CatalogueLINK Download Automation

Owned by Jason O'Malley
Last updated: Oct 27, 2024 by Chris Slattery

Automation Settings

  • In CatalogueLINK Download go to Setup – Automation Settings
  • Check the "Auto export" checkboxes for the data types you wish to download and export automatically.
  • Set the "Between" start and end times based on when the PC will be on and able to connect to the accounting system without issue. You should factor in scheduled backups or restarts of pcs.
  • Enter a number in the "check every" field that CatalogueLINK Download will use as the interval for downloading and exporting.
  • Next use Action – Auto Download to start automation based on the settings chosen.

  • CatalogueLINK Download will go into the Automatic Download window showing the download of orders, payments and customers.
  • To stop automation, in the Automation Download window click ‘Close’.
  • Note: If you are using a ‘Scheduled Task to run automation please disable the scheduled task.

Scheduled Task

Note: If you have CatalogueLINK Download 3.0.1.0 or newer, an optional Scheduled Task can be created to perform Action – Auto Download automatically on an interval.

This will start Automation again if CatalogueLINK Download has been closed. If you would like this function, please submit a Service Request.

Optionally we can set up a Scheduled Task to start automation automatically.

The task will attempt to run CatalogueLINK Download and put it into automation mode when CatalogueLINK Download is not running.

The following instructions are specific to Windows 7 but all modern versions of Windows can set up Scheduled Tasks.

  • Go to ‘Control Panel’ - ‘Administrative Tools’ then ‘Task Scheduler’.
  • Select ‘Create Task’ from the ‘Actions’ pane.
  • In the ‘General’ tab, enter a name for the task, the current logged in user to run the task and select ‘Run only when user is logged on’.

    Note: You may be required to enter the password for the selected user account.

    Note: If you are running CatalogueLINK Download version 3.0.10.0 or newer, the Windows Scheduled Task can be configured to Run whether user is logged on or not. Running CatalogueLINK Download with this configuration means that CatalogueLINK Download will start as a background process, and as a result after login, you may need to find and End the CatalogueLINK Download process from the Task Manager before being able to run the application in the Desktop.

  • Select the ‘Triggers’ tab and then ‘New’.
  • Set ‘Repeat task every’ to every hour and ‘for a duration of’ to ‘indefinitely’.
  • Check the ‘Enabled’ checkbox before clicking ‘OK’.
  • Select the ‘Actions’ tab and then ‘New’.
  • Set ‘Action’ to ‘Start a program’.
  • Browse to Download.exe in the CatalogueLINK directory
  • Add ‘AutoDownloadStart’ (without quotes) to the ‘Add arguments (optional)’ text area.

  • Click ‘OK’

    Note: if two databases are used, copy the following SecondaryDatabase AutoDownloadStart quotations can be used: "SecondaryDatabase" "AutoDownloadStart"

  • In the ‘Scheduled Tasks’ window right click on the task and select ‘Run’
  • If it is functioning correctly, CatalogueLINK Download should load up the ‘Automatic Download’ window.

Note: If automation is already open the scheduled task will not open a second instance.

Automatic Login on Restart

Your server (or wherever you have chosen to install CatalogueLINK) can be set to automatically log a user back in, in the event of a restart, power failure, or similar.

This allows for Download Automation to start back up again, provided it has been configured as a scheduled task.

Note: The method outlined by Microsoft involves using the Registry Editor, we would recommend this be handled by your IT professionals.