SQL Data Generator provides a command line interface for you to use with SQL Data Generator projects that you have already created using the graphical user interface.

This page describes how to use the basic features of the command line.

Getting help from the command line

To display help, enter:

SQLDataGenerator /help

This displays a brief description, and help on all the command line switches.

For more detailed help enter:

SQLDataGenerator /help /verbose

This displays a detailed description of each switch and the values it can accept (where applicable), and all exit codes. To output the help in HTML format, enter:

SQLDataGenerator /help /verbose /html

Entering a command

When you enter a command line, the order of switches is unimportant. You are recommended to follow the Microsoft convention of separating a switch from its values using a colon as shown below.

/out:output.txt

(You can separate a switch that accepts a single value from its value using a space, but this is not recommended.) Values that include spaces must be delimited by double quotation marks ( " ). For example:

/out:"c:\output file.txt"

Aliases

Many of the switches have an alias. The alias provides a convenient shorthand way to specify the switch. For example, /? is the alias for the /help switch, and /v is the alias for the /verbose switch.

/verbose and /quiet switches

The standard output mode prints basic information about what the tool is doing while it is executing. You can specify verbose and quiet modes using the /verbose and /quiet switches respectively: in verbose mode, detailed output is printed; in quiet mode, output is printed only if an error occurs.

Redirecting command output

Output from all commands can be redirected to a file by one of several methods:

• Use the /out switch to specify the file to which you want output directed:

  SQLDataGenerator ... /out:outputlog.txt

  where outputlog.txt is the name of the file. If the file exists already, you must also use the /force switch to force the tool to overwrite the file, otherwise an error will occur.

• Use the output redirection features that are provided by the shell in which you are executing the command.From the standard command prompt provided by Windows, you can redirect output to a file as follows:

  SQLDataGenerator ... > outputlog.txt

  The redirection operator ( > ) and file name must be the last items on the command line.

  If the specified file exists already, it will be overwritten.

  To append output from the tool to an existing file, for example to append to a log without losing the data already present in the log, enter the following:

  SQLDataGenerator ... >> existinglog.txt

  If you are scripting using a language such as VBScript, JScript, PHP, Perl, or Python, or if you want to access the tool from Web pages using ASP.NET, refer to the documentation for the language.