[CronRunDate:]
Outputs the next or last DateTime (in UTC) that a CRON expression will run (or last ran) on.
Macro Compatibility
The macro can be used in all input document types and in Report Studio.
Usage
When using 'cronScheduleType=Last' (the last DateTime), only the past 1 year is considered - older than this will result in a macro error. This option is also much slower then the next date, and may take up to several minutes to calculate.
Parameter | Type | Presence | Purpose | Options | Default |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
String | Mandatory | The string value. | N/A | N/A | |
Boolean | Optional | Whether to color table cells if thresholds are breached, rather than color the text. |
|
true | |
String | Optional | Add a comment to make your document template more readable. The comment is discarded in the output document. | N/A | N/A | |
DateTimeOffset | Optional | The macro is considered 'critical' if the output is after this DateTime UTC. | N/A | N/A | |
DateTimeOffset | Optional | The macro is considered 'critical' if the output is before this DateTime UTC. | N/A | N/A | |
String | Optional | The macro is considered 'critical' if the output is equal to this value. | N/A | N/A | |
Color | Optional | The critical font background color to use. If omitted, no change is made. |
|
N/A | |
Boolean | Optional | Change the font weight (true=strong, false=normal). If omitted, no change is made. |
|
N/A | |
Color | Optional | The critical font color to use. If omitted, no change is made. |
|
N/A | |
Double | Optional | Change the critical font size in points. If omitted, no change is made. |
|
N/A | |
String | Optional | The macro is considered 'critical' if the output is greater than or equal to this value. | N/A | N/A | |
String | Optional | The macro is considered 'critical' if the output is greater than this value. | N/A | N/A | |
String | Optional | The macro is considered 'critical' if the expression evaluates to true. Use 'value' as the macro output in the expression. | N/A | N/A | |
String | Optional | The macro is considered 'critical' if the output is less than or equal to this value. | N/A | N/A | |
String | Optional | The macro is considered 'critical' if the output is less than this value. | N/A | N/A | |
String | Optional | The macro is considered 'critical' if the output is not equal to this value. | N/A | N/A | |
Color | Optional | The critical table cell background color to use. |
|
N/A | |
Time.CronScheduleType | Optional | Whether to output the next scheduled date for the specified CRON, or the previous relevant date. If either are invalid or fail to calculate, a macro error will occur. |
|
Next | |
Char | Optional | When using selectDistinct or find/replaceWith or regexFind/regexReplaceWith, this specifies the delimiter character. | N/A | ; | |
DateTimeOffset | Optional | The macro is considered 'error' if the output is after this DateTime UTC. | N/A | N/A | |
DateTimeOffset | Optional | The macro is considered 'error' if the output is before this DateTime UTC. | N/A | N/A | |
String | Optional | The macro is considered 'error' if the output is equal to this value. | N/A | N/A | |
Color | Optional | The error font background color to use. If omitted, no change is made. |
|
N/A | |
Boolean | Optional | Change the error font weight (true=strong, false=normal). If omitted, no change is made. |
|
N/A | |
Color | Optional | The error font color to use. If omitted, no change is made. |
|
N/A | |
Double | Optional | Change the error font size in points. If omitted, no change is made. |
|
N/A | |
String | Optional | The macro is considered 'error' if the output is greater than or equal to this value. | N/A | N/A | |
String | Optional | The macro is considered 'error' if the output is greater than this value. | N/A | N/A | |
String | Optional | The macro is considered 'error' if the expression evaluates to true. Use 'value' as the macro output in the expression. | N/A | N/A | |
String | Optional | The macro is considered 'error' if the output is less than or equal to this value. | N/A | N/A | |
String | Optional | The macro is considered 'error' if the output is less than this value. | N/A | N/A | |
String | Optional | The macro is considered 'error' if the output is not equal to this value. | N/A | N/A | |
Boolean | Optional | Should NCalc expression evaluation throw error on Overflow |
|
true | |
