You specify a file with tasks as input, and Task Friend runs them in a concurrent and friendly manner.
Run task-friend.exe --help to see this usage message:
Usage: task-friend.exe -i c:\myinput.txt -c 10 [-d] [-s] [-b] [-f] [-t milliseconds] [--debug-timeout]
Runs tasks from an input file (-i) on a number of concurrent tasks (-c) until
all tasks have been processed
-i, --input Required. Input file to be processed. Each line in the
file should be a command line input.
-c, --concurrent (Default: 10) Number of concurrent tasks
-t, --timeout (Default: 60000) Timeout in milliseconds
-d, --debug Outputs debug information
-f, --flush Force continuous flushing to standard output to get fast response from tasks
--debug-timeout Outputs timeout information
-s, --silent No command line output
-b, --break (Default: False) Break on errors - when enabled Task
Friend don't resume task processing if a process returns
an error (default is false)
--help Display this help screen.
You feed Task Friend with an input file where each line is a task that points to an executable and an optional number of parameters - just as you would do in a command prompt. For example:
myinput.txt
lazy-friend.exe -p1 parameter1 -p2 parameter2 --line 1
lazy-friend.exe -p1 parameter1 -p2 parameter2 --line 2
lazy-friend.exe -p1 parameter1 -p2 parameter2 --line 3
lazy-friend.exe -p1 parameter1 -p2 parameter2 --line 4
lazy-friend.exe -p1 parameter1 -p2 parameter2 --line 5
lazy-friend.exe -p1 parameter1 -p2 parameter2 --line 6
lazy-friend.exe -p1 parameter1 -p2 parameter2 --line 7
lazy-friend.exe -p1 parameter1 -p2 parameter2 --line 8
lazy-friend.exe -p1 parameter1 -p2 parameter2 --line 9
lazy-friend.exe -p1 parameter1 -p2 parameter2 --line 10
In the example above, Task Friend expects lazy-friend.exe to be placed next to Task Friend itself. That is, in the same folder as task-friend.exe.
Task Friend will process each task at a time and pass the parameters to the process.
Task Friend accepts fully qualified paths to the file system such as:
c:\foo\bar\lazy-friend.exe -p1 parameter1 -p2 parameter2 --line 1
c:\foo\bar\lazy-friend.exe -p1 parameter1 -p2 parameter2 --line 2
c:\foo\bar\lazy-friend.exe -p1 parameter1 -p2 parameter2 --line 3
...
The working directory of the process is always the directory of the task executable. That is, in the example above, the working directory of the process is c:\foo\bar\.
When you start Task Friend, he will output:
Doing work for you...
---------------------------------------
Press 'q' to abort all tasks and quit
Task Friend is a real friend, so he is serious about this promise! At any time during the processing you can press 'q' to abort all tasks. This will kill any current process and stop processing of further tasks.
For each task, Task Friend will respect the timeout you specify when calling him. Task Friend defaults to 60 seconds. This timeout applies per task. That is, the total execution time of all tasks can be higher than the timeout you have specified (since the timeout is for one task).
Task Friend is the silent type. Doesn't say much. But by using the -d option (d for [d]ebug) Task Friend becomes pretty chatty. You can use this to get to know him better. He'd like that.
But you can also shut him up. If you really want to do this, use the -s option (s for [s]ilent -- or if you like -- [s]hut up)
Now, Task Friend doesn't always listen to you. If something really weird happens, he won't shut up, but he'll make sure to tell you about it - you know the type, right? For example, if one of your tasks returns an error, Task Friend will log this to the console even if you are not in debug mode.
If errors are important to you, use the -b (for [b]reak). This breaks the task processing when there's an error in one of your tasks. Task Friend prints the error message, kills running tasks, stops further task processing, and exists immediately.
Want to store the output in a file? Windows is your friend. Use > to create a new file and >> to append to an existing (will create a new if it doesn't exist).
Example:
task-friend.exe -i input.txt > log.txt
Note that Standard Output from your tasks is only (and always) recorded when debugging is enabled:
[11:00 PM] Task 10 says: Hello World!
Task Friend is international - he uses UTC formated date times, so be aware that the hours might not match what you got in the Windows task bar.