Cron jobs with ASP

How to have a server execute an ASP script periodically.

[saurabh]

My website runs on WinNT. I needed way to execute an ASP script every few minutes to check an email account and if there is a message alert me on my mobile phone. I can do the scripting part but have no idea how to execute the script periodically. Any help/suggestions will be appreciated.

[Duckula]

If you're feeling brave, install cygwin and the original cron :)

<added> That's a joke, but would work </added>

[Xoc]

There is the task scheduler that is part of Windows. You can have it run any program that can be activated from the command line or batch file. It does have to be logged in.

As an alternative, you can create a Windows Service. This runs in the background when the machine starts. The easiest way to create a Windows Service is using Microsoft .NET.

[saurabh]

Thanks for your replies guys!

The problem is that it is a shared hosting account. So I don't have physical access to the machine. Can't install any software on it!

[Xoc]

Put the script on a hidden page on the site (not on the normal navigation, blocked from robots with robots.txt or meta tags). From a machine connected 24/7 to the internet, have it hit the web page to activate the script.

You could even do a VB program that make the calls at intervals. I could write that program in under an hour, spit-shined and polished.

[tomasz]

Most of the ISP will not let you installed custom DLLs.
If you can read access email using MS Outlook you can do following

Since most of the mobile providers supports SMTP emails, set up email rule at Outlook (receives email from [e-mail]) and forward mail to your mobile i.e. [e-mail].
Draw back your Outlook has to be connected all the time.

[nonprof webguy]

saurabh,

Don't know if you solved this yet. I'm in much the same position, and opted for a workaround that works for me: I run a MS SQL Server, so I wrote vb scripts into DTS packages and then scheduled the packages to run at regular intervals.

[olias]

My solution to this problem is to run a Cron job on a Linux server that I have access to, that executes the asp script for me!

[VinceRothwell]

Try www.script-schedule.com

It allows you schedule ASP scripts online.