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Introduction
CAST Report Generator is now provided as an cross-platform ZIP file alongside the traditional Microsoft Windows GUI "installable" release. In other words this release can run on both Microsoft Windows and Linux operating systems and can be simply unzipped to the install location (no installer is provided). The primary goal of this release is to provide reporting capabilities to the CAST RestAPI - this integration is first and foremost used by the CAST dashboards to generate reports from within the dashboard interface (see CAST Dashboard Package - Release Notes - 1.9.0).
Where can I obtain the CAST Report Generator Core?
You can obtain the CAST Report Generator Core as a ZIP file from the CAST Product Center - this requires a CAST login.
Limitations
- No PDF export capabilities.
- No GUI, CLI only.
Installation prerequisites
To install and use the CAST Report Generator, the following is required:
.NET Core 2.2.x runtime
CAST Report Generator Core requires the .NET Core 2.2.x runtime. This is available for both Microsoft Windows and for Linux operating systems:
Microsoft Windows | The runtime can be downloaded as an installer from https://dotnet.microsoft.com/download/dotnet-core/2.2 - choose the .NET Core Installer for the 2.2.x runtime that matches your Windows environment:
|
|---|---|
| Linux | Package manager instructions are provided for many different Linux distributions at https://dotnet.microsoft.com/download/dotnet-core/2.2 - choose the Package Manager Instructions option here:
Then select the relevant Linux distribution to view the installation instructions:
Additional tips can be found here: https://www.ostechnix.com/how-to-install-microsoft-net-core-sdk-on-linux/. |
Supported Operating Systems
CAST Report Generator Core only requires that .NET Core runtime is present on the operating system. Therefore any operating system that supports the installation of .NET Core can be used for the CAST Report Generator Core. CAST has tested Microsoft Windows and CentOS (Linux).
CAST RestAPI
| ≥ 1.9.x |  |
|---|
Installation process
Installing CAST Report Generator Core consists only of unzipping the downloaded ZIP file to a location on the target server, for example:
| Microsoft Windows | D:\data\CAST\ReportGeneratorCore |
|---|---|
| Linux | /opt/reportgeneratorcore |
Using CAST Report Generator Core
As mentioned previously, the primary goal of this release is to provide reporting capabilities to the CAST RestAPI - this integration is first and foremost used by the CAST dashboards to generate reports from within the dashboard interface (see CAST Dashboard Package - Release Notes - 1.9.0). However, it is also possible to use CAST Report Generator Core yourself via its CLI. The CLI instructions are identical to those provided for the standard CAST Report Generator GUI - see here for more instructions.
You must specify the CAST Report Generator Core in a specific way:
dotnet %path_to_CastReporting.Console.Core.dll% -webservice %webservice% -username %username% -password %password% -application %application% -domain %domain% -template %template% -file %file%
For example:
dotnet "D:\data\CAST\ReportGeneratorCore\CastReporting.Console.Core.dll" -webservice "http://<server>:<port>/CAST-RESTAPI/rest/" -username cio -password cast -application "Jurassic Park" -domain "AED" -template "Executive-summary.docx" -file "D:\temp\Core_Report.docx"
Log files
The CAST Report Generator Core saves a log of all interactions in the folder into which you have unzipped the CAST Report Generator Core (one log file per day is generated):
ReportGenerator_<timestamp>.log
For example ReportGenerator_20190328.log.
Return codes
One of the following codes will be returned on completion of the CLI:
| 0 | Report successfully generated |
|---|---|
| 1 | Bad arguments given to the Report Generator |
| 2 | Web service cannot be accessed or is badly configured |
| 3 | Report failed |
See also Report Service - 1.9.0 for more information.