How to run Multiple Prep CLI (tableau-prep-cli.bat) in another batch file

Published: 16 Jan 2023
Last Modified Date: 16 Jan 2023

Question

How to run multiple Prep Command Line interface (CLI) or tableau-prep-cli.bat calls with another batch file?

This information is helpful if you have many flows that need to be run with the Prep Command Line interface (tableau-prep-cli.bat), one by one, and you want to add them to the Windows Task Scheduler within the same batch file. The following example will not work since the job is finished after the first "tableau-prep-cli.bat" has completed.

multi_flows.bat

"C:\Program Files\Tableau\Tableau Prep Builder <version>\scripts\tableau-prep-cli.bat" -c "d:\myflow\PrepConnect.json" -t "d:\myflow\my_test_flow_1.tfl"
"C:\Program Files\Tableau\Tableau Prep Builder <version>\scripts\tableau-prep-cli.bat" -c "d:\myflow\PrepConnect.json" -t "d:\myflow\my_test_flow_2.tfl"
"C:\Program Files\Tableau\Tableau Prep Builder <version>\scripts\tableau-prep-cli.bat" -c "d:\myflow\PrepConnect.json" -t "d:\myflow\my_test_flow_3.tfl"

Environment

Tableau Prep Builder
Windows

Answer

When running the Prep Command Line interface (tableau-prep-cli.bat) with another batch file, use the call command for continuous execution.

Here is an example batch file:

multi_flows.bat

call "C:\Program Files\Tableau\Tableau Prep Builder <version>\scripts\tableau-prep-cli.bat" -c "d:\myflow\PrepConnect.json" -t "d:\myflow\my_test_flow_1.tfl"
call "C:\Program Files\Tableau\Tableau Prep Builder <version>\scripts\tableau-prep-cli.bat" -c "d:\myflow\PrepConnect.json" -t "d:\myflow\my_test_flow_2.tfl"
call "C:\Program Files\Tableau\Tableau Prep Builder <version>\scripts\tableau-prep-cli.bat" -c "d:\myflow\PrepConnect.json" -t "d:\myflow\my_test_flow_3.tfl"