Command Line Options

This help file applies to an out-of-date version of MainBoss.
The most recent version of MainBoss is MainBoss 4.2.4.
For the latest version of this help file can be found here.

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Command line options let you control how MainBoss begins execution. For example, if you want to start MainBoss in Requests mode without having to go through the Maintenance Organization List, you can specify the mode as an option on the command line. Typically, you would create a desktop shortcut whose command line contains appropriate options, so that you don't have to type them in each time you start the program.

If your site uses ClickOnce deployment, you cannot specify command line options when you invoke MainBoss. For further information on ClickOnce, see the Installation and Administration Guide.

The general format of the command line is

mainboss option option option...

Options begin with a slash (/) character. If an option specifies a value, the format is

/option:value

as in

/DataBaseName:MyDatabase

Values that contain space characters should be quoted as in

/OrganizationName:"Our Organization"

Abbreviations: Most keywords on the MainBoss command line may be abbreviated. In MainBoss documentation, the letters that must be included are shown in upper case; any or all other letters may be omitted. For example, the following are all valid abbreviations for the option /DataBaseName

/databasename
/databasen
/dbname
/dbn

Although the documentation shows some letters in upper case and some in lower, you can type letters in any case you want. For example, /DBN is exactly the same as /dbn or /Dbn on the MainBoss command line.

Options: The following options are recognized:

/CultureInfo: The Windows "culture" setting to be used. (A culture is a collection of information about language and other locale-based information, e.g. what monetary symbols are used in a particular place.) By default, MainBoss normally takes its culture information from the "Format" field in the Format section of your Windows Regional Settings. It then attempts to operate in the language given by those settings (e.g. MainBoss attempts to run in French if that's what your settings dictate). However, if you specify a /CultureInfo argument on the command line, the argument overrides the Regional Settings. This is particularly useful if you're creating a batch command file or shell script that you want to have work in a specific language, no matter what the user's Regional Settings might be.

The argument of /CultureInfo is the official Windows "CultureInfo" string name for the desired culture. For example, if you want generic Spanish, you'd specify /CultureInfo:es-ES; for U.S. English, you'd use /CultureInfo:en-US. See your Windows documentation for recognized "CultureInfo" string identifiers.

Options on the command line are not affected by /CultureInfo. For example, the option /Mode:Requests does not change if you switch to a language where "requests" is translated to a different word.

Note: If you change the culture information with /CultureInfo, MainBoss makes the change after the command line arguments have been parsed. This means that if your command line has syntax errors, you may see error messages in the user's original preferred language, not in the language specified by /CultureInfo.

/OrganizationName: The name of the maintenance organization. If you specify an organization name, MainBoss looks up that name in your organization table and attempts to open the corresponding database with the start mode specified in the organization list. (See below for more on start modes.)

/DataBaseServer: The database server where the MainBoss database is hosted.

/DataBaseName: The name of the database containing the MainBoss data on the database server.

If you specify /OrganizationName, you don't have to specify either /DataBaseServer or /DataBaseName. If you don't specify /OrganizationName, you must specify both /DataBaseServer and /DataBaseName.

/Mode: Mode for starting the software. Possible start modes are described in Your Maintenance Organization List.

/Mode:MainBoss

/Mode:"MainBoss Requests"

/Mode:Administration

/Mode:"View Sessions"

/Mode:"Pick Organization"; with this mode, MainBoss starts by displaying your organization list so you can pick which one you want to open

/HelpManualPath: The URL location for MainBoss's documentation.

+CompactBrowsers: Invokes MainBoss in a mode that initially hides the details panel for records selected in table viewers. For more, see Hiding the Details for a Selected Record.

-CompactBrowsers: Tells MainBoss not to hide details panels.

The MBUtility command is another way of performing certain MainBoss operations using a command line interface. For more on MBUtility, see the MainBoss Installation and Administration Guide.

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