Automate common or repeated processes
'Stand alone' operations are typically used for running part of the Optimising program in silent mode (without any user input). This can be useful for automating regular operations, for example, importing parts lists from another system and optimising, exporting results to a spreadsheet ... There are stand alone options for:-
Back up User profile
Batch operations
Cadlink
Export board library
Form/Label printing
Import parts, patterns, boards
Print or export reports
Product requirements import
Stock update
Saw transfer
Typically the commands for each operation are stored in a batch (.bat) file and these can be run like an ordinary program. The commands are simply the standard windows command line options for navigating the system and running programs and a set of arguments to apply to each of the optimising programs. For example:-
BACKUP /AUTO /PATH=E:\BACKUPS
'Backup.exe' is the part of the optimising program that does back ups. /AUTO and /PATH are arguments that pass information to the back up program. Commands can be in upper or lower case or a mixture.
If the option is entered at the Windows Command (CMD) screen this shows how the stand alone options operate.
c:\V12\cd demo
c:\V12\demo>cd user1
c:\V12\demo\user1>c:\V12\backup
- The CD (change directory) command moves the current directory to 'User1' the user profile to back up
- The next command c:\V12\backup runs the backup.exe program
This produces the same operation as choosing the back up option from the Optimising program whilst in the User profile 'User1',
The back up operates in the usual way. Typically the 'Stand alone' options also include the /AUTO option to suppress any prompts. The back up process is then automatic.
Setting the current directory to the user profile (or running the command or batch file from the current directory) is an important part of the stand alone process because the program needs to locate the system parameters to locate all the folders and data available to the User profile.
Any errors occurring during processing of the command line arguments or errors in the subsequent operations are stored in an error file
IMPORT - IMPORT.ERR
STOCK - STOCK.ERR
OUTPUT.EXE - OUTPUT.ERR
BACKUP.EXE - BACKUP.ERR
Note
- If any stand alone commands are to be run directly from the Auxiliary menu, Automatic command files, Saw transfer (program name) or Machining transfer (post transfer program) areas of the software then any equals sign "=" should be replaced with a colon ":".
