A.1 Using the Command Line

An Oracle Reports command on the command line generally has the following form:

component_name keyword=value, keyword=value, ...

where each keyword=value pair is called a command line option.

Keywords must be specified and can be used in any order following the component name.

A.1.1 General Usage Notes

  • No spaces should be placed before or after the equal sign of an option.

  • Separate options with one or more spaces; do not use commas to separate options.

  • Values may be in single or double quotes. The effect of single or double quotes is operating system-specific.

  • The keyword= part of all options is not case-sensitive. The value portion may be case-sensitive, depending on your operating system.

  • To pass a single quote from the command line, you must enter two quotes (one quote as an escape and one as the actual quote). For example:

    rwrun REPORT=myrep DESTYPE=file DESNAME=run.out BATCH=yes p_value="Roy''s Batch Report"

  • Full pathnames are supported for all file references (for example, DESNAME=/revenues/q1/nwsales). If you do not specify the full path name, the Oracle Reports file searching method is used to find the file. If you do not specify a path for a keyword value that includes a file name, the Reports Server will try to find the file from the REPORTS_PATH environment variable.

  • All file names and paths specified in the client command line refer to files and directories on the server machine, except for any file specified for the following command line keywords:

    • CMDFILE=filename. In this case, the CMDFILE specified is read and appended to the original command line (of which CMDFILE is a part) before being sent to the Reports Server. The runtime engine does not reread the command file

    • DESNAME=filename DESTYPE=LOCALFILE. In this case, DESNAME refers to files on the client machine.

A.1.2 Rules

  • Values entered on the Runtime Parameter Form override those entered on the command line. For example, if you specify rwrun on the command line with COPIES=1, but in the Runtime Parameter Form, specify COPIES=2, then two copies of the report are generated.

  • Values entered on the command line override those specified in command files. For example, if you specify rwrun on the command line with COPIES=1 and CMDFILE=RUNONE (a command file), but the command file RUNONE, includes rwrun COPIES=2, only one copy of the report is generated.

  • You can specify values for DESTYPE, DESNAME, DESFORMAT, ORIENTATION, and COPIES in a number of different places. The following list shows the decreasing order of precedence for the places where you specify these values:

    1. Print Job dialog box

    2. Runtime Parameter Form

    3. Runtime Parameters/Settings tab of Preferences dialog box

    4. Keywords on the command line

    5. Values specified in the report definition

    6. Choose Printer dialog box