Batch Scripting (Windows)

In order to facilitate using FreeFileSync and RealtimeSync in advanced synchronization scenarios, creating batch files is a good way to provide additional functionality. The following section will give some general hints and examples for custom *.cmd and *.bat files.

• When starting a batch file from RealtimeSync make synchronous calls to FreeFileSync only. This will prevent RealtimeSync continue detecting changes while synchronization is still in progress.

• During execution of a Batch file a black console window is shown. You can hide this window by using the Visual Basic script "Invisible.vbs" located in the FreeFileSync installation directory.

Usage:

wscript C:\Program files\FreeFileSync\Invisible.vbs C:\MyBatchFile.cmd

• FreeFileSync returns with an Errorlevel below zero if unresolved problems remain:

"C:\Program Files\FreeFileSync\FreeFileSync.exe" "H:\Silent_Config.ffs_batch"
if not errorlevel 0 (
  ::if something went wrong, add special treatment here
  echo Errors occurred during synchronization...
  pause
)

Example: Shutdown PC after synchronization

  ::start FreeFileSync Batch Job
"C:\Users\ZenJu\Desktop\SyncJob.ffs_batch"
  ::schedule shutdown after 10 seconds
shutdown /s /t 10

Example: A simple locking facility – (Note: FreeFileSync already has a more powerful directory locking mechanism implemented that allows multiple writers in parallel)

:tryAgain
if not exist \\share\folder\lock (
  ::create the lock
  echo This is a lock file > \\share\folder\lock
  ::execute the synchronization batch job synchronously
  "C:\Program Files\FreeFileSync\FreeFileSync.exe" "C:\MySyncJob.ffs_batch"
  del \\share\folder\lock
) else (
  ::wait 5 seconds then try starting sync again:
  choice /C:AB /T:5 /D:A > NUL
  goto tryAgain
)