Question

I use rsync to synchronize files to Windows clients in a server agnostic way. What methods are available to send the progress of rsync to the parent process for display in a gui progress bar?

I imagine two or three choices exist. (1) Watch STDOUT (2) Watch rsync.exe log file, similar to unix tail (3) Watch rsync console output in memory.

Which one is best/preferred?

Answer 1

For this type of tasks, I use my own AutoIt script (freeware, Windows only). The script redirects the standard output into a graphical window, displaying it with the ability to scroll back, etc (very useful in long processes like XCOPYs / PKZIPs to check if any error did happen).

I use AutoIt because it’s free, very easy to use, and can compile quickly into an .EXE. I think it’s an excellent alternative to a complete programming language for this type of tasks. The downside is that it’s for Windows only.

$sCmd = 'DIR E:\*.AU3 /S'  ; Test command $nAutoTimeout = 10      ; Time in seconds to close window after finish  $nDeskPct = 60          ; % of desktop size (if percent)  ; $nHeight = 480          ; height/width of the main window (if fixed) ; $nWidth = 480  $sTitRun = 'Executing process. Wait....'     ;  $sTitDone = 'Process done'                ;   $sSound = @WindowsDir & '\Media\Ding.wav'       ; End Sound  $sButRun = 'Cancel'                           ; Caption of 'Exec' button $sButDone = 'Close'                            ; Caption of 'Close' button  #include <GUIConstants.au3> #include <Constants.au3> #Include <GuiList.au3>  Opt('GUIOnEventMode', 1)  if $nDeskPct > 0 Then     $nHeight = @DesktopHeight * ($nDeskPct / 100)     $nWidth = @DesktopWidth * ($nDeskPct / 100) EndIf   If $CmdLine[0] > 0 Then     $sCmd = ''     For $nCmd = 1 To $CmdLine[0]         $sCmd = $sCmd & ' ' & $CmdLine[$nCmd]     Next      ; MsgBox (1,'',$sCmd) EndIf  ; AutoItSetOption('GUIDataSeparatorChar', Chr(13)+Chr(10))  $nForm = GUICreate($sTitRun, $nWidth, $nHeight) GUISetOnEvent($GUI_EVENT_CLOSE, 'CloseForm')  $nList = GUICtrlCreateList ('', 10, 10, $nWidth - 20, $nHeight - 50, $WS_BORDER + $WS_VSCROLL) GUICtrlSetFont (-1, 9, 0, 0, 'Courier New')  $nClose = GUICtrlCreateButton ($sButRun, $nWidth - 100, $nHeight - 40, 80, 30) GUICtrlSetOnEvent (-1, 'CloseForm')  GUISetState(@SW_SHOW)   ;, $nForm)  $nPID = Run(@ComSpec & ' /C ' & $sCmd, '.', @SW_HIDE, $STDOUT_CHILD) ; $nPID = Run(@ComSpec & ' /C _RunErrl.bat ' & $sCmd, '.', @SW_HIDE, $STDOUT_CHILD)     ; # Con ésto devuelve el errorlevel en _ERRL.TMP  While 1     $sLine = StdoutRead($nPID)     If @error Then ExitLoop      If StringLen ($sLine) > 0 then         $sLine = StringReplace ($sLine, Chr(13), '|')         $sLine = StringReplace ($sLine, Chr(10), '')         if StringLeft($sLine, 1)='|' Then             $sLine = ' ' & $sLine         endif          GUICtrlSetData ($nList, $sLine)          _GUICtrlListSelectIndex ($nList, _GUICtrlListCount ($nList) - 1)     EndIf Wend  $sLine = ' ||' GUICtrlSetData ($nList, $sLine) _GUICtrlListSelectIndex ($nList, _GUICtrlListCount ($nList) - 1)  GUICtrlSetData ($nClose, $sButDone)  WinSetTitle ($sTitRun, '', $sTitDone) If $sSound <> '' Then     SoundPlay ($sSound) EndIf  $rInfo = DllStructCreate('uint;dword')      ; # LASTINPUTINFO DllStructSetData($rInfo, 1, DllStructGetSize($rInfo));  DllCall('user32.dll', 'int', 'GetLastInputInfo', 'ptr', DllStructGetPtr($rInfo)) $nLastInput = DllStructGetData($rInfo, 2)  $nTime = TimerInit()  While 1     If $nAutoTimeout > 0 Then         DllCall('user32.dll', 'int', 'GetLastInputInfo', 'ptr', DllStructGetPtr($rInfo))         If DllStructGetData($rInfo, 2) <> $nLastInput Then             ; Tocó una tecla             $nAutoTimeout = 0         EndIf     EndIf      If $nAutoTimeout > 0 And TimerDiff ($nTime) > $nAutoTimeOut * 1000 Then         ExitLoop     EndIf      Sleep (100) Wend   Func CloseForm()     Exit EndFunc