Starting InfoMaker from the command line

You can start InfoMaker from a command line (or the Windows Run dialog box) and optionally open one of the following painters or tools:

Database painter

Library painter

Data Pipeline painter

Query painter

File Editor

Report painter

Form painter

To start InfoMaker and open a painter or tool, use the following syntax:

directory\im125.exe /P paintername

Parameter

Description

directory

The fully qualified name of the directory containing InfoMaker

paintername

The name of the painter you want to open. The default is the window that displays when you begin a new InfoMaker session.

The painter name must uniquely identify the painter. You do not have to enter the entire name. For example, you can enter q to open the Query painter and datab to open the Database painter. If you enter the full name, omit any spaces in the name (enter DataPipeline, for example).

The painter name is not case-sensitive. To open the file editor, you could set paintername to FI or fileeditor.

Opening an object or creating a new object

You can also add one or more of the following optional switches to the command line to open a specific object or create a new one.

{/L libraryname} {/O objectname} {/N} {/R} {/RO} {/A arguments}

All of these switches must follow /P paintername, as shown in the examples after the tables.

Table 1-12: InfoMaker command-line switches

Switch

Description

/L

Identifies the library that contains the object you want to open

/O

Identifies the object, such as a report, that you want to open

/N

Creates a new report

/R

Runs the report specified with /O and allows designing

/RO

Runs the report specified with /O but does not allow designing

/A

Provides retrieval arguments for the report specified with /O

Table 1-13: InfoMaker command-line parameters

Parameter

Description

libraryname

The name of the library that contains the object you want to open.

objectname

The name of the object you want to open.

arguments

For a report, retrieval arguments for the specified report. Arguments must be in the correct order, separated by semicolons (;). Array argument values must be separated by commas (,). Decimal arrays are not supported.

Examples

The following examples use im12.0 to represent the directory where InfoMaker is installed.

Enter this command to start InfoMaker and open the Database painter:

im12.0\im125.exe /P datab

Enter this command to start InfoMaker and open the report called d_emp_report in the library master.pbl:

im12.0\im125.exe /P report /L master.pbl /O d_emp_report