Run Calibre as Task in Windows 7

nchall114 · 04-20-2010, 01:31 AM

Hi. I've setup an instance of Calibre through Task Manager in Windows 7 so that it will open early in the morning and download the news articles I am interested in reading. The task is set to repeat every day. It is also set to end the task and close Calibre after 30 min, which it appears to do, but then when it goes to start the next day it does not start.

Is this a limitation of the GUI?

Writing BAT files for everything would be very time consuming and I would like to avoid doing that if possible.

Any ideas on how I can accomplish this?

Starson17 · 04-20-2010, 09:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nchall114

Hi. I've setup an instance of Calibre through Task Manager in Windows 7 so that it will open early in the morning and download the news articles I am interested in reading. The task is set to repeat every day. It is also set to end the task and close Calibre after 30 min,

Why not just leave calibre running? That's how I do it.

nchall114 · 04-20-2010, 10:35 AM

Just seems like a waste of RAM and procesor cycles for something I need to run 10 min a day at most.

Starson17 · 04-20-2010, 11:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nchall114

Just seems like a waste of RAM and procesor cycles for something I need to run 10 min a day at most.

OK. How do you stop Calibre automatically? I know Calibre has some trouble with the Windows Command processor. You may need to put "start" in front of the command to stop. Calibre runs other processes when it opens - maybe they are not being stopped.

Alternatively, you can run calibre's standalone recipe and conversion software from the command line or scheduled batch file, then run a command to add it to the database (assuming you want it in the database), or use a sync program to send it to your reader device after it is created.

chaley · 04-20-2010, 01:34 PM

Try running 'calibre-debug -g' instead of calibre.

I built a task specification to run a .bat file that sets a few environment variables (because I didn't want the test to touch my real library), then runs calibre-debug -g. It runs it every 5 minutes, killing it after 1. It has been happily doing this for 20 minutes. I haven't tried running it when I am not logged in, so can't say whether not having a screen will cause the GUI difficulties.

I suspect that running calibre-debug gives the task scheduler a convenient process to kill.

nchall114 · 04-20-2010, 06:29 PM

So it seems like there is no easy to do it through Task Manager. I'll keep exploring other options and post back.

Thanks!

chaley · 04-20-2010, 06:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nchall114

So it seems like there is no easy to do it through Task Manager. I'll keep exploring other options and post back.

I used the W7 task manager for my experiment, and it was easy to set up using the wizard and then adjusting a few properties. The only reason I used a .bat file was to set two ENV variables so that the job did not touch my production library. You should be able to directly run calibre-debug, putting the '-g' into the parameters box.

Perhaps I don't understand what you are trying to do?

nchall114 · 04-20-2010, 06:49 PM

I understand what you're saying, and I really appreciate the advice, but I've tried your suggestion and while it does start I am not able to get it to quit after a set amount of time using the Task Scheduler properties. How are you accomplishing this?

chaley · 04-20-2010, 07:08 PM

I told the task manager to start it after 5 minutes and kill it after 1 minute. To be more precise, I created a trigger tab saying 'begin task on a schedule', 'start one time', and 'repeat every 5 minutes'. You would want to repeat every 1 day for many days. It might also work if you scheduled it for daily without repeats. Under the 'settings' tab I checked 'stop the task' and entered '1 minute' in the box. You might want to give it more time. I also checked the box 'if the running task does not end... force it'. In the General tab, I checked 'only run when user is logged in', because I didn't feel like logging out to test it. As I said before, there might be a problem if you intend to run the task in the background.

The bat file contains:

Code:

set CALIBRE_CONFIG_DIRECTORY=...\calibre_development\config_test_device
set CALIBRE_DEVELOP_FROM=...\calibre_development\calibre\src
calibre-debug -g

The ... in the env variable sets are a fairly long path. As I said before, I set the env variables because I didn't want my production library touched. I don't think you need to set them, and in fact you can't set the DEVELOP_FROM variable if you don't have source code installed.

Starson17 · 04-21-2010, 08:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chaley

in fact you can't set the DEVELOP_FROM variable if you don't have source code installed.

