You can run the consolidation process from a batch program by executing CSTab.exe and using a PFF file as the command line parameter. For example, if your PFF file name is "MyTabs.pff", you can launch CSTab by:
Start /wait "C:\Program Files (x86)\CSPro 8.1\CSTab.exe" MyTabs.con.pff
This launches the program CSTab.exe to run with the parameters specified in the PFF file MyTabs.pff. Note that using Start /wait is not strictly necessary; it simply ensures that the command does not terminate until CSTab.exe has finished processing. This is useful when there are other commands that follow which depend on CSTab completing before they can be executed.
You can create a PFF file in two ways:
Run the tabulation from CSPro. It will save the *.PFF file it generates in the same folder with your tabulation application. The *.PFF will have the same name as the application with .PFF appended. Rename and modify this file with a text editor (such as Notepad or Wordpad).
Create a new *.PFF file using a text editor.
The following shows an example of a PFF file for the consolidation process. Note that a PFF file is not case sensitive. You can use any combination of upper and lower case text.
[Run Information]
Version=CSPro 8.1
AppType=Tabulation
Operation=Con
[Files]
Application=.\MyTabs.xtb
ConInputTAB=.\MyData.dat.tab
Listing=.\MyTabs.xtb.con.lst
ConOutputTAB=.\MyData.dat.con.tab
[Parameters]
ViewListing=OnError
The [Run Information] block is required and must appear exactly as shown in the example above.
The [Files] block is required and defines all files used in the tabulation run. A description of the files is as follows:
Application = the tabulation application you created
ConInputTAB = the input table matrices file – These are the output from the tabulate process. If there are multiple input table matrices files, insert multiple ConInputTab lines.
ConOutputTAB = the output table matrices file
Listing = a report of the consolidate process
If any required files are not coded or are missing, the file association dialog box will be displayed allowing you to fill in or change the missing file names.
The [Parameters] block is optional. If allows to specify additional aspects of the tabulation run.
ViewListing = specifies how the tabulation run listing is displayed. If ViewListing is missing, Always is assumed.
Always - the listing is always displayed
OnError - the listing is displayed only when an error occurred
Never - the listing is never displayed
See also: Run Tabulate in Batch, Run Format in Batch