DaVince Tools Converters

Introduction

Common Command Line Syntax

(Please note that the square brackets "[" and "]" specify optional parameters; do not enter the brackets as part of the command)

converter [-1] [-c commandfile] [-f] [-i key:value [-i key:value]] [-o outputfile] [-p profile] [-r] [-s] [-?] [file1 file2 ...]

Arguments:

converter: The name of the converter: bmp2pdf, file2pdf, jpeg2pdf, tiff2pdf or txt2pdf

-1: (numeric "one") Create one PDF file for each text file specified on the command line (one to one relationship). For each TIFF file specified, a PDF file is created in the same directory with the same name except with a ".PDF" extension. A PDF file is not created if one already exists and is newer than the corresponding text file. To force a PDF file to be created, use the "-f" option. If "-1" or "-2" options are not used, then the default is to take all specified files and combine them into a single PDF file (many to one relationship). The behavior of the "-o" option changes when using the "-1" option, as described below.

-2: Create one PDF file for each subdirectory (many to few relationship). For each directory specified on the command line, each subdirectory in that directory is scanned and all text files in that subdirectory are converted to a single PDF file. The behavior of the "-o" option changes when using the "-2" option, as described below. If the "-r" (recursion) option is used, then also convert all files in the subdirectory tree.

-c: Process commands in the specified command file. When using this argument, files and directories can be specified via a file instead of on the command line. Click here for more info on command files.

-f: When used with the "-1" option, force overwriting an existing PDF file. By default, a PDF file may not be created with the "-1" option if the TIFF file is unchanged since the last time the PDF file was created.

-i: Specify Info dictionary attribute values like title and author of document. The following attributes are available for use:
 
 

Attribute	Description
Author	The name of the person who created the document.
Keywords	Key words associated with the document.
Subject	The subject of the document.
Title	The title of the document.

Note that the attribute names are case sensitive (first character in uppercase). This option can be specified multiple times when setting multiple dictionary attribute values. To specify an attribute along with its data, separate the two with a colon ":". You will need to enclose the string in quotes if there are spaces in the data. For example, to set the title of a document to "The Declaration of Independence", use the following parameter:

-i "Title:The Declaration of Independence"

In addition to these tags, custom tags can be used with this option; however, Acrobat Reader will not recognize them. The "CreationDate" and "Creator" attributes are automatically filled in by the program and cannot be overridden with this option.

-o: Specify the PDF filename to create, or the directory to store the newly created PDF if the "-1" or "-2" option is used. If a filename is specified, the ".pdf" extension should be included. If this option is not specified, the directory where the text files are found is used if the "-1" or "-2" option is used, otherwise, the filename in the table below in the current directory is assumed:
 

Converter	Default Filename
bmp2pdf	bmp.pdf
file2pdf (Plus version)	file.pdf
jpeg2pdf	jpeg.pdf
tiff2pdf	tiff.pdf
txt2df	text.pdf

This option is required when converting files from CD ROM using either the "-1" or "-2" options, since the default directory is not writeable.

-p: Specify a profile to use in the creation of the PDF file. Profiles contain conversion information such as margin and font settings and reside in the "txt2pdf.ini" file located in either the directory where the executable file resides or the windows base directory (typically "C:\WINDOWS" for Windows 9x, "C:\WINDIR" for Windows NT). If the file is present in both directories, the file located in the windows base directory takes precedence. The default profile "default" is used when this option is not specified.

-P: Specify a profile parameter on the command line. This allows one to specify profile parameters without the need for a command file. Specify the parameter in "key:value" format. Place quotes around the parameter if spaces are in the value. This option may be specified multiple times on the command line.

-r: When a directory is specified, search subdirectories (recursive search).

-s: Sort the filenames specified on the command line in alphanumeric order before processing them. Note that when a directory is specified on the command line, files in that directory are always sorted.

-?: A brief summary of arguments is displayed.

[file1 file2 …]: Specify one or more files to convert. Wild card characters such as "*" and "?" may be used.

The Initialization File

"DaVince Tools" recognizes two predefined profile names. The "default" profile is used when no other profile name is specified. The "_common" profile is used to define a parameter for all profiles. This profile is applied prior to any other profile. This allows an option to be set globally. For example, the following _common profile:

[_common]
annotationtext=The data contained in this file is the property of ABC Inc.

will by default create this text annotation on all profiles, unless the option is overridden in a profile using the "annotationtext" option with a different value.

The profile name is enclosed in square brackets (i.e. "[default]"), followed by a list of profile options. The profile name is case sensitive, however, the profile options are not ("[default]" and "[Default]" are not the same profile). Profile names like [_common], which begin with an underscore, are hidden in the Windows interface program but are still valid profile names. The following is an example of a profile definition:

[default]
description=Default Profile
bookmark=yes
openaction=fit
compression=yes

Multiple profiles can exist in the file. The "-p" command line option and the DaVince command file command "profile" determines which profile the program will use. Profile names are case sensitive. If no profile is specified on the command line, the default profile ("[default]") is used.

Several options can appear after the profile line. These statements have the following syntax:

setting=value

Where setting is the name of a valid setting (see below for a list of common options) and "value" is the value for the setting. Depending on the option, "value" can be a number, a string or a Boolean value. The following values are all valid for a Boolean value:
 
 

Valid True Values	Valid False Values
True, T, On, Enable, Yes, Y	False, F, Off, Disable, No, N

These values are case insensitive (i.e. both "true" and "TRUE" are valid).

Each converter uses its own initialization file. The name of this file is the name of the converter with an ".INI" file extension. Thus these names will be:,
 

Converter Name	Initialization Filename
bmp2pdf.exe	bmp2pdf.ini
file2pdf.exe	file2pdf.ini
jpeg2pdf.exe	jpeg2pdf.ini
tiff2pdf.exe	tiff2pdf.ini
txt2pdf.exe	txt2pdf.ini

 

The location of the initialization file is typically in the same directory as the executable file. "DaVince Tools" ships with sample initialization files for all converters in the "exe" directory, which contains both the executable programs and the ".ini" files. The initialization file can also be located in the Windows' directory (typically "c:\windows" for Windows 9X and "c:\winnt" for Windows NT/2000/XP). Putting the initialization file in the Windows directory may make sense for those who want to use the same profile options with multiple versions of the converter. The initialization file in the Windows directory takes precedence if the file is found in both directories.

Common Profile Options

About DaVince Tools:

DaVince Tools was written in C++ using the DaVince Class Library, written by the same author as this program. The DaVince Class Library is a C++ library for developing PDF and TIFF applications. Contact the author at info@davince.com for more information on the availability of the class library.