Action File

An action file is a text file which contains a set of Database Tour Pro command line parameters, one parameter per line. Lines with a semicolon at the beginning are ignored as comments. Blank lines are allowed. Such files can have any extension. The file encoding must be ANSI or UTF-8 with BOM.

Action files offer an alternative way to pass parameters to the application using command line. They allow to shorten the command line and thus make it easier to read and work with.

Example of Action File

The command line

dbtour.exe /export /ExportType=DATABASE /IncludeMemo /SrcDBInterface=ADO /SrcPassword=m980 "/SrcDB=<DSN>BOOKS" "/SrcTableName=<MASK>*" /TrgDBInterface=ADO /TrgDBKind=FILE /TrgDBDriver=Access "/TrgTableName=<MASK>*" /TrgDB=c:\MyBooks.mdb

can be rewritten using an action file:

dbtour.exe /ActionFile=c:\MyExportActions\ExportAction22.txt

Here, the contents of ExportAction22.txt file should be like the following:

;action
/export
;options
/IncludeMemo
;source definition
/exporttype=DATABASE
/SrcDBInterface=ADO
/SrcPassword=m980
/SrcDBKind=DSN
/SrcDB=BOOKS
/SrcTableName=<MASK>*
;target definition
/TrgDBInterface=ADO
/TrgDBKind=FILE
/TrgDBDriver=Access
/TrgDB=c:\MyBooks.mdb
/TrgTableName=<MASK>*

Action files can be created using several ways:

  • Manually in any text editor using command line specification;
  • Automatically from Database Tour GUI by choosing Tools | Build Command Line | ... and selecting Action file option on the final step;
  • Automatically, using Tools button from Export dialog (action file for exporting data).

Action files can be created either manually in any text editor using command line specification or automatically from Database Tour Pro GUI by choosing Tools | Build Command Line menu and selecting Short format option on the final step.

Action files can be executed either from command line or from Database Tour Pro GUI by clicking Open data source button and moving to Action File tab.

In the action files and some of the files they refer to (SQL files or field and table mappings files), it is possible to use environment variables.