Actually, you can, it just doesn't do anything. If source is not there, it rolls over to installed exe code. I install the current exe and the source. I often rename my source directory (so the DEVELOP_FROM variable no longer points to any source), then restart calibre to see the exe version run when I want to compare how my code functions to what the exe code does.

nchall114 · 04-22-2010, 10:29 AM

Ok. I think the issue is that if you try and start it as a program through Task Scheduler it gets confused and doesn't close all the associated processes. If you start it using the calibre-debug -g handle from a .bat file, it just kills that .bat file which kills all the associated processess. Seems a little hacky, but works.

Thanks for your help!

Hope this works for others as well.

04-20-2010, 01:31 AM	#1
nchall114 Member Posts: 24 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2010 Device: iPhone, Kindle 3	Run Calibre as Task in Windows 7 Hi. I've setup an instance of Calibre through Task Manager in Windows 7 so that it will open early in the morning and download the news articles I am interested in reading. The task is set to repeat every day. It is also set to end the task and close Calibre after 30 min, which it appears to do, but then when it goes to start the next day it does not start. Is this a limitation of the GUI? Writing BAT files for everything would be very time consuming and I would like to avoid doing that if possible. Any ideas on how I can accomplish this?

04-20-2010, 06:49 PM	#8
nchall114 Member Posts: 24 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2010 Device: iPhone, Kindle 3	I understand what you're saying, and I really appreciate the advice, but I've tried your suggestion and while it does start I am not able to get it to quit after a set amount of time using the Task Scheduler properties. How are you accomplishing this? Last edited by nchall114; 04-20-2010 at 07:04 PM. Reason: More detailed explanation.

04-20-2010, 07:08 PM	#9
chaley Wizard Posts: 3,854 Karma: 285886 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: France Device: Sony PRS-300, HTC WM6.5, Samsung Galaxy Nexus, HTC Sensation	I told the task manager to start it after 5 minutes and kill it after 1 minute. To be more precise, I created a trigger tab saying 'begin task on a schedule', 'start one time', and 'repeat every 5 minutes'. You would want to repeat every 1 day for many days. It might also work if you scheduled it for daily without repeats. Under the 'settings' tab I checked 'stop the task' and entered '1 minute' in the box. You might want to give it more time. I also checked the box 'if the running task does not end... force it'. In the General tab, I checked 'only run when user is logged in', because I didn't feel like logging out to test it. As I said before, there might be a problem if you intend to run the task in the background. The bat file contains: Code: set CALIBRE_CONFIG_DIRECTORY=...\calibre_development\config_test_device set CALIBRE_DEVELOP_FROM=...\calibre_development\calibre\src calibre-debug -g The ... in the env variable sets are a fairly long path. As I said before, I set the env variables because I didn't want my production library touched. I don't think you need to set them, and in fact you can't set the DEVELOP_FROM variable if you don't have source code installed.

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04-20-2010, 10:35 AM	#3
nchall114 Member Posts: 24 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2010 Device: iPhone, Kindle 3	Just seems like a waste of RAM and procesor cycles for something I need to run 10 min a day at most.

04-20-2010, 01:34 PM	#5
chaley Wizard Posts: 3,854 Karma: 285886 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: France Device: Sony PRS-300, HTC WM6.5, Samsung Galaxy Nexus, HTC Sensation	Try running 'calibre-debug -g' instead of calibre. I built a task specification to run a .bat file that sets a few environment variables (because I didn't want the test to touch my real library), then runs calibre-debug -g. It runs it every 5 minutes, killing it after 1. It has been happily doing this for 20 minutes. I haven't tried running it when I am not logged in, so can't say whether not having a screen will cause the GUI difficulties. I suspect that running calibre-debug gives the task scheduler a convenient process to kill.

04-20-2010, 06:29 PM	#6
nchall114 Member Posts: 24 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2010 Device: iPhone, Kindle 3	So it seems like there is no easy to do it through Task Manager. I'll keep exploring other options and post back. Thanks!

04-22-2010, 10:29 AM	#11
nchall114 Member Posts: 24 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2010 Device: iPhone, Kindle 3	Ok. I think the issue is that if you try and start it as a program through Task Scheduler it gets confused and doesn't close all the associated processes. If you start it using the calibre-debug -g handle from a .bat file, it just kills that .bat file which kills all the associated processess. Seems a little hacky, but works. Thanks for your help! Hope this works for others as well.


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