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 - Report Generation configuration and Security Dashboard - Report Generation).

Where can I obtain the CAST Report Generator for Dashboards?

≥ 1.10.0

You can obtain the Report Generator for Dashboards from ExtendNG. Search for "report generator" and choose the Report Generator for Dashboards option:

A ZIP file will be downloaded. Extract the ZIP and deploy the files as described below in Installation process.

1.9.0

You can obtain the CAST Report Generator for Dashboards from the CAST Product Center - this requires a CAST login. Download the latest release, unpack the ZIP, and you will find another ZIP called ReportGeneratorCLIforAllOS.zip alongside the traditional GUI based ReportGeneratorSetup.exe:

Extract the ZIP called ReportGeneratorCLIforAllOS.zip and deploy the files as described below in Installation process.

Limitations

• No PDF export capabilities.
• No GUI, CLI only.

Installation prerequisites

To install and use the CAST Report Generator for Dashboards, the following is required:

.NET Core runtime

CAST Report Generator for Dashboards requires the .NET Core runtime as follows:

This runtime is available for both Microsoft Windows and for Linux operating systems depending on the Operating System used to host Apache Tomcat:

Supported Operating Systems

CAST Report Generator for Dashboards 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 for Dashboards. CAST has tested Microsoft Windows and CentOS (Linux).

CAST RestAPI

≥ 1.9.x

Folder access permissions

The user that Apache Tomcat is running as must have read/write access to the following locations:

• folder into which the Report Generator for Dashboards is unzipped
• "Logs" sub-folder.

Installation process

Deploy files

Installing CAST Report Generator for Dashboards consists only of unzipping the downloaded ZIP file to a location on the target server, for example:

Restart Apache Tomcat

Apache Tomcat (if installed on the same server as Report Generator for Dashboards) must be restarted so that the changes are taken into account.

Using CAST Report Generator for Dashboards

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 - Report Generation configuration and Security Dashboard - Report Generation). However, it is also possible to use CAST Report Generator for Dashboards 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 for Dashboards 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"

Using an API Key

If you have enabled SAML authentication mode for your CAST Dashboard/RestAPI deployment, you will need to use an API Key instead of a password. To do, so you will need to modify the command line as follows:

• add the -apikey true option
• enter the API Key in the -password option

For example:

dotnet "D:\data\CAST\ReportGeneratorCore\CastReporting.Console.Core.dll" -webservice "http://<server>:<port>/CAST-RESTAPI/rest/" -username cio -password myapikey -apikey true -application "Jurassic Park" -domain "AED" -template "Executive-summary.docx" -file "D:\temp\Core_Report.docx"

Log files

The CAST Report Generator for Dashboards saves a log of all interactions in the folder into the Logs folder (located in the folder in to which you have unzipped the CAST Report Generator for Dashboards). 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:

See also Report Service - 1.9.0 for more information.