cron job expression trigger

Pedroski · 06-06-2016, 08:51 PM

Hi,
I have a program called FormReturn. It marks multiple choice forms. It is a Java program (I think).

It has a task scheduler. The task scheduler can take a cron job.

I want to set it to check a folder every Friday at say 11pm.

What does a cron job trigger expression normally look like? I have no idea of the syntax for that kind of thing.

FormReturn support just asked me why I wanted to do that, they did not give me the syntax and it is not in their help file.

I've attached a screenshot of the relevant window.

Turbocapitalist · 06-07-2016, 04:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pedroski

What does a cron job trigger expression normally look like? I have no idea of the syntax for that kind of thing.

Not sure what that program actually is asking for but you can find the format for cron entries in the manual page(s). Configuration file are described in section 5: m h dom mon dow command

Code:

man 5 crontab

Each user will have their own crontab.

There are also system cron files. System cron files will have a little bit different structure. The user there is specified in the 6th column. But your program is probably not going to be using them.

michaelk · 06-07-2016, 08:00 AM

I did find this from their website. The link to quartz-scheduler.org is broken but I did find some information.

Quote:

Cron Expression Trigger

Trigger a task at a specific time or schedule with a Cron expression. FormReturn uses Quartz Scheduler for its task scheduling system and works the cron expressions found here: http://www.quartz-scheduler.org/docu...ls/crontrigger

http://help.formreturn.com/server_fo..._settings.html
http://www.quartz-scheduler.org/docu...lesson-06.html

Pedroski · 06-13-2016, 03:43 AM

Thanks for that:

there is a bug in the program. It takes the quartz scheduler expression, but the next time you look, under edit task, the syntax is gone, all you see is the 'poll frequency'.

I put a cron job style expression in. That messed everything up. It was not possible to create any new task after that. Only a complete removal and reinstall fixed that. Lost all my data. Actually, I saved it, but when I reinstate it, the problem is also there again! The problem gets saved with the data!

Haven't heard from the support since then. FormReturn is good, it cost me $ 700, but a bit of support would be good!