We are in the home stretch of the regular season for ACC basketball, and each in the trio of Triangle teams is having a fascinating season. One of the most interesting downloadable documents on the internet is the ACC Basketball Press Release ; a 25-page document that is chock full of data about the league’s 12 teams. On the iPad, the document ( and any other PDF from the web ) is even easier to enjoy.

While one sitting with the document is impressive, it is even more impressive to realize that the document is updated on the day after each league game . Keeping up with the ever-changing document can be laborious if a good system isn’t in place. Of course one could just bookmark the above link, but if you really want a system that works better, use this system for downloading this document easily:

Hardware

• Windows PC (XP/Vista/7)
• iPad (1 or 2)

Software

• Autohotkey (for Windows)
• Dropbox (any platform
• GoodReader (for iPad)

Installation

After installing all of the above software, set up a Dropbox folder called “ToRead”. Create a new Autohotkey script (right-click on the Desktop, and select New | AutohotkeyScript). Open the new, empty script in Notepad and paste this into the document:

#SingleInstance, FORCE
UrlDownloadToFile, http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/acc/sports/m-baskbl/auto_pdf/2011-12/misc_non_event/accmbb-release.pdf , %A_Desktop%\ACCRelease.pdf
sleep, 15000
FileMove %A_Desktop%\ACCRelease.pdf, C:\Users\~YOURNAME~\Dropbox\ToRead\ACCRelease.pdf, 1
if ErrorLevel  ; Report each problem folder by name.
MsgBox Could not move ACCRelease.pdf into C:\Users\Dana\Dropbox\ToRead\
Exit

(In Line 3, edit the ~YOURNAME~ section to accurately reflect the path to your Dropbox folder.)

Open GoodReader on the iPad and set up  your Dropbox account:

• Select “Connect to Servers" | Add”
• Select Dropbox
• Enter your Dropbox login info
• Once Dropbox is added to your Connect to Servers list, Tap on your Dropbox-associated email address.
• Tap on your ToRead folder to select it (not the blue arrow). This should reveal the “Sync” button at the bottom.
• Select “Sync”, then “Proceed”
• Select “Download here & Synchronize”
• Select “Sync” in the Sync Parameters window

Finally, if your are using Windows Vista or Windows 7,  navigate to your Autohotkey folder (ie. C:\Program Files\AutoHotkey). Right-click on the Autohotkey.exe application, and select Properties. Select the Compatibility tab, and check “Run this program as an Administrator”. Select OK.

Testing

Test the setup by double-clicking on the Autohotkey script on your Desktop. What should follow is the 15 second appearance of the ACCRelease.pdf document. When the document disappears, it moves to your ToRead folder, which will then sync the release to your Dropbox account in the cloud.

Open GoodReader on the iPad and select the “Sync” button in the Web Downloads section. (in the right half of the screen). Select your ToRead folder in the left list, and you should see ACCRelease.pdf appear in the list. It appears in blue when the file has been unread, and black when it is read.

Once the test scenario works, set up your Autohotkey script to run automatically.

• Open Windows Task Scheduler
• Select Create Task… (in the upper right)
• Enter a name for the task, like “ACC Downloader”, and check “Run with Highest Privileges”
• Select the Triggers tag, hit “New…”, and set up an interval for the downloader to run. (I set mine for Daily at 1pm.)
• Select OK, then select the Actions tab, then hit “New…”
• Make sure Action: has “Start a program” selected.
• Hit Browse, and find your Autohotkey script. (It may be on the Desktop, but perhaps you moved it to another folder to get it out of the way). Hit OK to leave the New Action window.
• Hit OK to leave Create Task, and review your new task in the scheduler. Once the correct settings are confirmed, close the Task Scheduler.

Now you can open up your iPad each day after your selected time and get the latest ACC Press Release almost effortlessly. If you have found another PDF that is updated frequently, create a new script and download it each day!