Both Usage Import and the Report Writer support command-line operation to facilitate automation. To determine the correct command-line syntax for any module, you can use the help command-line flag.
A module run from the command line can run in verbose mode (the default) or in silent mode (by using the -silence command-line flag). If a module is run in verbose mode, it presents a modal message box to the user for each message. The message box halts operation until you choose OK. If a module is run in silent mode, modal message boxes are never presented to the user.
In silent mode, all messages are written to a message log file. The default file name for the message log is a {MODULE NAME}.LOG in the \MESSAGE subdirectory of the directory containing the module executable. (For example, C:\PROGRAM FILES\INTERSE3\MESSAGE\ANALYSIS.LOG for the Report Writer message log). This message log file can be changed by using the messagelog command-line flag.
Both of the components connect to a database before executing a task. By default, the components connect to the last database that was used on the system. If you are using a Microsoft Access-compatible database and you want to use this same database, you do not need to use the db command-line flag. If you want to specify a different database, the argument consists of the complete path to the .MDB database file, as shown in the examples below:
For all command-line arguments, file paths can contain lone file names and network resources (\\FIDO SERVER\FILE NAME EXT).
For command-line arguments that include spaces, quotes are mandatory. This is common with filters and long file names, such as C:\PROGRAM FILES\….
If the command-line argument is a filter that includes a double quote, such as Title="", the filter should be enclosed in single quotes: ‘Title=""’.
Command-line flags can be listed in any order.