Color | Optional | The error table cell background color to use. |
|
N/A | |
String | Optional | The text to display should the macro fail to execute. Note that a poorly-specified macro (e.g. omitting mandatory parameters) will still result in an error message. | N/A | N/A | |
DateTimeOffset | Optional | The macro is considered 'fatal' if the output is after this DateTime UTC. | N/A | N/A | |
DateTimeOffset | Optional | The macro is considered 'fatal' if the output is before this DateTime UTC. | N/A | N/A | |
String | Optional | The macro is considered 'fatal' if the output is equal to this value. | N/A | N/A | |
Color | Optional | The fatal font background color to use. If omitted, no change is made. |
|
N/A | |
Boolean | Optional | Change the fatal font weight (true=strong, false=normal). If omitted, no change is made. |
|
N/A | |
Color | Optional | The fatal font color to use. If omitted, no change is made. |
|
N/A | |
Double | Optional | Change the fatal font size in points. If omitted, no change is made. |
|
N/A | |
String | Optional | The macro is considered 'fatal' if the output is greater than or equal to this value. | N/A | N/A | |
String | Optional | The macro is considered 'fatal' if the output is greater than this value. | N/A | N/A | |
String | Optional | The macro is considered 'fatal' if the expression evaluates to true. Use 'value' as the macro output in the expression. | N/A | N/A | |
String | Optional | The macro is considered 'fatal' if the output is less than or equal to this value. | N/A | N/A | |
String | Optional | The macro is considered 'fatal' if the output is less than this value. | N/A | N/A | |
String | Optional | The macro is considered 'fatal' if the output is not equal to this value. | N/A | N/A | |
Color | Optional | The fatal table cell background color to use. |
|
N/A | |
List<String> | Optional | The string value(s) to find in the value. | N/A | N/A | |
Color | Optional | The font background color to use. |
|
N/A | |
Boolean | Optional | Change the font weight (true=strong, false=normal). If omitted, no change is made. |
|
N/A | |
Color | Optional | The font color to use. |
|
N/A | |
Double | Optional | Change the font size in points. If omitted, no change is made. |
|
N/A | |
String | Optional | The formatting to use for numbers. You can also specify 'format=string' to force numbers to be treated as strings. | N/A | N/A | |
Boolean | Optional | Whether to hide the macro output. |
|
false | |
String | Optional | The condition that must be true in order for the macro to be executed/evaluated. Must either evaluate to true or false, for example: "3+5=8" or "contains('abcd', 'z'). | N/A | true | |
DateTimeOffset | Optional | The macro is considered 'info' if the output is after this DateTime UTC. | N/A | N/A | |
DateTimeOffset | Optional | The macro is considered 'info' if the output is before this DateTime UTC. | N/A | N/A | |
String | Optional | The macro is considered 'info' if the output is equal to this value. | N/A | N/A | |
Color | Optional | The info font background color to use. If omitted, no change is made. |
|
N/A | |
Boolean | Optional | Change the info font weight (true=strong, false=normal). If omitted, no change is made. |
|
N/A | |
Color | Optional | The info font color to use. If omitted, no change is made. |
|
N/A | |
Double | Optional | Change the info font size in points. If omitted, no change is made. |
|
N/A | |
String | Optional | The macro is considered 'info' if the output is greater than or equal to this value. | N/A | N/A | |
String | Optional | The macro is considered 'info' if the output is greater than this value. | N/A | N/A | |
String | Optional | The macro is considered 'info' if the expression evaluates to true. Use 'value' as the macro output in the expression. | N/A | N/A | |
String | Optional | The macro is considered 'info' if the output is less than or equal to this value. | N/A | N/A | |
String | Optional | The macro is considered 'info' if the output is less than this value. | N/A | N/A | |
String | Optional | The macro is considered 'info' if the output is not equal to this value. | N/A | N/A | |
Color | Optional | The info table cell background color to use. |
|
N/A | |
MacroMode | Optional | The mode in which variables are stored. In the legacy mode (default for Schedules), the variable created is a string and formatted. In the normal mode (default for Report Studio), the output variable is stored as a strongly-typed object, e.g. an Int32 or a List |
