what is automation? How does it work?
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My boss threw a curve ball at me - Need to automate a file upload Daily/Weekly/ Monthly based on customer needs.
So now as I asked above: What is Automation? How does it work? Best Practices?
Any answers (constructive) will be appreciated. -
The Specifics would be :
Site wants to do daily specials, weekly specials or Monthly specials- with out the need to manually import everyday for their online menu.
So they would set a schedule in the PoS but we need to automate the import and publish.
For me to be able to do this, I feel I need to understand Automation better, to come up with the game plan for this. -
Rsync for Linux or Robocopy for Windows.
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@jmoore said in what is automation? How does it work?:
Rsync for Linux or Robocopy for Windows.
Windows - everything they do is on windows
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There are multiple ways to get automation. Simplest might be to write a script that copies files and execute that script using Task Scheduler (a windows service that allows you to execute tasks based upon a specific schedule).
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Someone will still have to make the replacement files. Let's say your going to have a daily special that is the same every monday, and another every Tuesday, etc... you'll have 5 specials files
spec-m
spec-t
spec-w
...you could have a script that copies the above file over the top of the file that's part of the POS to have the information. You'll be super in luck if it's just a whole file like this to replace.
If you have to inject code into an existing file, it will take more work, but can still likely be done. -
@Dashrender said in what is automation? How does it work?:
There are multiple ways to get automation. Simplest might be to write a script that copies files and execute that script using Task Scheduler (a windows service that allows you to execute tasks based upon a specific schedule).
Thanks - Got more information now:
I need to be able to automatically send a folder to compressed zip.
Then automate the import and publish.The more information I get the more confused I become about all of this.
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@WrCombs said in what is automation? How does it work?:
@Dashrender said in what is automation? How does it work?:
There are multiple ways to get automation. Simplest might be to write a script that copies files and execute that script using Task Scheduler (a windows service that allows you to execute tasks based upon a specific schedule).
Thanks - Got more information now:
I need to be able to automatically send a folder to compressed zip.
Then automate the import and publish.The more information I get the more confused I become about all of this.
The first step to automating a task is defining how you would do it manually. Start there. That doesn't mean the automation will just copy that, but it helps to understand what you are doing today, before you figure out how to do it automatically tomorrow.
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@WrCombs said in what is automation? How does it work?:
I need to be able to automatically send a folder to compressed zip.
Is it already zipped? If not, you need to automate zipping it too (very easy.)
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@WrCombs said in what is automation? How does it work?:
The more information I get the more confused I become about all of this.
I think it's a few steps, but sounds like a pretty basic task. Can you find who does this today and have them show you the process? After that, I bet that this is very easy.
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@scottalanmiller said in what is automation? How does it work?:
@WrCombs said in what is automation? How does it work?:
I need to be able to automatically send a folder to compressed zip.
Is it already zipped? If not, you need to automate zipping it too (very easy.)
It would not be zipped already.
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To automate something is just to make it happen automatically instead of manually.
As @scottalanmiller said, just do it manually first and then use that as a starting point.The real difference between manual and automated is how you handle problems, errors etc.
I suggest making a flow chart for this to visualize it. -
@scottalanmiller said in what is automation? How does it work?:
@WrCombs said in what is automation? How does it work?:
@Dashrender said in what is automation? How does it work?:
There are multiple ways to get automation. Simplest might be to write a script that copies files and execute that script using Task Scheduler (a windows service that allows you to execute tasks based upon a specific schedule).
Thanks - Got more information now:
I need to be able to automatically send a folder to compressed zip.
Then automate the import and publish.The more information I get the more confused I become about all of this.
The first step to automating a task is defining how you would do it manually. Start there. That doesn't mean the automation will just copy that, but it helps to understand what you are doing today, before you figure out how to do it automatically tomorrow.
Do it here?
I mean, That's fine with me. -
@scottalanmiller said in what is automation? How does it work?:
@WrCombs said in what is automation? How does it work?:
@Dashrender said in what is automation? How does it work?:
There are multiple ways to get automation. Simplest might be to write a script that copies files and execute that script using Task Scheduler (a windows service that allows you to execute tasks based upon a specific schedule).
Thanks - Got more information now:
I need to be able to automatically send a folder to compressed zip.
Then automate the import and publish.The more information I get the more confused I become about all of this.
The first step to automating a task is defining how you would do it manually. Start there. That doesn't mean the automation will just copy that, but it helps to understand what you are doing today, before you figure out how to do it automatically tomorrow.
Ug - I was thinking exactly this, but obviously couldn't get my fingers to type it out.
As Scott said - get the full manual process first. This is tedious, but you need every tiny little step.
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@WrCombs said in what is automation? How does it work?:
@scottalanmiller said in what is automation? How does it work?:
@WrCombs said in what is automation? How does it work?:
@Dashrender said in what is automation? How does it work?:
There are multiple ways to get automation. Simplest might be to write a script that copies files and execute that script using Task Scheduler (a windows service that allows you to execute tasks based upon a specific schedule).
Thanks - Got more information now:
I need to be able to automatically send a folder to compressed zip.
Then automate the import and publish.The more information I get the more confused I become about all of this.
The first step to automating a task is defining how you would do it manually. Start there. That doesn't mean the automation will just copy that, but it helps to understand what you are doing today, before you figure out how to do it automatically tomorrow.
Do it here?
I mean, That's fine with me.I would make a new thread about that specific task, and you could toss a link in here to that.
