Setting Schedule Blackout Dates

Schedule blackout dates are those dates on which schedules will not run and cannot be set to run. As a ReportCaster user, you can view schedule blackout dates that have been set for all users (global dates) and those set for the groups to which you belong. Only ReportCasteradministrators and Managed Reporting Group Administrators can define, update, and delete schedule blackout dates.

To view schedule blackout dates, in theReportCaster Development Interface, select the Blackout Dates tab. The Schedule Blackout Dates interface, shown in the following image, provides a calendar and a list of groups to which you belong in the left pane. The right pane displays a list of schedule blackout dates for the selected group. The Blackout Dates tab initially opens to the Global group.

The following image shows the Schedule Blackout Dates tab for the administrator, which includes the administrative options in the toolbar, Save, Import, and Extract.

When managing schedule blackout dates, you can add new blackout dates, delete and replace the description of existing blackout dates, and extract existing blackout dates to a file for future use. In the ReportCaster Blackout Dates tab, you can perform these tasks through:

To view the schedule blackout dates for a particular group, select that group in the left pane. The list of blackout dates in the calendar and right pane refresh to display the selected group blackout dates, which are shaded in yellow, along with the global blackout dates, shaded in gray.

You can change the month or year using the arrows at the top of the calendar. Click Refresh to load the latest blackout dates. Dates only appear as available or unavailable. You can toggle between exposing and hiding the left pane by clicking the arrow in the top-right corner of the pane. The following image shows the display with the left pane hidden.

Reference: Schedule Behavior for Blackout Dates

Blackout dates are enforced during schedule creation and at run time:

When creating or editing one of the date fields in a schedule,ReportCaster dynamically checks the first upcoming date on which the schedule will run to ensure that this date has not been blacked out. If there is a conflict with the date, an error message appears and the schedule cannot be saved until the conflict is resolved by either changing the schedule date or by not blacking out the date.
At run time, each schedule is checked against the list of blackout dates. If a blackout date has been defined for the scheduled date, the schedule will not run. If notification is enabled, a notification is distributed indicating that the schedule did not run because of a defined blackout date.
Note: Schedule blackout dates for a specific user include the global blackout dates and the blackout dates assigned to the group(s) to which the user belongs.

Procedure: How to Define Blackout Dates

To define Blackout Dates:

In the left pane of the Blackout Dates tab, select the group for which you are defining blackout dates.
Note: Only a ReportCaster administrator can set Global schedule blackout dates.
In the calendar, click on the dates that you want to black out. Click the single arrows to change the month and click the double arrows to change the year.
If you are choosing global dates, the day on the calendar turns gray. If you are choosing a group blackout date, the day on the calendar turns yellow. The following image shows an example of global (August 2 and 9) and group (August 11, 19, and 30) schedule blackout dates.

Note: Global schedule blackout dates apply to all groups. Any day can be both a global and group-specific blackout date.
Click Save.
A confirmation window opens to tell you that the dates have been saved.
Click OK.

The blackout dates you saved appear in the Schedule Blackout Dates calendar and are displayed in the right pane.

Importing Blackout Dates

How to:

Import Blackout Dates From the User Interface

You can import a file that contains blackout dates to the ReportCaster Development Interface.

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Procedure: How to Import Blackout Dates From the User Interface

To import schedule blackout dates:

In the Blackout Dates tab, click Import from the toolbar.
The Import Dates dialog box opens, as shown in the following image.
In the File Name field, type the full path to the file, or click Browse and navigate to the file you want to import.
Select an Import Action.
- Add. Add the dates specified in the import file to the blackout dates.
- Remove. Delete the dates specified in the import file from the blackout dates.
- Replace. Updates the description of the specified dates.
- Use the actions specified in the file. Use this option when the import file contains a combination of commands (add, remove, replace) and date ranges.

Click OK.

The following confirmation message is displayed:

Blackout Dates have been successfully imported. 
Select Save on the Schedule Blackout Dates toolbar to save the changes.

Click OK.
In the Schedule Blackout Dates option menu, click Save.
Note: The imported blackout date changes do not take effect until you save them.
In the save confirmation window, click OK.

The Schedule Blackout Dates calendar is updated with the blackout date changes.

Extracting Blackout Dates

How to:

Extract Schedule Blackout Dates From the User Interface

You can extract the existing blackout dates in the ReportCaster Development Interface to a file.

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Procedure: How to Extract Schedule Blackout Dates From the User Interface

To extract schedule blackout dates:

In the Schedule Blackout Dates tab, click Extract in the toolbar.
The Extract Blackout Dates dialog box opens, as shown in the following image. The group name from which you are extracting the blackout dates appears at the top of the window.
Select one of the following from the Date Range Options:
- All to extract all currently saved blackout dates.
- Date Range to specify the range of dates you want to extract.
If you select Date Range, type or select the Start Date and End Date. To select a date, click the down arrow next to the field. A calendar opens, as shown in the following image, from which you can choose a date.
Click OK.
A window opens asking if you want to open or save the file.

If you choose to open the file, a window opens displaying the contents of the extracted content. The following is an example of an extracted file.

If you choose to save the file:
1. Click Save.
2. In the Save As window, browse to the directory where you want to save the extract file, and click Save.

Note: The default extract file name is rcbdextract_GroupName_YYMMDD_HHMMSS.txt, where GroupName is the name of the group the blackout dates are extracted from, YYMMDD and HHMMSS are the date (year, month, day) and time (hour, minute, second) that the file was created.