AutoIT Cobian wrapper? Anyway, nice work, could easily be modified to handle a number of special need type jobs.

That works fairly well though now I would prefer that Koda clobber its field in my script and then I rerun my string replacements. I need to figure out how to get SciTE to do more complex replacements because I want to do arrays also, txtField1 => txtField[1] or even multi-line replacements. Where can I get some good help on this sort of thing for SciTE? Thanks, Barry

I don't like the idea of the wrapper though I may give it a go. I think we all agree that even if we want some custom macro we need more from Koda to really be fully usable. I think though that coda is really on the right track. I just found the advanced generate templates and see there a great place to "give the power to the people" The standard loop example template is: I do not understand what the %EXPVARINITCODE% does but I have to assume that %GUICODE% is simple a place holder for the code that comes from the Koda xml.form file. I just realized what I plan to do. Simple post processing by search and replace would do the trick. in text fields use *$myvar*, this includes combo lists and default text. After pushing the code to myform.au3, and I have found it best to keep it separate anyway preproduction, do a search and replace. all => "* <= get removed as well as all => *" <= close to the top of my form I keep a list of variables I am using as I work with the koda form. These two files stay together myform.au3 and myform.kxf When I'm ready to fully use the form I copy and paste it in my main project. This way I can polish and work the bugs out to my hearts content and come back to the project much later and be able to pick it where I left off. Can you tell me a bit about the advanced generate templates as it might simply things further? Great Work, I feel this has extreme potential! Barry

Yes, I've reading up. The following is basically addressing my main concern: We have file locking problems on our Novell servers. I'm not a Novell expert by any means. Really no one in our camp is, though the ones that set up the server know more than me. In this case Novell errs on the safe side, the problem is that the file cannot be written to because it is locked by another user. It does not get freed until that user is logged out or kicked out manually. I feel like it is somewhat of a configuration error on our part because though it seems to happen somewhat infrequently it does happen sometimes on profilefiles that are in fact "read only" for those users groups. So I expect some trouble in that regard and am considering what to do to make the App robust. Since SQLite dbs are small, as is their overhead, I am considering separating sections into separate files and/or possibly still using append to csv for "change submissions". In this case I would then need a single user "administrative cleanup app" and, if used, a regular read on the csv file for data changes in progress. A lot more coding for sure, but it could be done in a way to make the transition to a server db smooth and enterprise ready. I am trying to avoid a lot of upfront code cost and yet keep myself away from an eventual complete rewrite. Hence the more I think about it the more I think the problem of lockout should be considered in my code with the idea of modifying the code "if it gets to be a problem". Still someone else's real world experience in the matter would be greatly appreciated! Thanks for the tip!, Barry

Seeing stuff that is going on in the software world it seems reasonably possible to extract and use a data file and then recombine with the changes. Since AutoIT exe's are built like they are it seems like it is all the more possible, and further encryption schemes could be used to protect vital information. Start -enter password use password to decrypt resource if successful continue load values and run main program Save -> encrypts a copy of the data and replaces the old encrypted file Shutdown checks for anything else that needs to be saved and exit If userland is secure and password is secure then data is pretty decently secure. Just a thought as it helps to have a destination in mind when your start your trip...

OK, now it works great! You repeated your error function. Really cool! I haven't been able to get any work done for all the playing.

The editing of posts is a bit choppy, I decided I should elaborate: I am planning ahead by allowing for a user adjusted schema and possibly making it commercial. Since I'm living in one of the poorest parts of NC I have to look to do something like that! This would become the PM client and will allow for templates on the logon "Legal Text" screen (working) someday to be managed centrally. It needs to verify computer inventory though I am allowing to broaden from the local computer to other computers and items. The scope for this portion is for the technician (or possible less qualified individuals) to post their work on that piece of equipment, not as an administrative interface. I have 12 generic fields and several other fields that will be configurable. I will hide all but what is needed according to the configuration. I've overlaid text boxes with the combo boxes hidden at the start on all twelve generic fields (they use the same labels) as well as a couple of others. They are to be swapped out as needed when the data is read and before the form is shown. Eventually (when I add more than just the local computer to "PM") I plan on a combo box switching out the fields as needed ("Computer Model" become "Printer Model" and the fields change accordingly). I've done some testing (running the script and then changing variable values by hand and running again) and know it will work. Koda is a trip, I really like it and have finally gotten good enough with it that I think I won't have to manually edit the results except for adding 12 of the overlaid cbo boxes, you just need to be very thorough. I'll never make a VB app again if I can help it!! AutoIT Rocks!! Any pitfalls I should lookout for? I wanted to get a clear picture of problems to look for and things to do to improve the odds of my success and reduce the amount of frustration. I am speaking about AutoIT's SQLite funtionality, and Yes Please Make It Native!. Do you know how often organizations need a quick and dirty db app?? I know AutoIT's SQLite functionality is green but it seems a good gamble for me count on its progress and its a lot of fun. This code will always be a fairly dumb client pushing a simple submission set. I may never need to build a "server" App, though I hope to use a server based DB eventually. Thanks!

Actually I started there, I had been setting up the csv append and thought it would be much nicer to use a db. I had SQLite in mind when I did my search on the forum. Looking at it again: I guess this answers my main question, so I will head in that direction. Any pitfalls I should lookout for? So I wanted to get a clear picture of problems to look for and things to do to improve the odds of my success and reduce the amount of frustration.

Just to be sure you understand, I am not looking for code per say, more theory and general experience. I have already created a nice GUI in Koda and have a much more basic gui and code that writes data to the registry and appends a csv file on the network. I am wanting to delve into SQLite and distributed db's one step at a time. I have created fairly complex access db's but am not a fan of m<es>s in general.

I was wondering what the performance issue would be with running a AutoIT - SQLite App on a Novell mapped drive. My project is tracking the PM'ing (Vacuuming, checking settings ++) of computers and gathering missing inventory information while we are at it. Occasionally the app may be run by multiple users at the same time. I was wanting to keep this simple and not use the server and mysql db. I was thinking it might be possible to hold down file locking problems by using read only mode most of the time and opening the db for quick writes. I am really a noob especially, with AutoIT.

Excellent idea, That sort of thing to me is a great memory aid more than anything else. I use diskpart once every 6 months or so and I don't like worrying with getting the syntax right. Also since I am a noob with AutoIT the script should provide me with some insite.