Punctual

Better task scheduling in Windows OS

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This is a work in progress, subject to many changes and new instabilities / brokenness.

Introduction

• Windows task scheduler sucks

  • It uses XML (XML sucks)
  • Debugging failed tasks sucks (it doesn't ever tell you why)
  • You have to write some jank PowerShell / CMD script to execute anything else
  • Doesn't tell you when something ran.

• Punctual does not suck (or at least sucks a bit less)

  • Uses YAML
  • Has extensible logging via the Python Standard Library logging package
  • You provide the path to the file you want ran, and it runs it.
  • Issues a Windows 10 'Toast' notification (optional)

Getting started

Installing compiled binary

# Find a good spot for the application
$PuncPath = "$ENV:LOCALAPPDATA\punctual"
New-Item -Path $PuncPath -ItemType Directory
Set-Location $PuncPath

# Download the executable
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://github.com/camratchford/punctual-scheduler/files/10593845/punc.zip" -OutFile "$PuncPath\punctual.zip"
# Extract the zip file
Expand-Archive -Path "$PuncPath\punctual.zip" -DestinationPath $PuncPath
Remove-Item -Path "$PuncPath\punctual.zip"

❗ The executable to run will be $PuncPath\punc.exe

Installing from pip

# Find a good spot for the application
$PuncPath = "$ENV:LOCALAPPDATA\punctual"
New-Item -Path $PuncPath -ItemType Directory
Set-Location $PuncPath

# Create a virtual environment 
python -m venv venv
# Git needs to be installed and in $ENV:PATH
.\venv\Scripts\pip.exe install git+https://github.com/camratchford/punctual-scheduler

❗ The executable to run will be $PuncPath\venv\Scripts\punc.exe

Create the logs folder

New-Item -Path "$PuncPath\logs" -ItemType Directory

Creating a config file

Create the task config, located in: $PuncPath\config.yml

logs_dir: C:\Users\testuser\AppData\Local\punctual\logs

# Python logging explained at https://docs.python.org/3/library/logging.config.html#dictionary-schema-details
log_config:
  version: 1
  disable_existing_loggers: True
  formatters:
    brief:
      format: '%(message)s'
      use_colors: True
    verbose:
      format: |
        %(asctime)s:
          Level:   %(levelname)s
          File:    %(filename)s
          LineNo:  %(lineno)d
          Msg:     %(message)s
  handlers:
    file:
      class : logging.handlers.RotatingFileHandler
      formatter: verbose
      filename: punctual.log
      maxBytes: 1048576 # 1MB
      backupCount: 3
    console:
      class : logging.StreamHandler
      formatter: brief
      level   : DEBUG
      stream  : ext://sys.stdout
  loggers:
    ez_temp:
      handlers:
        - file
        - console
      level: DEBUG
      propagate: False

Give it a script to run

• At this moment, punctual only executes arbitrary Python scripts.
• PowerShell / CMD scripts, CLI executables and other actionable resources are in the works.
• Passing arguments to the scripts is also currently in development.

# Create the scripts folder (or don't! you will be providing the absolute path anyways)
New-Item -Path $PuncPath\scripts -ItemType Directory

Create a Python file within your chosen scripts folder location.

# C:\Users\testuser\AppData\local\punctual\scripts\test.py

from datetime import datetime


def main():
    with open(r"C:\Users\cameron\PycharmProjects\punctual\test\test_output.txt", "a+") as writer:
        writer.write(f"The time is {str(datetime.now())}\n")


if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

Creating a task file

Create the task file, located in: $PuncPath\tasks.yml

The application will continue to check the contents of the tasks file to add/remove tasks without restarting it.

❗ Information on format codes can be found in Python's 'datetime' documentation

❗ The value of action -> name must be unique

tasks:
  - name: Test task
    state: 'present' # Set it to 'absent' if you'd like to stop and remove and running task.
    first_run:
      value: 09/19/22 13:55:26
      format: '%m/%d/%y %H:%M:%S' 
    frequency:
      value: 10
      format: '%S'
    action:
      name: time_tracker
      path: C:\Users\testuser\AppData\local\punctual\scripts\test.py
    toast:
      title: Time Tracker
      message: Time has been recorded

Run

Before setting it up as a service, run the application (to see if everything is working with the outputs to stdout and stderr in front of you)

# Set the environment variable for the application folder
$ENV:PUNCPATH = $PuncPath

# If you downloaded the compiled binary
.\punc.exe

# If you installed it with pip in a virtual environment
.\venv\Scripts\punc.exe

Set up as a service

If everything ran correctly

• This application is meant to be run as a service. You can just run it as a background task in PowerShell, and it works. Alternatively, you can execute it via a CMD script in the startup folder.
  • There's not really a 'perfect' way to automate the creation of a service that runs the application.
  • I've had success using NSSM to register it as one.
  • The settings I use are:
    • Environment: PUNCPATH="<value of $PuncPath>"
    • Start-up type: Automatic (Delayed start)
    • Run as: <the account you log in as>
  • The rest of the settings are up to you

Author

Cam Ratchford

License

CC0 1.0 Universal