Welcome to Report Commander.
Report Commander is a tool to help you automate printing, exporting, and distributing output from Crystal Reports reports. Key features include:
Report Commander offers two different modes for executing reports: command-line mode and project mode.
In command-line mode, you give Report Commander all the information it needs to process a report using command-line options. Because this mode does not use any configuration files, it is very easy to call Report Commander from an automation tool, batch file, script, or other application that needs to change parameters dynamically or generate export commands on-the-fly.
In command-line mode, each execution of a "task" only works with one report at a time, and can print to a single printer and create a single export file. If you need to export a report to more than one format, you must run Report Commander separately for each format.
To use Report Commander in command-line mode, you can use the Command Line Builder, which is a graphical tool that helps you select processing options and construct the command line that is used to execute your report. Users who are comfortable working directly with command-line options can skip the Command Line Builder and hand-craft their command lines with reference to the command-line syntax documentation.
Once you have constructed a command line, you use the Command Runner to execute the commands. The Command Runner does not have a graphical user interface and typically is called from a scheduler or other automation tool.
In Report Commander version 1, command-line mode was all there was. Beginning with version 2, Report Commander offers project mode, which uses a project file to store the settings used to process reports.
In contrast to command-line mode, a Report Commander project can contain any number of reports, and each report can be exported/printed to any number of destinations using the same or different parameters. Exports from multiple reports can be combined in a single e-mail message.
To use Report Commander in project mode, you use the Project Editor to create or modify a project. From the Project Editor you can also preview your report and test your export settings.
Once you have constructed a project, you can configure your scheduler or other automation tool to run the project using the Project Runner.
There is a great deal of overlap between command-line mode and project mode, and in fact the Command Line Builder can read and write projects just like the Project Editor (some limitations apply).
If you need to process multiple reports and/or produce multiple outputs during a single run, you must use the Project Editor and Project Runner, as command-line mode does not support multiple reports or exports.
If you only need to process a single report and produce a single output during each run, you can choose either command-line mode or project mode, based on which user interface experience you prefer.
The following table compares and contrasts the two modes of operation.
| Feature | Command-Line Mode | Project Mode |
|---|---|---|
| Graphical user interface | Command Line Builder allows you to configure most available options. Some uncommon options are not available in the Command Line Builder and must be added to the generated command line. | Project Editor allows you to configure all available options. |
| Automated execution | Command Runner executes command line constructed in Command Line Builder (or constructed by hand). Can be called from any batch file, script, scheduler, automation tool, or other application. | Project Runner executes a project file. Can be called from any batch file, script, scheduler, automation tool, or other application. |
| Number of reports | Each run can process only one report, using one set of parameters. | Each run can process any number of reports, and each report can be processed multiple times with different parameters. |
| Number of outputs | Each run can produce one print output and/or one export. | Each run can produce any number of outputs for each report. |
| Export options | Supports most of the export options available in Crystal Reports, but a few uncommon options are not available. | Supports all of the export options available in Crystal Reports. |
| Execution from another application | All settings are passed on the command line, so another application can easily generate a command line with the required settings and call Report Commander to produce report outputs. |
Project Runner does not accept command-line options to override settings such as export format and export options. Variables can be set on the command line and so can be used to override file names, parameters, login credentials, etc. |