How can you get grunt to run automatically each day? - cron

Question

I'd like to run my protractor end-to-end tests automatically each day.
Currently I can do
$ grunt
In the test directory and they run.
Is there a way to get them to run automatically each day at a specific time?
I've tried using cron, but according to this, I'd have to make all of my require paths into absolute paths, which I don't want to do.

Answer 1

Use a node script and setInterval:
var exec = require('child_process').exec
var path = require('path')
var running = false
var run = function(what, where) {
if (running === true) return
running = true
// by default, just run grunt
what = what || 'grunt'
// by default, run on grunt in the current working directory
where = path.resolve(where || path.join(process.cwd(), 'Gruntfile.coffee'))
what += ' --gruntfile=' + where
exec(what, { cwd: path.dirname(where) }, function(err, stdout, stderr) {
if (err || stderr) { /* log the error somewhere */ }
/* log the stdout if needed*/
console.log(stdout)
running = false
})
}
setInterval(function() {
run(/* set what to run, where to run */)
/* or even multiple gruntfiles and node projects */
}, 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000) // once a day
This is platform agnostic, easy to start and stop, easy to maintain and customize.
Check out a library like https://www.npmjs.org/package/forever for running a node script forever. Or many of the other ways: nohup, monit, upstart, etc.

Answer 2

Using Kyle Robinson Young's answer along with the node module cron, I came up with the following which runs the gruntfile every day at 5:00pm:
var cronJob = require('cron').CronJob
, exec = require('child_process').exec
, path = require('path')
, running = false
;
var run = function(what, where) {
if (running === true) {
return;
}
running = true;
// by default, just run grunt
what = what || 'grunt';
// by default, run on grunt in the current working directory
where = path.resolve(where || path.join(process.cwd(), 'Gruntfile.js'));
what += ' --gruntfile=' + where;
exec(what, { cwd: path.dirname(where) }, function(err, stdout, stderr) {
if (err || stderr) {
console.log(err);
}
/* log the stdout if needed*/
console.log(stdout);
running = false;
});
};
new cronJob('00 00 17 * * *', function(){
console.log('Running Gruntfile ' + new Date());
var what = 'grunt'
, where
;
run(what, where);
}, null, true);