PixieRobot™
Documentation
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PixieRobot: Documentation - Setup Information
Introduction:
PixieRobot has two main automated and unattended functions, but they can also be run interactively (immediate mode).
Processing emails. Used to send emails and attachments between systems. Attachments could contain such things
as database updates, or source code. Application systems could drop-off or receive files from the PixierRobot message folders.Processing web pages. Used to gather data from the web and store on a local machine for subsequent processing.
For example emailing to another system.
When PixieRobot is executed, there are 3 main tabs found on the console:Email - Initiates the sending and receiving of emails using parameters set up in the Config section WWW - Initiates processing of web pages (reads, analyzes, extracts, stores) using paramaters set up in the Config section. Config - Allows parameters to be set up and stored to direct subsequent processing for emails and WWW. Detailed Operational Help Documents:
Email Manual WWW Manual Case Study: WWW "MockAuction"New: Mar 2003
A .DLL version is available, on request, which can be used as callable functions within Visual Basic.
Functions for processing pictures and images available.
New: Nov 2002
Up until now the default installation placed a shortcut in the
Start Menu\Programs\Startup folder so that PixieRobot
would automatically start.
WE NO LONGER DO THIS. WE NOW LEAVE IT UP TO YOU to setup automatic start:
EITHER using "Startup", OR using the "Windows Scheduler" OR by whatever other method you choose. PixieRobot appears as a system
tray icon. Expand that (click it) for its full display.
New and Improved October 2002:
Scripted Browsing
PixieRobot gains a new conversation skill, acting
as a robot agent to visit web pages and automatically fill in forms for
you eg to send and receive information. PixieRobot harnesses the IE
browser to do the work, which means that you are free from concern about hidden
fields, cookies etc.
You script the steps through a conversation, and you
can optionally declare "Monitor=True" to see it progress, including watching
PixieRobot enter the data like an invisible hand.
New and Improved March 2002: Email can handle multiple recipientsand multiple attachments
New and Improved December 2000: Scripted Email operations
Setup
The PixieRobot package consists of:
PixieR1.cab
PixieR2.cab
Setup.lst
Setup.exe
examplemessage.txt
Run Setup.exe to install.
Look at the resulting folder, usually "C:\Program Files\PixieRobot\". Its structure should show the way it works.
Its subfolders:
MsgIn, AttachIn, MsgOut, AttachOut, ExtMap, ExtMapArchive, ExtMapReject
These folders act as "message boxes" or "drop boxes" for PixieRobot email activities. IN folders store inwards mail and
attachments, OUT folders store outbound mail and attachments. ExtMap stores the mappings between file extensions
found in AttachOut folder, and the email recipient. ExtMapArchive stores all successfully sent emails. ExtMapReject stores
all emails and attachments that cound not be sent due to for example, a "mapping" problem.
Run PixieRobot initally by starting PixieRobot.exe, e.g. by navigating to it in "Windows Explorer".
PixieRobot appears as a small "system tray" icon, in the lower right-hand
corner of most Windows screens.
Click on that (or right-click and select) to
get the PixieRobot display console.
Select Menu:Config to
display the Configuration Forms (details follow).
The Following CONFIG Settings Apply To Email Processing
Email: CheckInterval
PixieRobot activates on time intervals, with separate settings for Email and WWW operations.
Both are given defaults of 120 sec. This is a short time useful for first testing. To switch off Email or WWW operation, set its
CheckInterval to 0
Email: Timeout
PixieRobot has a default of 50 seconds to achieve contact with the SMTP server. Thissettingcan be chaged as appropriate.
PixieRobot will terminate processing if contact is not made within the timeout period.
Email: SMTP Server
Set this to same setting as regular email program.
Email: SMTP TCPPORT
Set this to same setting as regular email program. Normally - 25.
Email: Domain
Set this to same setting as regular email program.
Email: Script on Receive
Set this to a .TXT file that contains a script for processing received emails.
Email: Msg. Max Size
PixieRobot talks to the email server and can discover in advance how big each message is including attachments.
If size is greater than this limit THEN
PixieRobot downloads beginning of the message.
PixieRobot identifies the sender and generates a reply informing that the limit has been broken, therefore please
send again at a reasonable size.
PixieRobot passes on to the recipient a beginning-of-message plus a note explaining that the limit has been broken
and the sender has been informed.
Email: POP Server
Set this to same setting as regular email program.
Email: POP TCPPORT
Set this to same setting as regular email program. Normally - 110.
Email: User Name
Set this to same setting as regular email program.
Email: Password
Set this to same setting as regular email program. This will be required to access emails on the SMTP/POP
server and is tied to your User-Name.
Email: Return Address
Set this to the address you want appearing in the FROM address in default emails sent from the ExtMap folder.
Email: DeleteOffServer
NOTE that the PixieRobot, as supplied, is setup for:
DeleteOffServer=False
.. which appears as a blank checkbox in the Email config page.
This is a trial-friendly config for testing with an existing email account without interfering with normal receiving of mail.
But in production mode, PixieRobot should have its own email account, and you need to change this setting to
DeleteOffServer=True
by checking
(ticking) that box, else you may keep receiving the same messages again and again every 2 minutes or whatever.
Email Adv: PathHome
If you define a "PathHome" in PixieRobot.ini, you can point to folders elsewhere as "drop boxes"
e.g. file-serving directories on Linux machines.
This button opens an Editing session for the file "ExtMap.ini" to map file extensions to particular email recipients.
This can trigger PixieRobot to automatically generate messages for sending such files as attachments. e.g.sls=sales@pixieware.com
Watch out for some editors adding the '.txt' by default when you create a file. If this happens you will need to override that
and substitute the proper extension (e.g. abcfile.sls). This extension creates the link to the previously mapped association.Use ExtMapArchive=True" within PixieRobot.ini to switch on the copying to ExtMapArchive of all ExtMap files sent.
You need to open "PixieRobot.ini" and edit it manually. But leave password blank: you enter that interactively from PixieRobot
so it can get encrypted within "PixieRobot.ini".At each Email CheckInterval time, PixieRobot first looks for messages to send in the form of ".txt" files in folder "MsgOut".
It also looks for outward files in "ExtMap" and sends them as attachments to automatically generated messages to recipients
as defined in "ExtMap.ini". PixieRobot then switches to POP mode to download messages-to-receive from your email server.
The Following CONFIG Settings Apply To WWW Processing
WWW: CheckInterval
PixieRobot activates on time intervals, with separate settings for Email and WWW operations.
Both are given defaults of 120 sec. This is a short time useful for first testing. To switch off Email or WWW operation, set its
CheckInterval to 0
WWW: Script
Set to the file name that contains the VBScript that will be executed. This file resides in the same folder as PixieRobot.
WWW: MonitorPause
Sets a timing interval to delay processing of each web page until the expiry of this value (in seconds). Useful for manually
capturing HTML for debugging purposes. Only useful in "immediate" processing mode.
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