|
Legacy | |
Color | Optional | The normal font background color to use. If omitted, no change is made. |
|
N/A | |
Boolean | Optional | Change the normal font weight (true=strong, false=normal). If omitted, no change is made. |
|
N/A | |
Color | Optional | The normal font color to use. If omitted, no change is made. |
|
N/A | |
Double | Optional | Change the normal font size in points. If omitted, no change is made. |
|
N/A | |
Color | Optional | The normal table cell background color to use. If omitted, no change is made. |
|
N/A | |
ObfuscationType | Optional | Obfuscation type. Use obfuscation to write reports where sensitive data is hidden. When used, ReportMagic guarantees that the same input string will map to the same output string for the whole of the report (but the next time the report runs, it will most likely map to a different value). If you use obfuscation, the property in your macro will not show up and instead, you will see a fake item of the obfuscation type chosen. |
|
None | |
Boolean | Optional | Whether substituted variables are hidden from macro results (and the word 'REDACTED' will appear in progress screens and elsewhere in the web UI). |
|
false | |
List<String> | Optional | The Regex pattern(s) to find in the value. | N/A | N/A | |
List<String> | Optional | The Regex string value(s) to use to replace the string specified in the regexFind parameter. Ignored if the regexFind parameter is not specified. Mandatory if the regexFind parameter is specified and the number of replacements must match the number of regexFinds. | N/A | N/A | |
List<String> | Optional | The string value(s) to use to replace the string specified in the find parameter. Ignored if the find parameter is not specified. Mandatory if the find parameter is specified and the number of replacements must match the number of finds. | N/A | N/A | |
String | Optional | The variable to store the result as. | N/A | N/A | |
String | Optional | The variable to store the result as, while hiding the output. Equivalent to 'storeAs=ThisValue, hidden=true'. | N/A | N/A | |
String | Optional | The name of the STRING variable to store the result as and output (both will use the same format) into the report. Note that if you also use 'storeAsHidden' in the same macro, you should not expect the output to be hidden, as this parameter overrides that. | N/A | N/A | |
String | Optional | If specified, adds a warning message for this macro. This is processed as an NCalc, and the warning message will ALWAYS be present and will be the value of the evaluated NCalc expression. | N/A | N/A | |
DateTimeOffset | Optional | The macro is considered 'warning' if the output is after this DateTime UTC. | N/A | N/A | |
DateTimeOffset | Optional | The macro is considered 'warning' if the output is before this DateTime UTC. | N/A | N/A | |
String | Optional | The macro is considered 'warning' if the output is equal to this value. | N/A | N/A | |
Color | Optional | The warning font background color to use. If omitted, no change is made. |
|
N/A | |
Boolean | Optional | Change the warning font weight (true=strong, false=normal). If omitted, no change is made. |
|
N/A | |
Color | Optional | The warning font color to use. If omitted, no change is made. |
|
N/A | |
Double | Optional | Change the warning font size in points. If omitted, no change is made. |
|
N/A | |
String | Optional | The macro is considered 'warning' if the output is greater than or equal to this value. | N/A | N/A | |
String | Optional | The macro is considered 'warning' if the output is greater than this value. | N/A | N/A | |
String | Optional | The macro is considered 'warning' if the expression evaluates to true. Use 'value' as the macro output in the expression. | N/A | N/A | |
String | Optional | The macro is considered 'warning' if the output is less than or equal to this value. | N/A | N/A | |
String | Optional | The macro is considered 'warning' if the output is less than this value. | N/A | N/A | |
String | Optional | The macro is considered 'warning' if the output is not equal to this value. | N/A | N/A | |
Color | Optional | The warning table cell background color to use. |
|
N/A |
Examples (11)
Example 1:
This example finds the next date and time that the CRON expression would run on:
[CronRunDate: value="0 0 0 1 1 ?", cronScheduleType=Next, storeAs=A]
Outputs:
