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Date: Wed, 12 Nov 2014 23:12:25 +0300
From: Andrey Repin <anrdaemon AT yandex DOT ru>
Reply-To: cygwin AT cygwin DOT com
Message-ID: <1991456701.20141112231225@yandex.ru>
To: "Kertz, Denis (D)** CTR **" <d DOT kertz AT alcatel-lucent DOT com>,
        cygwin AT cygwin DOT com
Subject: Re: Can't Run Excel From A Cron Job Under Windows 7
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Greetings, Kertz, Denis (D)** CTR **!

>>> An excel program is run like this:
>>
>>>         run.excel  'c:\Shared\Bin\Create_Daily_Scorecard.xls'
>>
>>> When I run an Excel program interactively with this run.excel script it
>>> runs just fine but when I run it via a cron job Excel just hangs.
>>
>> Define "runs fine" please?
>> What exactly that excel script is doing?

> This run.excel script simply starts up Excel with the .xls file it is
> given.  In this example Excel opens
> c:\Shared\Bin\Create_Daily_Scorecard.xls.  This .xls has a Workbook_Open
> macro, which is automatically run whenever this .xls is opened, that reads
> some data files and creates another .xls as its output.

> What I mean by runs fine is that when I type this command at a bash prompt:
>         run.excel  'c:\Shared\Bin\Create_Daily_Scorecard.xls'
> it runs to completion and creates a new .xls as its output.  When I run
> this run.excel script from a cron job it hangs.

Hangs as in - do not create new file?

>>> When Excel hangs I can look at the processes running on the PC using the
>>> Windows Task Manager and I don't see the EXCEL.EXE process.  But when I
>>> check the option to show processes from all users I see the hung EXCEL.EXE
>>> process, AND the user name displayed is my login.  So I am running this under the
>>> Upar2 login and Task Manager doesn't display EXCEL.EXE as a Upar2 process
>>> but when I check 'Show processes from all users' it shows EXCEL.EXE running
>>> under user name Upar2 - a contradiction.
>>
>> Task manager display processes started in your current session.
>> Not processes started under your credentials. That's an important difference.

> Then this is just a difference between WinXP and Win7?

It was the case in Vista already.

> Under WinXP it shows EXCEL.EXE in my process list even when the "Show
> processes from all users" isn't checked.

Only if you logged in as admin.

>>> What I suspect is happening is Excel is attempting to do something that
>>> requires Upar2 permission but it isn't really running as Upar2 so Excel
>>> displays some error message and is waiting for the user to respond.  But
>>> Excel is running invisibly so this can't be seen.
>>
>> More like you expect to run Excel interactively from service.
>> Not possible. Period.

> I'm not trying to run Excel interactively from a cron job.  One of the
> limitations with using Excel from a cron job is Excel has to run error free.
> If Excel does run into some error it will typically generate an error
> message and wait for a user response.  Since Excel is running invisibly from
> a cron job, there is no user to give a response and Excel just sits there
> waiting for a response that will never come.

Try starting cron in terminal session and see if anything comes up.

>>> I also suspect this Upar2 "confusion" isn't limited to running an Excel
>>> program.  I can run a cron job with regular UNIX commands (cut, sort, etc)
>>> and see they are running with the ps command.  But when I try to kill them
>>> (kill -9) I get permission denied.  If I want to kill a process running via
>>> the cron I have to start cygwin with 'Run as administrator' and then I can
>>> kill processes running under the cron.
>>
>> Of course.

> Why "of course"?  Shouldn't I be able to kill my own processes?

It's not "your own" process, it's "cron job" started with your credentials.

> I can certainly do that under WinXP.

Again, only if you logged in as admin.
This is not the case in Vista+ by default.

> But this isn't a major issue for me.  I only
> pointed it out in case it was related to the issue why my Excel cron jobs hang.


--
WBR,
Andrey Repin (anrdaemon AT yandex DOT ru) 12.11.2014, <23:08>

Sorry for my terrible english...


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