Since Ellié Computing Merge 1.2, we introduced a new
reporting feature. This feature is available from
both console and graphical interface.
The report generation from the command line is
particularly useful to use Merge as a sub-product or a tool for
your source code quality works.
Basic generation
Syntax:
ecmerge-cli.exe -O<export-file>
-X<format> [-E] -x<sub-format>
[<ancestor-file|ancestor-folder>] <file1|folder1>
<file2|folder2>
NB: under linux the command starts with
ecmerge --cli rather than
ecmerge-cli.exe
This command will create a report in the file
<export-file> of given <format> (none, unixpatch,
html or xml) for the given input files.
-E forces embedding of sub-reports of folders (and to use
the same export format as well).
-x set the format for the files report (in the
context of folders).
You can also set some of the comparison options with
various
switches
and options and add --factory switch to use factory
settings for all the options (comparison and generation) so as
to get predictible results on any computer.
You may have noticed
-Xnone... to produce no report at all. This is
typically interesting when you want to generate the report by
yourself with the scripting engine (ECMerge contains a full
ECMAScript engine and you have access to a document object
model for any type of document).
Parametering report generation
Though you can generate report using only command line
arguments, it is not the most practical way. You can use three
major methods to get all the settings set according your
wishes:
using --doc-settings or --options-set options with this method you specify all the path as in the
basic method but your report will mimic all the options from
the given ECMS/ECMT document or the options set that you
specified. You may use this method if some of the options
that you need cannot be set from the command line parameters.
You may also use the --doc-settings parameter when you
cannot foresee where the folder or files are located when
parametering the report.
using the name of an ECMS/ECMT as parameter with this method all the source paths are taken from
the ECMS or ECMT, together with all the options. Note that
paths in ECMS/ECMT documents are absolute paths.
using --pdl-script and/or --pdl-script-text options since 2.1.75, you can start ECMAScript scripts between
document initialisation (setting URL from command line...)
and document load / report generation. See
Running
scripts at start-up and
OptionsSet
object for more information about that subject.
With both of these methods you can use all the options box
(including the report generation boxes using the Apply button),
the only mandatory options are then the main report format (-X)
and the location for the report file (-O).
In order to ease the use of these feature, the Reports
dialog box has a
Export / Copy Command Line to Clipboard option
which will generate the command line to launch to generate
exactly the report.
You may have noticed
-Xnone... to produce no report at all. This is
typically interesting when you want to generate the report by
yourself with the scripting engine (ECMerge contains a full
ECMAScript engine and you have access to a document object
model for any type of document).