Passing parameters to metadata calls

[boxfoot]

I'm trying to get a list of reports, and can't figure out how. The basic call should be something like:

objects = client.list_metadata "Report" 

but I can't figure out how to add in the parameter for report folder. Is this supported?

Related: listMetadata allows submitting up to three ListMetaDataQuery queries with each call. Is there a way to do that with metaforce?

[ejholmes]

Aren't Reports records? You'd probably be better off using Restforce

[boxfoot]

Reports (and Documents, EmailTemplates) are both records and metadata. I'm writing a utility to generate package.xml files, which means using metadata API to query for data types. Most types allow subscription with *, but these types require the use of listMetadata while specifying a folder name. While I could use Restforce to complement Metaforce, it should be possible to build the utility using just the Metadata API, so I'd like to do that if possible. See http://www.salesforce.com/us/developer/docs/api_meta/Content/meta_report.htm.

[chexxor]

I don't have a solution, but maybe this is useful.

I also want an easy way to pull down all Folder-based metadata

Here are some blog posts that detail some strategies:
http://www.pocketsoap.com/weblog/2008/10/1826.html
http://wiki.developerforce.com/page/Syncing_Salesforce_Org_Metadata_to_Github

To pull the actual metadata files locally, I should be able to do something like this:

    manifest = Metaforce::Manifest.new({:document => ['MyFolder', 'MyFolder/MyDocument']})
    client.retrieve_unpackaged(manifest).extract_to('./tmp').perform

We can't use '*', so we have to be specific with our metadata request. So, we still need to get a list of an org's folders, and all items in these folders. This SOQL query should get the folder names:

    SELECT Id, Name, DeveloperName, Type, NamespacePrefix, AccessType
    FROM Folder
    ORDER BY Name DESC

Then to get the items in these folders, we have to query data records for folder-based metadata, which is Reports, Documents, Dashboards, and EmailTemplates:

    SELECT Id, Name, DeveloperName, IsDeleted, NamespacePrefix
    FROM Report
    ORDER BY Name DESC

I don't have good base knowledge in this area, so I don't know what the problem is. A problem with my org's security settings for my folder-based metadata? A problem with Metaforce? A problem with the Metadata API?