Automation and scheduling of front page publishing using python

[andrew.arobert]

Good afternoon,

We have numerous web sites which are currently being manually
published via Front Page.

Doing one or two sites on an ad-hoc basis was not too bad but we are
now over 20 or thirty at set times during a business day.

What I would love to do is find a way of automating this task, ideally
by the command line, and called from a central automated task
scheduler such as Maestro.

Using Cygwin's rsync or Microsoft's Robocopy successfully moves a
site from one file system path to another but the front page
extensions and navigation/etc are
broken.

Does anyone know of an alternative method for handling this using
Python?

I did a google search and a scan of the cheese shop but nothing seems
to jump out as a place to start.

Any advice you can give on this would be fantastic.

I've been trying to introduce Python to my shop for some time but they
have been most resistant, usually insisting on Perl.

Thanks,
Andy

 

[Lawrence D'Oliveiro]

In message <[email protected]>,

We have numerous web sites which are currently being manually
published via Front Page.

Doing one or two sites on an ad-hoc basis was not too bad but we are
now over 20 or thirty at set times during a business day.

Let me open the bidding by suggesting that you stop using FrontPage.

 

[Steve Holden]

In message <[email protected]>,


Let me open the bidding by suggesting that you stop using FrontPage.

But that would mean reprogramming the functionality they now implement
using FrontPage extensions. Any help with that?

regards
Steve
--
Steve Holden +1 571 484 6266 +1 800 494 3119
Holden Web LLC/Ltd http://www.holdenweb.com
Skype: holdenweb http://del.icio.us/steve.holden
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[Lawrence D'Oliveiro]

But that would mean reprogramming the functionality they now implement
using FrontPage extensions. Any help with that?

If they were using FrontPage extensions, they deserve everything they get.

 

[Steve Holden]

If they were using FrontPage extensions, they deserve everything they get.

While possibly justifiable, given that FrontPage has had holes you could
drive a London double-decker but through since time immemorial, it isn't
a terribly helpful observation. And they clearly *are* using FrontPage
extensions, since the OP states that rsync and RoboCopy leave "the front
page extensions and navigation/etc [...] broken".

Not everyone reads the literature even well enough to know about
well-known problems like FrontPage. Whether such ignorance deserves to
be punished by such open-ended retribution is arguable, and I think I'd
come down on the "no" side.

The only mistake they made was trusting the vendor to provide secure
solutions ...

[Andrew: sorry to drag you into this discussion - I don't know whether
you were aware of FrontPage's security issues or not. If not, you should
certainly think about reading up on them].

regards
Steve
--
Steve Holden +1 571 484 6266 +1 800 494 3119
Holden Web LLC/Ltd http://www.holdenweb.com
Skype: holdenweb http://del.icio.us/steve.holden
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[Lawrence D'Oliveiro]

While possibly justifiable, given that FrontPage has had holes you could
drive a London double-decker but through since time immemorial, it isn't
a terribly helpful observation.

Just to remove any possible doubt: FrontPage must die.

But if you want that expressed in less confrontational, more
customer-friendly words, how about this:

They need to engage the services of an expensive consultant or two, who will
bill them lots of hours working out an approach which may involve migrating
to a technology with better long-term prospects, or simply stitching
together a Frankenhack or two to eke a bit more life out of their existing
system, until it finally collapses altogether.

Either way, they need to spend the folding stuff, and lots of it. Asking for
help on a forum where people are more liable to throw brainpower rather
than money at problems, is a waste of time.

 

[andrew.arobert]

Just to remove any possible doubt: FrontPage must die.

But if you want that expressed in less confrontational, more
customer-friendly words, how about this:

They need to engage the services of an expensive consultant or two, who will
bill them lots of hours working out an approach which may involve migrating
to a technology with better long-term prospects, or simply stitching
together a Frankenhack or two to eke a bit more life out of their existing
system, until it finally collapses altogether.

Either way, they need to spend the folding stuff, and lots of it. Asking for
help on a forum where people are more liable to throw brainpower rather
than money at problems, is a waste of time.

ROFL.

Yes.. I know all about Front Page's issues and would be one of the
first to say it should be abandoned.

Regrettably it is a situation I have been "drafted" into.

Management knows I do a lot of work with WebSphere MQSeries and
WebSphere Application server.

They saw the "web" in those and figured I would be the perfect
resource for solving their problem.

In any case, convincing management and our so-called web developers to
stop using the extensions is an up-hill struggle at best.

I am working that angle but my expectations are low so I figured I
would pose the question here.

 

[Jerry]

andrew,

I would try looking into Windows automation with Python.
http://www.google.com/search?q=windows+automation+python should get
you started. The winGuiAuto package may help you out as it is like
have a human click and move throughout the interface. The only
downside is that there is no recorder to help you build the script, so
I would try to do as much in VBA as you can (does FrontPage even
support VBA?) and then just write your python script to get through
the program enough to execute the macro.

 

[andrew.arobert]

andrew,

I would try looking into Windows automation with Python.http://www.google.com/search?q=windows+automation+pythonshould get
you started. The winGuiAuto package may help you out as it is like
have a human click and move throughout the interface. The only
downside is that there is no recorder to help you build the script, so
I would try to do as much in VBA as you can (does FrontPage even
support VBA?) and then just write your python script to get through
the program enough to execute the macro.

Yes.. Front page can be run by VB macro but I really did not want to
go down that road if it could be avoided.

This looks very promising.

I've installed the module and run a couple of the basic examples..

Very cool.

 

[andrew.arobert]

Yes.. Front page can be run by VB macro but I really did not want to
go down that road if it could be avoided.

This looks very promising.

I've installed the module and run a couple of the basic examples..

Very cool.

After a bit of patience, I was able to get this to work.

Still fine-tuning the process but the basic elements are there.

What is interesting is that once I submitted the proof-of-concept
code, management decided that they would like to see what other
companies are doing for this requirement and weigh the pros/cons of
this approach.