JJCSR
Sending emails / texts from within your MV database may well be stale news to many, if not most of you. However, if you are like me, and have not been aware of such a technology, please read on.
We are a retail organization, open 12-hours a day, Mon-to-Fri, and 8 hours on Sunday. Our 2-man IT staff has work-hours of 8-5, Mon-Fri. Consequently, there are many hours of computer systems utilization without onsite IT assistance. Even minor “blips” can cause serious repercussions, especially in the area of sales updating, web order processing, and merchandise availability on the retail floor. To sustain these goals, I have made use of many “phantoms” (“TIPH’s”, in the world of Reality) to poll POS sales; extract web order data from the MySQL web server; communicate products to the POS; etc. Keeping an eye on these background process has always presented a dilemma: “out-of-sight, out-of-mind”. I have been searching for quite some time for a way to monitor these tasks, and be advised when failures occur.
I asked the techs at Reality if they could give me some insight as to how to send emails from within their database (at TCL and/or BASIC), preferably using PERFORM / EXECUTE. Shortly after my request went to their support team, they responded with a very helpful tip, a “freebie” executable called BLAT. I “googled”, found and downloaded the software, and installed it on my Reality database server. Within minutes, I was able to test sending emails to myself. Checking BLAT’s documentation, I found I was also able to send myself a text message.
As a result of this newfound technology (for me, anyway), I now have a program in place, another TIPH, “WatchProcesses”, that checks every 10 minutes on all of the processes, as well as making certain that I can still open files across disparate OS. The “Watch” evaluates the “last-time-run” against parameters set for each process (some run every hour; others every 2-5 minutes; still, some run every 15 seconds). If the lapse time exceeds parameterized guidelines, the TIPH will send an email to myself and to the other IT staff member. As well, I will receive the same message in the form of text on my cell phone.
As a precaution to make certain the “Watch” TIPH doesn’t, itself, fail without me knowing, it will send a text to my cell phone every 2 hours (also parameterized, so I can change the 2-hour gap to any time I wish), telling me that the process is still running. If I don't get the "OK" at the scheduled time, I know I have a situation to deal with. The “Watch” TIPH goes to sleep at store-close, and awakes 30 minutes after store-open.
So, thanks to BLAT, and a special thanks to Gary at Reality, for advising me of this product. I can now have a bit more peace-of-mind that I can address issues in a more timely manner, from wherever I am (thanks to iPad2 and GoToMyPC).
Tony Gravagno
My friend, this is indeed an old topic and a well-known solution. I was doing exactly what you're doing with D3 back at Pick Systems (2000?), getting phone notifications if our FlashCONNECT server became unavailable.
See http://www.pickwiki.com/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?SendAnEmail
Also, in Spectrum magazine there was recently a series of articles on the topic.
I've also been writing about SMS/texting for a couple years now. The following link goes to Part1 of a 3-part series I blogged on ways to use this "user interface":
http://nebula-rnd.com/blog/tech/mv/2010/11/mv-by-phone1.html
Best,
T
JJCSR
Tony:
Interesting reply, especially the opening phrase, “My Friend…”. The rest of that sentence implies, “Jim, you REALLY are behind times”. Does the term, “condescending” ring a bell?
I assumed that SOMEONE would want to let me know that I was posting "stale news", which is exactly why I opened my post with that very statement. As for being a "well-known solution", that fits the age-old statement, "...in the eyes of the beholder". What is well-known to you, I am certain, is a long list of computer/Pick-related items that I have never even dreamed of. And, more so, probably don’t want to be involved in.
I guarantee that if I had been included in that list of “well-known”, with regards to “email-from-MV” I would have implemented it by now. At the time of the postings you refer to, the ones I didn’t see, I was probably trying to get some other IT elements brought under control.
Dawn Wolthuis
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Dawn M. Wolthuis
Take and give some delight today
Dick Thiot
Congratulations on your quick resolution to this problem. Yes, blat is a great technology. I am not trying to burst your bubble but would have one other suggestion for your consideration. We have an external process that queries our website and runs a test page that checks many facets of our system much like what you are doing from the database. This has the added benefit of being able to test the proper operation of the web server and website. There are some external services that allow you to monitor your website in different ways and at different costs. We have found that there are times when there are problems with the back-end systems that preclude the notification from working properly. We thus utilize monitoring from both the back-end and outside. Which solution you use if dependent on many factors so if you go this route I suggest you search out different options and figure out which works best in your environment.
Good luck,
Dick
P.S. Not to really try to come to Tony's defense but I don't think that he is TRYING to be condescending, I just think his choice of words and his way of communicating that comes across that way.
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Tony Gravagno
Jim, I've watched your progress for a long time and have provided help wherever possible. I have responded to your cordial e-mail inquiries and never took that opportunity to follow-up to try to sell you something.
As I have seen your postings, I would have hoped that you would have seen mine and those of others as we discuss how to make good use of the tools at hand. Some people lurk in these forums to learn about whatever happens to get posted. Some just come here when they need something and then they go away. I don't know what your habits are. I know you've been to my blog and website, we've talked about it in e-mail, but I don't know what you've read or what you remember. I just know that we've been talking about this stuff in the community for well over a decade. It's old news to many of us, and easily findable with some active searching.
There is a wealth of information and solutions out there. It's completely reasonable that individuals can't be aware of everything that's available to us. But there are just a few places in this industry which are repositories for such information, and it's good for everyone to be aware of these resources, bookmark them, and make them the first go-to places when you need solutions.
It's great that you're getting good use from the platform. It's great that Northgate Support can provide you with leads to solutions when you need them. It's unfortunate that you've missed out on so much and now you feel offended when I say so. I can't take responsibility for that. Please don't be offended. There's nothing intended, never is. It just is what it is. Have a great day.
T
Symeon Breen
And in case any *nix people are reading , you can use mutt or mail on your system very easily to send mails. You can also easily receive emails and process them in mv using sendmail and/or procmail.
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JJCSR
Thanks for the information about your "external process" used to query your website. I’m not sure if that is something we could employ, but certainly it is worth mentioning, as others in the forum may find it of interest. The reason for my being unsure about its usefulness to us is based on the fact that we communicate to/from our Reality database to/from an in-house MySQL Linux server, which in turn is synchronized to the live server, outside of our facilities (somewhere in the Midwest). Is your process operating in the same environment, or are you controlling your website, in-house? Quite honestly, I don’t know if we have access to that external server, to perform those types of queries.
As for “bursting my bubble”, I don’t know what you might be referring to. I have been in this field far too long to believe that I might have invented the “better mousetrap”. The BLAT scenario was, in fact, prefaced with “,,,this is stale news…”, so I really didn’t think I was creating something that nobody had heard of, prior. Rather, I wished to present an opportunity for someone else who, for whatever reasons, may have been unaware of, or forgotten, this technology.
My presence in this forum has always been to learn from what others have done, and try siphon out what might be helpful to me. Case in point – I would like to hear more about what you are doing, with your “external query to your website”, to see if, in fact, it is something that I may find of benefit. In some cases, a topic I pass over, because it is not of interest to me at that time, becomes a critical need in the future, and I failed to remember having seen that discussion.
As well, I like to present “opportunities” that I have encountered, with the possibility that someone else might find something they can use to their benefit. Lo and behold, in the case of the “stale news about emails from MV”, a reader called me and asked for anything I could pass along, regarding the use of BLAT with Pick, as they were also looking for a similar solution.
Again, thanks for your reply, Dick.
Jim Cronin
Director
Kittery Trading Post
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