.bat file to deploy database from server

[John Gray]

The simple answer is No!

You can reference a local PC file as C:\some-dir\filename.ext - and the same if you happen to be logged on at a server.
You can reference a remote file as \\servername\c$\some-dir\filename.ext

And alternative way is to map a drive to a share on the PC or server
net use x: \\servername\c$ (since C$ is the administrative share - you need to be an administrator to do this!)
and then reference it as
x:\some-dir\filename.ext

When you're running a BATch file via the Task Scheduler, it is best to specify the full path in the form
\\servername\c$\some-dir\filename.ext

[grovelli]

Oh alright, I thought C$ indicated the C: drive
So what's the difference between referencing
\\%pcname%\c$\RSM\Database
and referencing
C:\RSM\Database
?
And isn't pcname the name you can get by right-clicking the My Computer icon on the pc desktop and selecting the Computer Name tab?
Also, if FindStr is supposed to take parameters 1 and 2 from where they have been supplied in the table at the beginning of the file, why isn't the syntax
set forcmds=findstr /1/2 "::##" %~f0
?

[John Gray]

Oh alright, I thought C$ indicated the C: drive

It does, in practice. But if you are being pedantic, C: indicates the C drive of the computer you are logged on to, whereas c$ indicates the administrative share for C:. In practice they are identical - provided you are talking about the machine at which you are logged on.

So what's the difference between referencing
\\%pcname%\c$\RSM\Database
and referencing
C:\RSM\Database
?
And isn't pcname the name you can get by right-clicking the My Computer icon on the pc desktop and selecting the Computer Name tab?

If you are logged onto the computer, the answer is "no difference", but if you are running on the server or another PC, the first form enables you to access that file on another PC, from the server or a different PC.
The content of the environment variable %pcname% is assigned by the BATch file.
You may be thinking of the built-in variable %computername% which contains the computer name of the computer on which you are running. (To find lots more predefined environment variables, go into a Command Prompt window and type SET and press Enter)

Also, if FindStr is supposed to take parameters 1 and 2 from where they have been supplied in the table at the beginning of the file, why isn't the syntax
set forcmds=findstr /1/2 "::##" %~f0
?

Mainly because that's not the correct form of parameters for FINDSTR! Do FINDSTR /? in a Command Prompt window, and be baffled by the flexibility of the command...

Nobody ever said that writing BATch files was easy!

[grovelli]

Thanks John, it ain't easy for sure

The content of the environment variable %pcname% is assigned by the BATch file.

Yes but it's hard-coded into the batch file:
:: TABLE of PC names and users for the copy
:: must have "::##" prefix followed by space, PCname, space, username
::## RoadWarrior1 Gladys
::## RoadWarrior2 Mabel
::## RoadWarrior3 Tarquin

What I'm interested in finding out is how do you come by those PCnames?

[Wendell]

I'm a bit late to the party on this discussion, but the subject has come up from time to time in the past. You might find this front end on c drive (Access 2000) old thread over at WindowsSecrets of interest. The approach that most of people settle on is a batch file on the workstation where the front-end resides that copies down a new version each time the PC is booted. The solution we use (deployed on over 1000 workstations in various countries) is to use a small VB app that is used to start a database, and checks to see if the database (or any components such as the user security workgroup file, add-ins, or ActiveX controls) have been updated, and if so downloads the latest version from the deployment server. And it does make a world of difference in terms of the effort of maintaining a database which changes over time.

[grovelli]

Hi Wendell,
is your app available for us mere mortals?
I'm still interested in what John has to say here because batch files can be useful in situations other than updating frontends and also whether someone can tell me what PowerShell might offer in batch files'place.

[John Gray]

The content of the environment variable %pcname% is assigned by the BATch file.

