Copy Database to another location

Anonymous Monk has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

I need to copy an Access 2000 database from a Windows NT web server to an InfoServer just once a day.
I assume I can do this by copying the Access 2000 database to the InfoServer using a Perl Script running on the Windows Task Scheduler.
If the copy is the way to go, our web server does not have File::Copy module so I am trying to use the below script to do the job. Please advise if I have this correct and this can be done with an Access 2000 database?

use strict;
my $filename = "myDatabaseName.mdb";
open(FILEOPENED, $filename)  || die "Can't open file: $filename \n";
while ($line = <FILEOPENED>)
{
  print "$line \n";
  my $cmd = "copy H:currdir\\$line \\\infoserver\\destinationDir";    
+   
  print "$cmd\n";
  my $result = system($cmd);
  if ($result) 
  {
    warn qq(Couldn't execute "$cmd"!\n);
    next;
  }
}
close(FILEOPENED);
[download]

Comment on Copy Database to another location Download Code

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Re: Copy Database to another location by Errto (Vicar) on Feb 06, 2006 at 20:34 UTC
This is pretty close, but there are a couple of changes you'll probably need to make. First, be sure to chomp $line after reading it in. Otherwise it will generally have a newline at the end of it and this will mess up your copy command. Second, UNC paths start with a double backslash (\\), which means that if you want to write one in a double-quoted string in Perl you need to write it with four backslashes (\\\\); your code only has three. Finally, IIRC `copy.exe` does not support UNC paths on some older versions of Windows. Unfortunately I don't have anything older than XP in front of me to test with. If you run into this problem then you'll need to map the path to 'infoserver' as a network drive. By the way, File::Copy is now a core module, so if your Perl is recent enough you have it already.	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Copy Database to another location by neilwatson (Priest) on Feb 06, 2006 at 20:34 UTC
This does not seem like a good idea to me. What will happen to the database if a record is altered while the copy is in progress? The copy will not be exact. Why are you copying the db? If it is for backup, then I would check the Access help files for proper backup options. Neil Watson watson-wilson.ca	[reply]
Re: Copy Database to another location by InfiniteSilence (Curate) on Feb 06, 2006 at 21:38 UTC
Some points: I like neilwatson's comments. They make sense. Make sure you are doing this when no one should be using the database. Microsoft Access keeps rollback data in hidden tables within itself and its cleanup utilities for this have been historically bad. That means you will have to run a macro within it to force it compress itself, like: `#!/usr/bin/perl -w use strict; use Win32::OLE; my ($acc) = Win32::OLE->new("Access.Application"); $acc->{Visible} = 1; $acc->OpenCurrentDatabase("c:\\temp\\foo2.mdb"); $acc->DoCmd->RunMacro("mcroSayHello"); 1;` [download] Read the docs on how to create a macro or just use this code: 495924. Lastly, I would probably check the file size on the target to ensure you actually moved everything over. You can use WMI or something for that. Celebrate Intellectual Diversity	[reply] [d/l]
Re^2: Copy Database to another location by Anonymous Monk on Feb 07, 2006 at 23:01 UTC
Thanks for all your recommendations! I think I will just use the Document file that is output from the Cold Fusion Front end which will give me the records I need. Then use this Script to transfer the Document file to the infoserver. This works but was wondering how I can check if the copy was successful? `use strict; my $listFile = "C:\\theDoc.doc"; my $listFile2 = "\\\\theinfoServer\\dir\\"; open(LIST, $listFile) \|\| die "Cant open $listFile : $!"; while(<LIST>) { #Can I put a Exception statement for this system command? I am not +familiar with Exceptions in Perl system("copy $listFile $listFile2 > nul"); } close(LIST); print "Successfully copied\n";` [download]	[reply] [d/l]