HyperCopy - Applications
Copyright (C) by Wen-Jhy Sheen since Jun 1996(BIG5 Version Is Here)

[ Common Application | Scheduled Upload/Download | Run at Background - Instantly ]

 

Common Application

Here, we assume a virtual host hikari as our demonstrative remote host, and a virtual directory c:\local as our demonstrative local directory. Usually, you can open a (DOS) prompt window and typein a hcopy command to execute it directly. Or, you can set a hcopy command for a system event, or put it inside a batch file to run unmannedly. Some examples:

Here are some configuration examples via -CFG option:

 

 

Scheduled Upload/Download

As a command-line utility, hcopy can be executed easily via a system timing event, such as Windows NT's built-in Schedule service. Hcopy can produce log files, which records everything happened during its executing period. All of these make it possible to perform an unmanned and trusty upload/download. Especially, users can select to upload/download unmannedly during midnight or a cut-price period to save time and money.

If dial-up is your only way to connect to the Internet, you can make use of Windows NT Remote Access Service (RAS) and Schedule service to dial up, download, and hang up unmannedly and on time. All you have to do is check hcopy's log file in the morning to see if everything is ok. This strategy gives you a better transmission quality and saves you more time on waiting and watching the screen. Next, we describe this method in detail.

The basic requirements for a timing download is simple and cheap:

One event executes only one command. If you want to dial up and download unmannedly, we suggest you put all your commands into one batch file, then set up one event to call up it. The following is an batch example named auto_download.bat:

@echo off
REM ------------ To
dial up my ISP, if not succeed, keep on trying------------
:dial_again
rasdial MY_ISP my_ID my_password
if errorlevel 255 goto dial_again
REM ------------ Here
are the download commands ------------
hcopy http://www.microsoft.com/nt/ c:/webpages/microsoft -r -l
hcopy ftp://ftp1.microsoft.com/msdownload/sp3/ c:/webpages/microsoft -r -l
hcopy nntp://news.hinet.net/alt.binaries.pictures.anime -l c:/anime
REM ------------ Hang up------------
rasdial /disconnect

* Note

In a batch file, if any character inside the URL of hcopy's command line is encoded into %hh style, one should replace the single '%' character in the given URL with two continuous '%' characters. Since the batch file interpreter has '%' as its own special use.

To setup up an event visually, we suggest you to use Windows NT Resource Kit's winat. The following winat screen shot sets up an event at 02:30AM tomorrow to run the above sample batch file:

About winat, refer to http://www.fido.net.tw/nti/nt/nt40nt/NT&MSN/CMDSCH.html (BIG5 only)

 

* Note

When using system's Schedule service to intrigue hcopy commands, hcopy owns the permissions of the account which is used to start up Schedule service, usually System account is the default. Please note that under such circumstances, hcopy should have enough permissions to read/write the local directory. If a local directory is not given, hcopy will store its files under its default working directory, usually the system directory. And if hcopy don't have enough permissions to access that directory, nothing will be stored. To avoid this, you should specify the local directory (given by local_path) in the command-line explicitly.

 

 

Run at Background

Windows NT is a multi-tasking environment, which means many tasks can operate under the same computer at the same time. Sometimes, as you work under the (DOS) prompt window, you may want to key in another command before the previous command is executed completely. This means, you want the previous command to run at the background of the system, and don't want it to influence the user working one the foreground.

Windows NT Resource Kit's soon command provides you with the ability to instantly run a command at the background. This is especially useful when you are logoning a remote computer via Resource Kit's rcmd or other telnet client. Under such situation, you can issue commands one by one without waiting the completion of each of them. Also, you can logoff immediately with leaving commands running at the remote.

If you connect to the Internet via dial-up connections, you can issue commands by soon at the remote, then logoff and hang up immediately. Then, later, say one day after, you dial-up, logon, and check the result. This saves you more time on waiting and less payment on telephone bills.

The basic requirement for soon command is:

The basic command-line syntax for soon combined with hcopy is as follows:

soon <seconds> "hcopy_command_line"

Where,seconds stands for the time to wait before the given command to be intrigued, hcopy_command_line is the common hcopy command to be executed. After you issue such a command, it will be intrigued after the specified seconds of time.

Some examples:

About soon, refer to http://www.fido.net.tw/nti/nt/nt40nt/NT&MSN/SOON.html (BIG5 only)

 

* Note

When using system's Schedule service to intrigue hcopy commands, hcopy owns the permissions of the account which is used to start up Schedule service, usually System account is the default. Please note that under such circumstances, hcopy should have enough permissions to read/write the local directory. If a local directory is not given, hcopy will store its files under its default working directory, usually the system directory. And if hcopy don't have enough permissions to access that directory, nothing will be stored. To avoid this, you should specify the local directory (given by local_path) in the command-line explicitly.