Automatic Advisory Program Execution


Automatic Program Execution

Why run another program?

Because you can set up an advisory to tell you when a vehicle enters a specified region, RASTRAC advisories are very useful. The text content component allows you to display helpful information, for instance, "The Restricted area has been violated" or some other useful text advice. However, it is not always easy to look at the computer screen while you are operating other equipment like the dispatch/voice radio or the telephone. Wouldn't it be nice if there was an audio playback option, so RASTRAC would actually talk to you? Conveniently, automatic advisory application execution provides you with this capability.

How to set up a program to auto-execute

To cause a program to auto-execute when an advisory is activated, you simply type in the command line for the program in the proper (Entry or Exit) application command line field in the Advisory Settings...Advanced dialog.

Thenceforth, when the advisory is activated (or deactivated in the case of the Exit application), RASTRAC will auto-execute the program (within Microsoft® Windows) with the exact command line you specified; just like you ran it from the "Start... Run" menu option on the Windows Desktop. You can use keywords on the command line just like for the advisory text (like {{VID}} for the vehicle ID alias). See Advisory Text Keywords.


Advisory plug-ins allow you to associate ANY Windows Application with the movements and actions of your fleet vehicles. This includes audio playback, text editors, terminal programs (to make telephone calls or send files when a vehicle enters/exits an advisory region), video capture or display programs, or any other Windows-compatible program.