Command-line Interface

The Command-line Interface is provided as an executable file. You can call it from either a Windows batch file or a Solaris / Linux / Macintosh / HP-UX / AIX shell script.

AH Formatter V5.0 can be executed from the Command-line Interface by:

• Specifying an FO (XSL Formatting Objects) files to be formatted and the destination of the formatted file.
• Specifying an XML and XSL file which automatically starts transformation with XSLT, then formatting and finally outputting.
• As a filter that reads FO from standard in and writes PDF to standard out.

The executable file names are as follows:

Environment Variables have to be set in order to execute these files. In the Windows version these are automatically set by the installer. In the non-Windows versions they have to be set. Please refer to Environment Variables.

To run the command-line program of AH Formatter V5.0 for Windows, enter the following command.

> cd [Install directory]
> AHFCmd -d samples\sample.fo -o \tmp\sample.pdf

If AH Formatter V5.0 for Windows is successfully installed, the following message will be displayed.

AHFCmd : AH Formatter V5.0 for Windows (5,0,XXXX,XXXX)
         Copyright (c) 1999-2009 Antenna House, Inc.
AHFCmd : Formatting finished normally.

Then you can view sample.pdf in the \tmp directory.

In AH Formatter V5.0 for non-Windows, the installation program will place the shell script file named run.sh in the [Install directory]. This is a sample shell script for running the command-line program AHFCmd. This script sets the necessary environment variables in the shell, and runs AHFCmd. To run the command-line program of AH Formatter V5.0 for non-Windows using this script, enter the following command from your terminal window.

$ cd [Install directory]
$ ./run.sh -d samples/sample.fo -o /tmp/sample.pdf

If AH Formatter V5.0 for non-Windows is successfully installed, the following message will be displayed. Then you can get sample.pdf in /tmp directory.

AHFCmd : AH Formatter V5.0 for Xxxxxx (5,0,XXXX,XXXX)
         Copyright (c) 1999-2009 Antenna House, Inc.
AHFCmd : Formatting finished normally.

The same parameters in the same formats apply to both AHFCmd and run.sh.

The following parameters apply to the Command-line Interface: Parameters with * in the following table indicate a negative meaning if no is placed in the beginning of the command. For example, -nomultivol cansels to output PDF in separate volume. no-LT

When specifying a path name that contains a space, the path name must be enclosed in double quotation marks. If two conflicting parameters are specified, the last parameter on the line takes precedence.

Parameters for PDF Output

Parameters for SVG Output

Parameters for INX Output

Parameters for TEXT Output

Values can be added using one of the following units.

The following sample illustrates formatting sample.xml using XSL stylesheet sample.xsl and outputting the formatted result to sample.pdf.

In order to use the stylesheet in the non-Windows environment, it's necessary to specify external XSLT prosessor in the Option Setting File using -i parameter.

The following sample illustrates how to load the Option Setting File options.xml, format sample.fo and send the formatted result to a printer.

When executing formatting with a Command-line Interface, if the formatting is successful, it finishes the process with the return value of 0. If the formatting is not successful, the program finishes the process with a return value of 1. If the formatting is not performed because –v is not specified, the return value is 0.

The followings parameter settings apply only to the Windows version.

To send a file to a printer use a printer name from the Printers dialog in the Windows start menu or from Printers and Faxes in the Control Panel.

-p "Acrobat Distiller"
-p "EPSON LP-2500"

The followings are effective only in the Windows version.

In the Windows environment, applications use the DEVMODE structure to exchange information about the printer settings. Also Windows printer drivers initialize themselves according to the information of the DEVMODE structure. AH Formatter V5.0 provides XSLDev.exe as a utility to save the DEVMODE structure to a file.

When this program is launched, the "Print Setup" dialog will be displayed. You can choose printers from "Name" combo box or you can set various printer properties by clicking the "Properties" button. After you set up printer properties, click "save" button, the "Save As" dialog will be displayed. Specify a file name to save the print setup to. This will then modify DEVMODE structure as a "data file that records printer setup." You can specify this file name for the PrinterSetting property of the .NET/COM Interface or -ps Parameter of the command line interface or other interfaces. To quit this application, click "close" button.

When a printer setting file is specified, a document is printed unless -p option is specified. The following shows how it operates.

• AHFCmd -p printer-name -ps setting-file -d ...

  Prints a document by applying DEVMODE specified in the setting-file to the printer-name.

• AHFCmd -p @PDF -ps setting-file -d ...

  Outputs a document to PDF disregarding the -ps option.

• AHFCmd -ps setting-file -d ...

  Prints a document using the DEVMODE specified in the setting-file. If the printer-name is not specified in DEVMODE, the default printer is used.

When -collate or -copies is specified, the content of DEVMODE is overwritten.

See also restrictions in the Graphical User Interface.