Reports in VSys are normally run using the user interface. To generate reports on an automated basis, for example to e-mail the current day's assignment roster to department heads, you can use the command line to print reports to PDF files.
To be used here, a report must first be saved within VSys. VSys uses the report's internal ID on the command line to uniquely identify it.
You cannot change the conditions and filters on reports here. In the above example, to print the current day's assignments, you must save the report with filters that use relative dates.
Changes made to the saved report affect all later uses of that report, even if the command line parameters are not updated.
Steps in This Task
From within VSys, find an eligible report in its usual location.
Click on the Properties hyperlink.
In the Report properties window, click on the Make a desktop shortcut to run this report hyperlink. If that link is not visible then this report is either not a saved report (built-in reports cannot be used directly; save them under a new name first) or is not eligible for use with this tool.
Enter the name of the file to be created, this is the PDF or RTF file that VSys will create when it runs the report. Click Save. Once it has saved, it will tell you a shortcut has been created, click OK.
From your desktop, double-click on the new icon to verify that the report you're looking for is generated as expected.
You now have a shortcut which will run this report. Right-click on the icon and select Properties to see its details.
For example, C:\VSys\VSys.exe "report:NPDW03CK5JY4IYMJ,C:\VSys\Volunteers with assignments by job.pdf"
This runs the report with the internal ID code of NPDW03CK5JY4IYMJ and prints it to the file "C:\VSys\Volunteers with assignments by job.pdf". Note: the quotes around the entire command are not optional.
Additional Options
VSys allows any number of reports to be run on a single command line. Since starting VSys takes time, it can be more efficient to "stack" multiple reports into a single run. Using: C:\VSys\VSys.exe "report:NPDW03CK5JY4IYMJ,C:\VSys\Volunteers with assignments by job.pdf" "report:43Y8OTR893GHJEQQ,C:\VSys\Assignment calendars.rtf" would run both of these reports to their respective files, one after the other.
A report which generates no results (has no eligible people) will not create a file and will not affect any existing file.
You can change the output filename to have it go anywhere you'd like that VSys has write permissions. You cannot change the file output format, though: VSys will always create PDF files for custom reports and RTF files for assignment calendar reports.
VSys will always use the default database for running these reports.