2026-01-01 00:00:00Example 2:
This example finds the last date and time that the CRON expression would have run on:
[CronRunDate: value="0 0 0 * 5 ?", cronScheduleType=Last, storeAs=B]
Outputs:
2025-01-01 00:00:00Example 3:
This example finds the next date and time that the CRON expression would run on, and uses the 'format' parameter to format the date output differently:
[CronRunDate: value="0 0 12 1 1/4 ? *", cronScheduleType=Next, format=HH:mm:ss yyyy-MM-dd, storeAs=C]
Outputs:
12:00:00 2025-05-01Example 4:
This example finds the next date and time that the CRON expression would run on. It uses the 'find' and 'replaceWith' parameters to change the input CRON's meaning FROM 2am every 12 days, TO 5am every 15 days:
[CronRunDate: value="0 0 2 1/12 * ? *", cronScheduleType=Next, find=2, replaceWith=5, storeAs=D]
Example 5:
This example finds the next date and time that the CRON expression would run on. It uses the 'find' and 'replaceWith' parameters to change the input CRON's meaning FROM 3am only on Monday through Friday, TO 3am only on Wednesday through Friday :
[CronRunDate: value="0 0 3 ? * MON-FRI *", cronScheduleType=Next, find=MON, replaceWith=WED, storeAs=E]
Example 6:
This example finds the next date and time that the CRON expression would run on. It uses the 'find' and 'replaceWith' parameters to change the input CRON's meaning FROM midday only on a Monday, Tuesday and Sunday, TO midday only on a Friday through Sunday. It also uses the 'delimiter' to indicate the separator character which delimits each item specified by the 'find' and 'replaceWith' parameters (i.e. multiple items separated by a % sign). Omit this parameter to use the default semi-colon:
[CronRunDate: value="0 0 12 ? * MON,TUE,SUN *", cronScheduleType=Next, find=MON%TUE, replaceWith=FRI%SAT, delimiter=%, storeAs=F]
Example 7:
This example finds the next date and time that the CRON expression would run on. It uses the 'find' and 'replaceWith' parameters to change the input CRON's meaning FROM midday on day 1 of the month every 4 months, TO midday on day 1 of the month every 3 months:
[CronRunDate: value="0 0 12 1 1/4 ? *", cronScheduleType=Next, find=4, replaceWith=3, storeAs=G]
Example 8:
This example finds the next date and time that the CRON expression would run on. It uses the 'find' and 'replaceWith' parameters to change the input CRON's meaning FROM 12:09pm on the third Thursday of the month every 2 months, TO 2:18pm on the third Thursday of the month every 2 months. It also uses the 'delimiter' to indicate the separator character which delimits each item specified by the 'find' and 'replaceWith' parameters (i.e. multiple items separated by a % sign). Omit this parameter to use the default semi-colon:
[CronRunDate: value="0 9 12 ? 1/2 THU#3 *", cronScheduleType=Next, find=9%12, replaceWith=18%14, delimiter=%, storeAs=H]
Example 9:
This example finds the next date and time that the CRON expression would run on. It uses the 'regexFind' and 'regexReplaceWith' parameters to change the input CRON's meaning FROM 2am every 12 days, TO 5am every 12 days. Note the use of back-ticks in the 'regexFind' parameter which is used to ensure that square brackets in the regex expression do not affect macro parsing:
[CronRunDate: value="0 0 2 1/12 * ? *", cronScheduleType=Next, regexFind=`([2])`, regexReplaceWith=5, storeAs=I]
Example 10:
This example finds the next date and time that the CRON expression would run on. It uses the 'regexFind' and 'regexReplaceWith' parameters to change the input CRON's meaning FROM 3am only on Monday through Friday, TO 3am only on Monday through Wednesday. Note the use of back-ticks in the 'regexFind' parameter which is used to ensure that square brackets in the regex expression do not affect macro parsing:
[CronRunDate: value="0 0 3 ? * MON-FRI *", cronScheduleType=Next, regexFind=`([FRI])`, regexReplaceWith=WED, storeAs=J]
Example 11:
This example finds the next date and time that the CRON expression would run on. It uses the 'regexFind' and 'regexReplaceWith' parameters to change the input CRON's meaning FROM 12:07pm on day 1 of the month every 4 months, TO 12:03pm on day 1 of the month every 4 months. Note the use of back-ticks in the 'regexFind' parameter which is used to ensure that square brackets in the regex expression do not affect macro parsing:
[CronRunDate: value="0 7 12 1 1/4 ? *", cronScheduleType=Next, regexFind=`([7])`, regexReplaceWith=3, storeAs=K]