How to use environment variable which contains backslashes?

Hi, I'm running the multi-platform edition on Windows. In a JavaScript job I want to use a Windows environment variable which contains a path, which of course has backslashes in it.

The environment variable is HSProgs, it contains C:\Warehouse\Programs

If I run this code in a JavaScript job of course the backslashes from HSProgs are eaten, so this function:

StampFile("@V"env:HSProgs"\\sitecopy\\Logs\\sitecopy_hswebsite_@T"yyyy-mm-dd".log");

Just sees:

C:WarehousePrograms\sitecopy\Logs\sitecopy_hswebsite_2010-07-08.log

Is there a way to work around this? I realise I could move to a DOS batch file but would like to stay in JS.

Thanks

I'm afraid there is no easy solution to preserve backslashes inside such JS job. I can suggest a slightly different solution, which is to create a batch script job to do the same job. In the code of a batch script job, use something like the following (this is just an idea, I don't know what your StampFile actually does)

	Code:
	FileTouch "%HSProgs%\sitecopy\Logs\sitecopy_hswebsite_@T"yyyy-mm-dd".log"

A copy of FileTouch can be downloaded here http://www.softtreetech.com/24x7/archive/47.htm

I might just hardcode it :-)

Thanks for the prompt reply.

Can I put in a feature request for this please? A new macro variable for use in JavaScript which picks up a host environment variable and escapes it as necessary. i.e. double up backslashes and escape quotes.

Another solution is to read the value from command line not using macros

	Code:
	var runInfo = Process.runAndWait("cmd /C echo %HSProgs%", 0); //Scheduler.messageBox("output: " + runInfo.getOutput()); StampFile(runInfo.getOutput() + "\\sitecopy\\Logs\\sitecopy_hswebsite_@T"yyyy-mm-dd".log");

Nice solution, thanks.

I can't get this to work:

If I set HSProgs manually (second assignment) it works as expected--see first job run in log image below. If I pick up HSProgs from the environment the File.write fails--see second job run. In both cases the path written to the log looks exactly the same.

(Ignore the 2nd bunch of commented statements).

Code:

// Write timestamp to log files as sitecopy doesn't

var HSProgs = Process.runAndWait("cmd.exe /C echo %HSProgs%", 0).getOutput(); // 0=no timeout

//var HSProgs="C:\\Warehouse\\Programs";

Scheduler.logAddMessage('INFO', @V"job_id", '@V"job_name"', HSProgs);

StampFile(HSProgs+"\\sitecopy\\Logs\\sitecopy_hswebsitecbg00_@T"yyyy-mm-dd".log");

//for (i=0;i<=15;i++) {
// var iz=''+i;
// if (iz.length < 2) {var iz='0'+iz;};
// StampFile("C:\\Warehouse\\Programs\\sitecopy\\Logs\\sitecopy_hswebsitecbg"+iz+"_@T"yyyy-mm-dd".log");
//}

function StampFile(Filename) {
if (! File.exists(Filename)) {
File.save(Filename,"");
}

var LogFile = File.open(Filename, "ReadWrite",true); // true=append
File.write(LogFile,"Log stamp @T"yyyy-mm-dd HH:mm:ss"\n");
File.close(LogFile);
}

It points to line 19. Looks like File.save fails.

There is likely some leading or trailing space symbol which cannot be seen in the log and which is causing the file operation to fail.

I suggest to try trimming leading and trailing spaces from the output value returned by ECHO

	Code:
	// add trim() method to String class String.prototype.trim = function() { return this.replace(/^\s+\|\s+$/g,""); } StampFile(HSProgs.trim() + "\\sitecopy\\Logs\\sitecopy_hswebsitecbg00_@T"yyyy-mm-dd".log");

Brilliant, thanks. The echo command was adding a CRLF.

This is how I'm now picking up the DOS environment variable:

	Code:
	var HSProgs=Process.runAndWait("cmd.exe /C echo %HSProgs%", 0).getOutput(); // 0=no timeout var HSProgs=HSProgs.replace("\r","").replace("\n",""); // Strip trailing CRLF

Thanks for the status update. I'm glad you found an acceptable solution. Please let us know if we can help with anything else.