Appendix C - Using expect with EnterpriseSCHEDULE

Job Commands using "Expect" is a powerful feature of EnterpriseSCHEDULE. Jobs can invoke several types of scripts. "Expect" is one of those powerful options on a Job's "submit" property page. In this article we will explore how to create scripts, record menu sessions into scripts, and additional methods for expanding your job tool kit.

The features that will be discussed are:

• Overview of "Expect" the scripting tool
• Using Expect's Record feature to capture an interactive session into a Job
• Modifying the commands of a Expect Recorded session to parameterize menu responses
• Common modification made to Expect Recorded sessions
• Breaking Expect Jobs into reusable pieces using include within a Job
• Creating Expect prototype Job Templates

Expect is a TCL-based Toolkit Scripting language that is readily available on Unix and Linux as freeware. There are also kits for Windows and OpenVMS but we will focus on the most common platforms utilizing Expect which are Unix and Linux. There are several free install kits typically RPMs available for Expect. Please refer to ISE's FAQs for a list of ftp sites containing install kits.

Expect can be used as a freeform Scripting language or as a tool to record interactive terminal sessions which can then to be reused as a script. This article will focus on recording and modifying Expect recorded sessions are then imported into an ISE EnterpriseSCHEDULE Job. An excellent Expect reference guide is "Exploring Expect" by Don Libes an O'Reilly publication.