NAME
sdf - SDF Conversion Utility
PURPOSE
sdf converts SDF files to other document formats.
USAGE
usage : sdf [+alias] [-h[help]] [-o[out_ext]]
[-l[log_ext]] [-O[out_dir]] [-2 format]
[-D variable,..] [-n split_level]
[-f flag,..] [-I include_path,..]
[-p[prefilter]] [-a parameters] [-P[plang]]
[-N[line_numbers]] [-g[get_report]]
[-r report] [-L locale] [-k look]
[-s style] [-S page_size] [-c config]
[-u uses,..] [-H head_level] [-K head_look]
[-d driver] [-y post_filter]
[-z post_process,..] [-t target]
[-v[verbose]] [-T trace_levels,..]
[-w width] [-Y library_path,..]
sdf_file ...
purpose: convert an sdf file to another format
version: 2.001 (SDF 2.001)
The options are:
Option Description
-h display help on options
-o output file extension
-l log file extension
-O output to input file's (or explicit) directory
-2 the output format you want
-D define variables
-n heading level to autosplit into topics
-f define flags (i.e. DOC_* variables)
-I search path for include files, templates, etc.
-p pre-filter input file from each argument
-a parameters for the pre-filter
-P pre-filter as a programming language
-N number lines in pretty-printed source code
-g pre-filter using sdfget with the report specified
-r report to run on the SDF to transform it before formatting
-L locale
-k look library
-s style of document
-S page size for paper documents
-c configuration library
-u modules to use
-H initial heading level
-K heading look (H, A or P)
-d format driver - default is expand
-y filter to post-filter the output with
-z list of post processing actions to do
-t logical target format
-v verbose mode
-T debugging trace levels
-w width for text-based outputs
-Y search path for libraries
The aliases are:
Alias Description
mc generate a MIMS chapter
ms generate a MIMS spec
mt generate a MIMS topic
sdf2doc_fm generate Frame binary format via FrameMaker
sdf2dvi_sgml generate DVI format via SGML
sdf2fvo_fm generate FrameViewer format via FrameMaker
sdf2hlp_mif generate Windows Help input files via MIF
sdf2html_ generate a HTML document
sdf2html_dir generate an SDF directory in HTML
sdf2html_fm generate a HTML document via FrameMaker
sdf2html_topicsgenerate HTML topics
sdf2htx_ generate MIMS HTX format
sdf2info_sgmlgenerate GNU info format via SGML
sdf2latex_ generate LaTeX
sdf2latex_podgenerate LaTeX format via POD
sdf2latex_sgmlgenerate LaTeX format via SGML
sdf2lyx_sgml generate a LyX file via SGML
sdf2man_pod generate Man page format via POD
sdf2mf6_ generate MIMS F6 help format
sdf2mif_ generate Frame MIF format
sdf2pdf_html generate PDF via HTML
sdf2pdf_mif generate PostScript and PDF via FrameMaker
sdf2pod_ generate POD format
sdf2ps_fm generate PostScript via FrameMaker
sdf2ps_fmbookgenerate PostScript via a FrameMaker book
sdf2ps_html generate PostScript via HTML
sdf2ps_pod generate PostScript via POD
sdf2ps_sgml generate PostScript via SGML
sdf2rtf_fm generate RTF format via FrameMaker
sdf2rtf_mif generate RTF format via MIF
sdf2rtf_sgml generate RTF format via SGML format
sdf2sdf_expandgenerate expanded SDF
sdf2sdf_raw generate raw SDF
sdf2sgml_ generate SGML format
sdf2txt_ generate plain text format
sdf2txt_fm generate plain text format via FrameMaker
sdf2txt_pod generate plain text format via POD
DESCRIPTION
The -h option provides help. If it is specified without a parameter, a
brief description of each option is displayed. To display the
attributes for an option, specify the option letter as a parameter.
By default, generated output goes to standard output. To direct output
to a file per input file, use the -o option to specify an extension for
output files. If the -o option is specified without a parameter, an
extension of out is assumed.
Likewise, error messages go to standard error by default. Use the -l
option to create a log file per input file. If the -l option is
specified without a parameter, an extension of log is assumed.
By default, generated output and log files are created in the current
directory. Use the -O option to specify an explicit output directory.
If the -O option is specified without a parameter, the input file’s
directory is used.
The -2 option is a convenient way of specifying the alias (collection
of options) which generates the output you want. e.g.
sdf -2html abc
is equivalent to:
sdf +sdf2html abc
The -D option is used to define variables. These are typically used for
controlling conditional text and substituting text which changes. The
format used is:
-Dvariable1=value1,variable2=value2
A flag is a shorthand way of specifying variables in the DOC family.
i.e. -ftoc=3 is equivalent to -DDOC_TOC=3. The format of the -f option
is:
-fflag1=value1,flag2=value2
If a variable or flag is specified without a value, 1 is assumed.
To generate HTML topics, the command is:
sdf -2topics abc
By default, this will create sub-topics for each heading already in a
separate file. It will also autosplit level 1 headings into sub-topics.
The -n option can be used to control which level headings are split at:
· 1 autosplits on level 1 headings (the default)
· 2 autosplits on level 2 headings
· 3 autosplits on level 3 headings
· 0 disables autosplitting.
Include files are searched for in the current directory, then in the
directories given by the -I option, then in the default library
directory.
By default, sdf is configured to prefilter files with certain
extensions. For example:
sdf mytable.tbl
is equivalent to executing sdf on a file which only contains:
!include "mytable.pl"; table
The -p option can be used to explicitly prefilter files or to override
the default prefilter used. If a parameter is not provided, the
prefilter is assumed to be table.
