Writing to a file named with variables in distributed JMeter testing - jmeter

Question

Okay I've been having an issue with writing results to folders in JMeter.
I have set 2 variables, one for the name of the test and one for the submit date. I want the reports to be written to the folder named with these two variables.
Here's the variables:
TestRun = "Name of test"
DateRun = $__{time(dd-MMM-yyyy HH.mm.ss)}
The path of the folder to be written to looks like this:
C:\Tests\TestEnvironment\Results\\${TestRun}${DateRun}\file.csv
When I run it on the master machine, it's fine. It saves to the correct file and folder path, and ends up looking something like this:
C:\Tests\TestEnvironment\Results\Test Run 1 - 08-May-2014 08.55.47\file.csv
However, when I run it on remote machines, it saves it literally as below:
C:\Tests\TestEnvironment\Results\${TestRun}${DateRun}\file.csv
So I end up with a folder named "${TestRun}${DateRun}"
Am I missing something blindingly obvious, or is this an actual JMeter issue?
Thanks!

Answer 1

As per JMeter help:
-G, --globalproperty <argument>=<value>
Define Global properties (sent to servers)
e.g. -Gport=123
or -Gglobal.properties
You need to use -G key so your variables could be distributed across remote clients.
so something like:
jmeter -r -n GTestRun=SomeName -GDateRun=SomeTime -t /path/to/your/plan
should help.
Alternatively you can create a .properties file and pass it to remote JMeter Engines via the same "-G" option.
I expect that if you want to use JMeter __time() function you'll need to wrap it with __eval, elsewise it will be treated as a string. Alternatively you can use operating system commands to retrieve current date and time.
See Apache JMeter Properties Customization Guide for more information on dealing with JMeter Properties.