Looking for a piece of software...

SteM

Not sure if this is the correct forum - please move if nessessary.

I'm looking for a piece of software to run on a server that

- Compares a specified ASCII file in one folder with a specific ASCII file in another.
- If the files do not contain the same info it should produce an email notification alert.
- It needs to have a schedule facility so it can run every 30 minutes or at some regular time period.

That's about it, it doesn't need to do anything like synch the 2 files or anything like that.

I can't find anything that matches my needs, does anyone else use a piece of software like this?

Khannie

What OS is the software to run on?

You could script that. In fact, if it's for unix / linux and you pay Khannie (not necessarily with cash...I like coffee...and gadgets...and all sorts of things), he'll write it for you.

dvpower

If its for Windows, you might look at using Windows Task Scheduler and Windiff (commandline). That should get you most of the way.

Have a look here for various other file comparison tools. You may find one that will also do the automatic email of differences.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_file_comparison_tools

Or take up Khannies offer. Any reasonable programmer will knock this kind of thing up in a couple of hours.

cylor

If the server is running UNIX/Linux then these are all the commands you need:

diff (finds differences between files)
mail (sends e-mails)
cron (task scheduler)

It'd take a few mins to write a script for what you need but I won't spoil Khannie's chance for a free coffee!

Khannie

cylor wrote: »

I won't spoil Khannie's chance for a free coffee!

I lol'd.

SteM

Thanks for the offers and pointers folks. It'll be running on Windows Server 2003.

I'll take a look through the wiki list and see what that throws up.