The -a option can be used to specify parameters for the prefilter. For
example:
sdf -aformat='15,75,10' mytable.tbl
The -P option prefilters the input files as programming languages. The
parameter is the language to use. If none is provided, the extension is
assumed to be the language name. For example:
sdf -P myapp.c
is equivalent to executing sdf on a file which only contains:
!include "myapp.c"; example; wide; lang='c'
The -N option adds line numbers at the frequency given. The default
frequency is 1. i.e. every line.
The -g option prefilters the input files by executing sdfget using the
default report (default.sdg). To change the report used, specify the
report name as the parameter. If the report name doesn’t include an
extension, sdg is assumed.
Note: sdfget searches for reports in the current directory, then in the
stdlib directory within SDF’s library directory.
The -r option runs the nominated SDR report on each input before
formatting. In other words, SDR reports provide a mechanism for:
· analysing the SDF just before it would be formatted, and
· replacing that SDF with the output of the report (also SDF) so that
the final output is a nicely formatted report.
For example, the sdf_dir report generates a directory (tree) of the
components (files) included in an SDF document. Reports are stored in
sdr files and are searched for using the usual rules.
The -L option can be used to specify a locale. The default locale name
is specified in sdf.ini. Locale naming follows POSIX conventions (i.e.
language_country), so the locale name for American english is en_us.
The information for each locale is stored in the locale directory, so
you’ll need to have to look in there to see what locales are available.
(As the default locale can be set in sdf.ini, this isn’t as ugly as it
first sounds.)
Note: At the moment, a locale file simply contains a list of language
specific strings. Ultimately, it should be extended to support
localisation of date and time formats.
The -k option is used to specify a look. The default look library is
specified in sdf.ini.
The -s option can be used to specify a document style. Typical values
are:
· document - a technical document
· memo - a memo
· fax - a facsimile
· minutes - minutes of a meeting.
The -S option is used to specify the page size. Values supported
include:
Name Width Height Comment
global 21.0cm 11.0in will fit on either A4 or letter
A3 29.7cm 42.0cm
A4 21.0cm 29.7cm
A5 14.8cm 21.0cm
B4 25.7cm 36.4cm
B5 17.6cm 25.0cm
letter 8.5in 11.0in
legal 8.5in 14.0in
tabloid 11.0in 17.0in
Additional page sizes can be configured in sdf.ini. To specify a
rotated version of a named page size, append an R. For example, A4R
implies a width of 29.7cm and a height of 21cm. A custom page size can
also be specified using the format:
{{width}}x{{height}}
where width and height are the respective sizes in points.
The -c option is used to specify a configuration library.
A list of modules to use can be specified via the -u option.
The initial heading level to start on can be specified via the -H
option. This is useful if you want to preview how a topic will be
displayed without regenerating the complete document. If a topic begins
with a level 1 heading (e.g. H1) and you wish to format it as a
document (i.e. the level 1 text becomes the DOC_NAME for build_title),
use the -H option with a value of 0.
The look of headings can also be adjusted. By default, H-style headings
are numbered, A-style headings are lettered and P-style headings are
plain. To force a particular style for all headings, the -K option can
be used. Sensible parameter values are H, A and P although other values
may work depending on what paragraph styles are configured at your
site.
The -d option is used to specify the format driver. Values supported
include:
· expand - format as expanded text (the default)
· mif - Maker Interchange Format
· pod - Plain Old Documentation (as used by Perl).
Additional drivers can be configured in sdf.ini.
The -y option can to used to specify a post-filter.
The -z option can be used to specify a list of post-processing actions
you want to execute on each output file after it is generated. The
actions supported include:
· ps - generate PostScript
· doc - generate a Frame (binary) file
· fvo - generate a Frame View-Only file
· txt - generate a text file
· rtf - generate an RTF file
· clean - delete the output file (must be last).
Additional actions can be configured in sdf.ini. By convention, the
generated files are given the same names as the action keywords.
The -t option is used to specify the logical target format. If none is
specified, the default is the first post processing action, if any.
Otherwise, the default is the format driver name.
The -v option enables verbose mode. This is useful for debugging
problems related to post processing. In particular, post processing
actions containing the pattern clean are skipped in verbose mode. You
can also switch off the post processing messages by using a verbose
value of -1. Values higher than 1 switch on additional trace messages
as follows:
· 2 - show how names of files and libraries are resolved
3 - show the directories searched for libraries
4 - show the directories searched for modules
5 - show the directories searched for normal files.
The -T option can be used to switch on debug tracing. The parameter is
a comma-separated list of name-value pairs where each name is a tracing
group and each value is the level of tracing for that group. To get the
trace output provided by the -v option, one can use the user group like
this:
sdf -Tuser=2 ...
This is slightly different from the -v option in that intermediate
files are not implicitly kept. Additional tracing groups will be added
over time (probably one per output driver).
The -w option is used to specify the width for text-based outputs.
The -z, -D, -f and -I options are list options. i.e. multiple values
can be separated by commas and/or the options can be supplied multiple
times.
EXAMPLES
Convert mydoc.sdf to a technical document in mif format, output is
mydoc.mif:
sdf -2mif mydoc.sdf
Convert mydoc.sdf to online documentation in FrameViewer format, output
is mydoc.fvo:
sdf -2fvo mydoc.sdf
Convert mydoc.sdf to online documentation in HTML, output is
mydoc.html:
sdf -2html mydoc.sdf
The following command will build the reference documentation for a SDF
module in HTML:
sdf -2html abc.sdm
LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS
Many of the default post processing (-z) actions only works on Unix as
FrameMaker for Windows does not support batch conversion.
Topics mode has several limitations:
· only documents in the current directory can be converted
· all sub-topics must also be in the current directory.