Executes and distributes a report. Similar to scheduling a report to execute, except a schedule is not required to utilize this function. This is a great way to distribute the report on demand from a Client. Throws an IllegalArgumentException when any of the following occurs: If the file type is not recognized, path does not exist, project does not exist, or a key is not valid.

The function system.report.executeAndDistribute() does not run on its own thread and can get blocked. For example, if a printer is backed up and it takes a while to finish the request made by this function, the script will block the execution of other things on that thread until it finishes. Be sure to keep this in mind when using it in a script.


This function accepts keyword arguments.

system.report.executeAndDistribute(path, project, [parameters], action, [actionSettings])

  • Parameters

String path - The path to the existing report.

String project - The name of the project where the report is located. Optional in Client scope. Optional in Session scope.

Dictionary[String, Integer] parameters - A dictionary of parameter overrides, in the form name:value pairs. [optional]

String action - The name of the distribution action to use. The action parameter supports the following keys as strings: 

      • email
      • print
      • save
      • ftp

Dictionary[List, Any] actionSettings - A dictionary of settings particular to the action. Missing values will use the default value for that action. [optional]

  • Returns

Nothing

  • Scope

Gateway, Vision Client, Perspective Session

The action settings parameter supports an optional dictionary of settings particular to the action. Missing values will use the default value for that action.

The email action now has the ability to add emails to the reply to field of the email. The replyTo, replyToRoles, and replyToUserSource keys have been added to the possible dictionary options.

  • email 
    • Setting Keys: "smtpServerName", "from", "subject", "body", "attachmentName", "retries", "fileType", "to", "cc", "bcc", "replyTo", "useRoles", "roles", "userSource", "replyToRoles", "replyToUserSource".
    • Note: To, cc, bcc, and replyTo must be Python lists. If useRoles is True, to, cc and bcc will be ignored and all email addresses for all users matching roles in userSource (which defaults to the project's current user source) will be in the to field. Similarly, all users matching the replyToRoles in replyToUserSource will be in the reply to field of the email. If useRoles is true but Roles is an empty list, all user email addresses in userSource will be in the to field. If omitted, fileType defaults to pdf.
      In addition, smtpServerName is the name of the SMTP Profile on the gateway. 
  • print 
    • Setting Keys: "primaryPrinterName", "backupPrinterName", "copies", "printBothSides", "collate", "useRaster", "rasterDPI", "useAutoLandscape", "pageOrientation". 
    • Note: primaryPrinterName defaults to the default printer. backupPrinterName defaults to "none", but can also have the special value of "default". printBothSides, collate, and useRaster are booleans which default to false. rasterDPI is only used if useRaster is true. useAutoLandscape defaults to true. If useAutoLandscape is false, pageOrientation, which can have values of "portrait" or "landscape" (default is "portrait"), is used.
  • save 
    • Setting Keys: "path", "fileName" and "format". 
    • Note: Since the script is sent to the Gateway for execution, path and fileName must be relative to the Gateway.
  • ftp
    • Setting Keys: "server", "port", "username", "password", "useSSL", "path", "fileName", and "format". 
    • Note: Server and fileName are required. If omitted, fileType defaults to pdf, port defaults to 21, and useSSL defaults to false.

Acceptable values are:

  • pdf (recommended)
  • html
  • csv
  • rtf
  • jpeg
  • png
  • xml
  • xls
  • xlsx


The xls and xlsx format options may return less than pixel perfect results. This is due to how many spreadsheet programs interpret the resulting file. As a result, the pdf format is recommended in most cases. 

# Executes and distributes the report to an email address.
system.report.executeAndDistribute(path="My Report Path", project="My Project", action= "email", 
actionSettings = {"to":["plantmanager@myplant.com"], "smtpServerName":"myplantMailServer", "from":"reporting@myplant.com", "subject":"Production Report"})
# Executes and distributes the report to all users in the default user source who are Supervisors or Managers.
system.report.executeAndDistribute(path="My Report Path", project="My Project", action= "email", 
actionSettings = {"useRoles":True, "roles":["Supervisor", "Manager"], "smtpServerName":"myplantMailServer", "from":"reporting@myplant.com", "subject":"Production Report"})
# Executes and distributes the report to all users in the user source specified which has no roles defined.
system.report.executeAndDistribute(path="My Report Path", project="My Project", action= "email", 
actionSettings = {"userSource":"TestUsers","useRoles":True, "roles":[], "smtpServerName":"papercut", "from":"test@test.com", "subject":"Test Report"})

# Executes and distributes the report to an ftp server with parameter values passed into the report
reportParameters = {"StartDate":system.date.addHours(system.date.now(), -12), "EndDate":system.date.now()}
settings = {"server":"10.20.1.80", "port":22, "username":"Ignition", "password":"Secret", "useSSL": False, "path":"C:\\FTP", "fileName":"Ignition Report", "format":"pdf"}
system.report.executeAndDistribute(path="My Report Path", project="My Project", parameters=reportParameters, action= "ftp", actionSettings = settings)
# Executes and distributes the report to save a PDF
settings = {"path":"C:\\Ignition Reports", "fileName":"Report.pdf", "format":"pdf"}
system.report.executeAndDistribute(path="My Report Path", project="My Project", action="save", actionSettings=settings)

system report executeAndDistribute, report.executeAndDistribute