Notify me when the script is ready

In my work, I often run simulation scripts using MATLAB, which can sometimes take several hours or even days. The running time is not exactly predictable and therefore I would like to be informed as soon as the script is ready, especially also if an error occurs. This way I can fix the error directly and run the script again without waiting for the time it would take for the script to run without errors. Additionally, I no longer need to keep an eye on the console output to see if the execution was successful or if an error occurred.

I was looking for a simple solution and found Pushover.

Pushover is a service using a REST API that receive messages and send them to device clients, e.g. the Pushover app for Android.

After a few steps, the script is able to send you messages on your smartphone:

1. Register at https://pushover.net/ to get a User Token.
2. Create an API Token at https://pushover.net/apps/build.
3. Download the Pushover device client for Android or iOS, login with your login data and add your device to your user account.
4. POST an HTTPS request to https://api.pushover.net/1/messages.json by using your User Token and API Token.

That’s it.

In my case the MATLAB function for sending a message to my smartphone is:

function pushover(title, message)
    API_TOKEN = 'api_abc123'; % insert your own API Token
    USER_TOKEN = 'user_abc123'; % insert your own User Token
    
    if length(message) > 512
        disp('Maximum character length for messages is 512.');
    end

    post_params = {'token', API_TOKEN,...    % API token
                   'user', USER_TOKEN,...    % user's ID token
                   'message', message,...    % message to push
                   'title', title};          % message title in notification bar
    
    try
        urlread('https://api.pushover.net/1/messages.json', 'Post', post_params);
    catch ME
        disp(ME.message);
        disp(ME.stack);
    end
    
    disp('Send message to Pushover...');
end

Using this feature results in notifications in my Pushover Android client:

The message length is limited to 512 characters and each application (=one API Token) can send 10.000 messages per month ¹. Furthermore one has to pay a one-time purchase to receive notifications on e.g. your android client ².

For me, this simple feature of sending notifications to my smartphone is enough. However, there are many more options. It should be noted that currently no end-to-end encryption is supported ³. It is therefore better not to send private data via the service.