Importing an AB Suite/EAE Ispec Using Command Line Utility

The ePortalImportIspecs executable is a command-line tool for importing Ispec definitions generated from AB Suite or EAE into a specified ePortal AB Suite or EAE data source project.

Note: You cannot check out files using the command line utility. To check out files, use Visual Studio Import dialog.

Information Required to Import an AB Suite/EAE Ispec Using Command Line Utility

Using the ePortalImportIspecs command line utility (exe), you can import the Ispec into the existing or new ePortal AB Suite/EAE data source project. To import Ispec to the existing or new projects using command line, you should know the following:

Location of the Application.cexml file - The Application.cexml file is located in the Views directory that is generated by the ePortal Generator in AB Suite Client Tools. Using ePortal Generator, you can import Ispec into the ePortal AB Suite/EAE data source project.
Name of the language that you wish to integrate with ePortal - You must select one particular language that you plan to use with ePortal. If you want to use more than one language, you must create a separate ePortal solution for each language.
Location of the ePortal data source project - You must specify the ePortal AB Suite/EAE data source project where the selected Ispec needs to be imported.
SetControlLabelToFieldDescription - To set the parameter as true or false, you must change the setting from Set Control Label to Field Description for one or more Copy Ispecs.
SetControlIDToFieldDescription - To set the parameter as true or false, you must change the setting from Set Control ID to Field Description for one or more Copy Ispecs.

To import an AB Suite/EAE Ispec using command line utility, the ePortalImportIspecs command is used.

The ePortalImportIspecs command uses the following syntax:

Syntax :

ePortalImportIspecs <ViewsFolder> <ProjectFolder> <Language> [options]

Where:

ViewsFolder is the Views directory where the Application.cexml file is created when the Component Enabler bundle is generated from the AB Suite or EAE application using the ePortal Generator. This can be an absolute path or a relative path. If this path contains spaces, it must be enclosed in double quotes.
ProjectFolder is the directory containing the AB Suite or EAE data source project file. This can be an absolute path or a relative path. If this path contains spaces, it must be enclosed in double quotes.
Language is the name of the required language folder under the ViewsFolder location. This enables you to specify the AB Suite or EAE language to be used for the ePortal application.
options are zero or more import options. Each option consists of a double hyphen immediately followed by a keyword or a single hyphen followed by a character. Each option also requires an argument, except for the --help (-?) option. The argument is separated from the option by one or more spaces. If the argument contains a space, it must be enclosed in double quotes. The following are the available options:
Note: If you do not provide any options, the import process uses the current settings of the project based on the last manual import that was made using the Import Wizard dialog.

Options	Description
-? or --help	This option does not have any option argument. It displays help text.
-t or --CreateTableForCopyIspec	This option affects the import processing of Copy Ispecs. A Copy Ispec is an Ispec that contains copied fields. You can specify whether the copied fields are grouped into a data table or treated individually in the resulting View. The valid settings are YesToAll, YesExcludeIspecsWithEntryFields, YesExcludeIspecsWithDisplayFieldsOnly, and NoToAll. The following are the descriptions of the settings: -t YesToAll - When you import Copy Ispecs, this option defines a data table for copied fields. -t YesExcludeIspecsWithEntryFields - When you import a Copy Ispec that contains entry fields, this option creates individual fields instead of a data table. -t YesExcludeIspecsWithDisplayFieldsOnly - When you import a Copy Ispec that contains display fields only, this option creates individual fields instead of a data table. -t NoToAll - This option imports all Copy Ispecs and creates individual fields for copied fields.
-s or --SetControlLabel	Use this option to toggle the setting of Set Control Label to Field Description. This affects all Ispecs to be imported. When set to True, if the field description is available, the generated Control Label will use the field description. Otherwise, it will set the Control Label using the field name. Following are the descriptions for the settings: -s true - creates all control labels using the field description if available. -s false - creates all control labels using the field name.
-i or --SetControlID	Use this option to toggle the setting of Set ID to Field Description. This affects all Ispecs to be imported. When set to True, if the Ispec field description is available, the generated field ID in the ePortal server message uses the field description. Otherwise, it will set the field ID using the Ispec field name. Following are the descriptions for the settings: -i true - creates all field IDs in the ePortal server message using the Ispec field description if available. -i false - creates all field IDs in the ePortal server message using the Ispec field name.
-a or --AlwaysImportPresentations	Use this option to toggle the setting of Always Import Presentations to True or False. This affects the behavior of the import process in the following way: When set to True, ePortal Developer imports the generated Ispec XML metadata file whenever the file is recreated from AB Suite or EAE. When set to False, ePortal Developer imports the generated Ispec XML metadata file only if the Ispec version has changed, even though the file has been recreated.

The following are few examples to import an AB Suite/EAE Ispec using the ePortalImportIspecs command:

ePortalImportIspecs.exe "C:\NGEN_CE\classes\com\unisys\sample\eportal\views\Application.cexml" 
C:\Users\<user name>\source\repos\SampleSolution\Sample\Sample.ABSEAProj 
lang1033 -t YesToAll

ePortalImportIspecs.exe "C:\NGEN_CE\classes\com\unisys\sample\eportal\views\Application.cexml
"C:\Users\<user name>\source\repos\SampleSolution\Sample\Sample.ABSEAProj 
lang1033 --CreateTableForCopyIspec NoToAll