A BAT file is known as a batch file runs with DOS and all versions of Windows, under cmd.exe. It consists of a series of line commands in plain text to be executed by the command-line interpreter to perform different tasks, such as running maintenance utilities within Windows.
The use of batch files with TapeTrack is used to run repetitive tasks such as report creation, moving expired Volumes, running reconciliations and scheduling these tasks to automatically run at specified times.
Batch files are created using a text editor such as Notepad and saving the file with a .bat extension instead of a .txt.
To edit a batch file, right click the file and select Edit, do not double click to open as this will run the file and execute the commands within it.
Commands within the batch file can include setting current working directory, variables to set report parameters, program execution and output directories and format.
Example batch file to produce an inventory in PDF format for Customer 1002, using variables to set PDF orientation, output path to write file to, image to include on report header and removing report columns to customise report data.
File: run_US02_Inventory_PDF.bat
cd C:\TapeTrack\Reports\US02 set TMSSREPORTFORMAT=PDF set TMSSPDFORIENTATION=landscape set TMSS10PDFOUTPUTPATH=C:\TapeTrack\Reports\US02\Inventory.pdf set TMSSPDFLOGOPATH=./images/logo.jpg set TMSSREPORTCOLUMNDELETE=1,3,8,9 TMSS10Inventory -S batch@localhost 2> stderr_inventory.txt
Execute the batch file by double clicking the file or right clicking and selecting Run. This will automatically launch the Windows command shell and execute your commands.
If the commands in the batch file need administrative permissions to execute correctly you can right click the batch file and select Run as administrator.
Using Windows Scheduler you can schedule a batch file to run at a certain time and date such as creating an inventory report every Monday at 9:00 AM or you can set the schedule to run every 15 minutes to update a Library Sync or Slotting allocation.
To open Windows task scheduler, click Start > Windows Administrative Tools > Task Scheduler