Data Pump is designed to be used as the communications module in other applications. Whereas Blast.exe provides a minimal user interface designed to aid debugging a communications task, BlastDP.exe provides no user interface; it is controlled by command line switches specifying the parameters of operation.

Both Blast.exe and BlastDP.exe recognize the same command line switches. For the purpose of debugging a communications task, you should always try starting Blast.exe using the appropriate command line switches prior to attempting to start BlastDP.exe. The user interface of Blast.exe will give some guidance to aid debugging.

All command line switches containing spaces should be enclosed in quotes. For example, to specify the directory C:\Program Files\, you should type: "C:\program files\."

Below are the command line switches recognized by Blast.exe and BlastDP.exe.

Command Line Switch	What Is Specified	Example
-pphonebook	phonebook	-pdefault
-llisting	listing	-lbd_ftp
-sscript	script	-sbd_ftp.txt
-v	verbose	-v
arg0-9	arguments 0-9	daily_sales "Report One"

Command Line Switches

-pphonebook

Specifies the phonebook. Any phonebook in the Pbdir\ subdirectory may be specified.

blastdp.exe -pdefault

-llisting

Specifies phonebook listing. Any phonebook listing in the phonebook may be specified.

blastdp.exe -pdefault -lbd_ftp

-sscript

Specifies script name, which must include the file extension. If the script is not in the "...\Data Pump\BLAST\Userscripts\" directory or in the local directory, the script's complete path must be specified. It is not necessary to specify a script if there is a script specified in the Script File field of the phonebook listing.

blastdp.exe -pdefault -lbd_ftp -sbd_ftp.txt

-v

Generates verbose console output.

blastdp.exe -pdefault -lbd_ftp -sbd_ftp.txt -v

When verbose logging is enabled, a message such as the following will be generated:

BLASTDP V11.0 Phonebook: default Listing: bd_ftp Script: C:\program files\blast\data pump\userscripts\bd_ftp.txt ScType: BLASTScript Script Halted - status:0 BLASTDP Terminated - press any key to exit

args0-9

Specifies one of ten optional arguments (text strings) that can be passed to a BLAST script directly from the command line. These arguments are stored as BLASTscript reserved variables @ARG0 to @ARG9. Script arguments are separated by spaces and have no prefix. Script arguments with embedded spaces must be enclosed in quotes; otherwise Data Pump will interpret the string as multiple arguments.

blastdp.exe -pdefault -lbd_ftp -sbd_ftp.txt daily_sales "Report One"