Concrete5 is incredibly robust software out of the box, and with the ability to easily extend it's functionality it is also a very powerful framework to use to build advanced web based applications. When building these advanced applications sometimes we incorporate other external programs. For example, a program that will compress videos that have been uploaded by your end users, or a program that will analyze data and send it out to users in a specific User Group Set. Or, in the case I will lay out below, simply run an Automated Job process.

To access c5 from the PHP CLI, the first thing we need to do is create a PHP file that allows only CLI access.

Create a file named "index_CLI.php" in the c5 root directory (the same directory as "index.php"). Add the following code to it:

<?php
# ~/index_CLI.php
defined('STDIN') or die(_("Access Denied. CLI Only")); //Only allow CLI access.
chdir(__DIR__);
 
define('DIR_BASE','.');
define('C5_ENVIRONMENT_ONLY', true);
require_once('config/site.php');
if ( !defined('REDIRECT_TO_BASE_URL') ){
  define('REDIRECT_TO_BASE_URL', false);
}
if ( defined('DIRNAME_APP_UPDATED') ){
  $GLOBALS['APP_UPDATED_PASSTHRU'] = true;  
  require('updates/' . DIRNAME_APP_UPDATED . '/concrete/dispatcher.php');
}
else{
  require('index.php');  
}

What this file does is expose the appropriate c5 architecture securely to the CLI only. Now let's create a script that will run a specific Job.

Create a new directory at the c5 root named "cli". You don't have to do this, but it's a good idea to keep things organized. Next, create a new file named "run_a_specific_job.php" in the newly created "cli" directory. Add the following code:

<?php
# ~/cli/run_a_specific_job.php
chdir(__DIR__);
require('../index_CLI.php'); //Include the file that exposes the c5 architecture
$_REQUEST['auth'] = Job::generateAuth();
$_REQUEST['jID'] = '5'; //This is where you specify which Job ID you want to run
User::loginByUserID(1); //This is not necessary for core jobs, but a privileged session may be required for some custom Jobs
Loader::tool('jobs');

That's it! To run this file from a cron task, simply use the command "php /[INSERT PATH TO C5 ROOT DIRECTORY HERE]/cli/jobs.php"

If you need to record the output of the script, you can use this command: "php /[INSERT PATH TO C5 ROOT DIRECTORY HERE]/cli/jobs.php >> /[INSERT PATH TO C5 ROOT DIRECTORY HERE]/cli/output.txt"