Yes but it's hard-coded into the batch file:
:: TABLE of PC names and users for the copy
:: must have "::##" prefix followed by space, PCname, space, username
::## RoadWarrior1 Gladys
::## RoadWarrior2 Mabel
::## RoadWarrior3 Tarquin

What I'm interested in finding out is how do you come by those PCnames?

Ah! The user supplies them, out of their knowledge of their domain, and hard-codes them into that table.

Because I use a list of PC names and other Stuff in many BATch files, I use a separate file as follows, which I read into every BATch file which requires it.
My PCs are all called PCnn, and the file looks like:

Code: Select all

;PC   MAC address   Usual User      Location          Manufacturer & Model
;one  (one 'word')  (one word)      (two words)       (two or three words)
;---  ------------  --------------  --------------    --------------------
PC06  008087FE02B4  spare           back office       Dell Dimension 4100
PC13 ... etc

[Wendell]

I am not sure whether it is still available - my ex-partner designed it, but is now doing other things. You can read a bit about it here and you could try contacting him from the link on that page. There is a modest licensing fee, but I don't know the details.

[Pat]

I am coming in very late on this.
That way of deploying the latest FE on sign on can be really slow when you get a lot of people signing on at the same time. I proposed that for my latest client and they said that had been tried before and it was too slow for them. They went for the batch file of copying FE's overnight.

[Wendell]

That is very true, and for that reason we do it only when there is an update designated by the administrator. We do allow a user to specify a full download if for some reason their front-end is corrupt, but as long as the master copy hasn't changed, no copy down is done.

[grovelli]

A couple of questions for John:
in your example, you read
call :process %%a %%b
but where is the process routine? (I see a call to the DateTime routine and I see it at the bottom of your example)

set source=\\%server%\rest-of-path\%dbname%
Does the syntax stay the same if rest-of-path has spaces in it?

[HansV]

The line

call :process %%a %%b

jumps to the :process label a bit further down:

:process a single PCname and username
set pcname=%1
set username=%2

It passes %%a as the first argument %1 and %%b as the second argument %2. The label is a single word (without spaces); the text after it "a single PCname and username" is a comment and will be skipped.

[John Gray]

Excellently stated, Hans.

If rest-of-path has one or more spaces in it, then the whole path must be enclosed in double-quotes.
As in
set source="\\%server%\rest of path\%dbname%"

This is probably the greatest source of problems in a BATch file...

[grovelli]

Thanks Hans & John

The label is a single word (without spaces); the text after it "a single PCname and username" is a comment and will be skipped.

That explains it.

I see the variable %%a in
for /f "tokens=1-2 delims=:# " %%a in ('%forcmds%') do (
but where's %%b?

I also see a comment that reads
:: look for string V--V in this BATch file
but where's the V--V string?

[John Gray]

I see the variable %%a in
for /f "tokens=1-2 delims=:# " %%a in ('%forcmds%') do (
but where's %%b?

%%b is a positional variable set up by "tokens=1-2", the one after "%%a".
if I had used %%f then the second token would be %%g.
And so on

I also see a comment that reads
:: look for string V--V in this BATch file
but where's the V--V string?

The magic word is "comment"! I was simply using V--V to point down to the four characters on the next line ::##

[grovelli]

What should I put after the equals sign in
set server =
set source = "\\%server%\foldername\%dbname%
when I want to reference a folder on a server disk which is partitioned in two drives O: and U: that have the same address?(see attached jpg)

[HansV]

set server=itc980srv01.itc.itcgr.net

obviously. Uffici or common would be (part of) the folder name.

[John Gray]

Please don't put a blank either side of the = sign in SET commands! Unhappiness can occur (since there is a difference between "something" and " something"...)

[HansV]

Sorry about that (you can see that I'm not a batcher...)
I will correct my previous reply.
Thanks!

[grovelli]

:-)
Quite a few potholes along the way.
so I guess the correct syntax is:
set server=itc980srv01.itc.itcgr.net
set source="\\%server%\U$\foldername\%dbname% (for a folder on the Common disk)