[SOLUTION] Get Scheduled Tasks to run Regularly

[DaremoTono]

As you know vBulletin uses the page-load of users to run cron.php thus kicking off scheduled tasks. On boards without a lot of regular users this means it may be hours before the next scheduled task runs.

I've tried to find a solution to get the system cron to run cron.php, however with v5 of VB all I get is an "AccessDenied". If anybody knows how to get the system cron to work, please let me know as it is more elegant and desirable than my kludge.

In any event, I've created the following kludge to run cron.php every minute (or any schedule you want). This kludge is ugly and stupid, but I can't figure out a good work-around to this problem and, it seems, that real cron support is still far in the future for v5 of VB.

• First, using Site Builder, create a new page
• Insert a "Static HTML" module and nothing else on the page
• Edit the module and insert the following:

<META HTTP-EQUIV="refresh" CONTENT="60">

<h1>Refresh<h1>

<label id="minutes">00</label>:<label id="seconds">00</label>
    <script type="text/javascript">
        var minutesLabel = document.getElementById("minutes");
        var secondsLabel = document.getElementById("seconds");
        var totalSeconds = 0;
        setInterval(setTime, 1000);

        function setTime()
        {
            ++totalSeconds;
            secondsLabel.innerHTML = pad(totalSeconds%60);
            minutesLabel.innerHTML = pad(parseInt(totalSeconds/60));
        }

        function pad(val)
        {
            var valString = val + "";
            if(valString.length < 2)
            {
                return "0" + valString;
            }
            else
            {
                return valString;
            }
        }
    </script>

Set the "60" in the first line to the time interval you want to use for a page refresh, save the page but do not add it to any user-viewable menu.

To use this just use a browser and open this page. It will automatically refresh every 60 seconds and do a count-up timer to 1 minute for a visual clue that the thing is working.

If you open this in a new browser window, you can minimize the window and it will continue to work unattended.

NOTICE: Do not, under ANY circumstances, set the refresh to any value LOWER than "60". If you do there may not be enough time for you to edit and save the page before it refreshes. Setting it to any time under 5 seconds will mean that you will most likely be unable to even do a fast page delete.

When working on this page I recommend first editing the page, setting the refresh rate to "6000" and saving the page again. You can then re-edit the page and work on it without fear of it refreshing in the middle of your work. Re-set the timer when you are finally done.

Again, this is kludgy and nasty - but it works, If anyone has a better solution -- please let me know

PS: This also seems to work as an unintended "Keep me logged in forever" solution as the page refresh seems to satisfy VB's desire for user activity.

Thanks