'Convert Image' - How To (Overview)*

Below is a brief overview of 'Convert Image' usage.  To view the complete on-line help click the link below:

  Full 'Convert Image' Documentation

Contents
Using the Graphical User Interface
Using the Command-Line Interface
    Setting Up to run from Command-Line
    Command-Line Syntax
 

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Using the Graphical User Interface

Quick Start: Special Processing of Images

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Using the Command-Line Interface

You can bypass Convert Image's user interface by using the command line feature... much like in the good old DOS days.  This can be accessed in several different ways.  Examples:

	Type your command into a Command Prompt window
	Type your command into the Run window (located on the Start menu)
	Call from a batch (*.BAT) file
	Call from a program you wrote (ShellExecuteAny() WIN32 API, or use the COM/ActiveX interface)

There are two techniques for using 'Convert Image' from the Command-Line: Issue a Conversion Job command, or a Conversion Task command.  Conversion Jobs use *.SII files, which are built with the Graphical User Interface (GUI).  Once saved, they can be invoked from the GUI or from the Command-Line.  Specifying a conversion Tasks require no previous GUI activity, but do require you to specify your conversion in detail.

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Setting up to run Convert Image from the Command-Line

Do one of the following:

	Set the path in your environment variables to the location of ConvertImage.EXE
	Copy ConvertImage.EXE to the same folder that it will be invoked from

Otherwise, you'll see the following error:

"'ConvertImage' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file."

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Command Line Syntax

The syntax for specifying a 'Conversion Job'  is:

 ConvertImage /J{ConversionJobFile}  [/V] [/L{LogFile}] [/B{LogToJobFile}]

Items above enclosed in square brackets “[ ]” are optional, all other ‘switches’ are required.  Therefore /J should always be specified on the command line.

 Example:

To run the 'Conversion Job' specified by "C:\MyJobs\Convert JPG to Tiff.SII" type the following in at the 'Command Prompt':

 ConvertImage /J "C:\MyJobs\Convert JPG to Tiff.SII"

You can include or exclude spaces between switches and parameters.  For example,  "/F6" is the same as "/F  6".  For long file names you may be required to use double quotes.  For example /J "C:\Program Files\MyApp\convert JPG to Tiff.SII".
 

Specifying a 'Conversion Task'
The syntax below is only a brief overview. Again, please consult the manufacturers documentation for the latest syntax.

ConvertImage /S{Original File(s)} /T{Target File(s)} [/F#] [/C#] [/L{LogFile}] [/G] [/R]   [/B{LogToJobFile}] [/V] [/1-9]  [/P#] [/a-j]

Items above enclosed in square brackets “[ ]” are optional, all other ‘switches’ are required.  Therefore /S, /T  should always be specified on the command line.  There are two exceptions, however, and they are:

A)      /F /C are required if you are not using file names with standard file extensions (standard file extensions are jpg, tif, gif, etc).  For example if you working with bitmap files with file names like mybitmap.abc then you definitely need to specify the /F and/or /C switch.

B)      when /G (Save to original folder) is specified, the /T switch is not necessary.

You can include or exclude spaces between switches and parameters.  For example, "/F6" is the same as "/F  6".  For long file names you may be required to use double quotes.  For example, /S "C:\Program Files\MyApp\MyImage.JPG".  Command switches are case sensitive, therefore /F is completely different from /f.

/S{Original File(s)} is used to specify which files to convert.  You can specify a single file, or in some cases a whole set of files using the wildcard syntax (i.e. "C:\MyFiles\*.BMP").   /T{Target files} should always be different from /S{Original File(s)}.

/T{Target File(s)} is used to specify where to save the converted file(s) to.  You can specify a single file, or in some cases a whole set of files using the wildcard syntax (i.e. "C:\MyFiles\*.BMP").   /T{Target files} should always be different from /S{Original File(s)}.

/F# tells ‘Convert Image’ what the original file type is.  You must supply a number for the # symbol.  Remember the original file, specified by the /S{Original File(s)} switch, has an extensionRHID_File_Extension_1 which determines it’s file type.   For all constants see File Type Constants.

/C# tells ‘Convert Image’ what the target file type is.  You must supply a number for the # symbol.  Remember the target file, specified by the /T{Target File(s)} switch, has an extensionRHID_File_Extension_1 which determines it’s file type.   For all constants see File Type Constants.

[/G] Save files to their original folders.  Use this instead of /T to place the converted files in the same folder as the original file.  This cannot be used when converting a single, specified file from within a folder.  Use the /T switch instead.

[/R] Seek out and do all files found in the sub-folders specified in the /S switch.  Recursive subdirectories.  You may add this switch if you are processing whole directories of files.  See /S, /T and /G for more details on selecting whole directories to be converted.

[/L{LogFile}] Log file path and name (i.e. d:\mylogs\CITP.LOG) If this switch is specified a log file with the given path and name will be created and the results of the conversion will be written to it.  See also /V.

[/B{LogToJobFile}]   Save the Log file as a 'Conversion Job' ONLY IF ERRORS OCCURRED.  This is useful if the files that had problems can be done at a later time, or with a different method.  /B is different from /L, since the file generated with /B will not include extraneous comments not allowed in a 'Conversion Job' file.  Save as a .SII file type so it can be loaded as a job.

[/V] Verbose mode.  Specify this switch to display a message box indicating how the conversion went.  See also /L.

[/1] TIFF: Pages to convert.  For example if you have a multipage TIFF and you want to convert the 1^st and 3^rd page use “/1 1,3”. To do pages 2-5 use “/1 2-5” .

[/2] TIFF: Compression to use when converting TO a TIFF file (default is no compression).  Use “/2 0” for no compression and “/2 1” for LZW compression.

0 - No compression. Save image as 24bpp uncompressed TIFF file.

1 - LZW. Save image as 24bpp TIFF file with LZW compression.

2 - RLE. Save image as 1bpp TIFF file with RLE compression.

3 - CCITT3. Save image as 1bpp TIFF file with CCITT3 compression.

4 - CCITT4. Save image as 1bpp TIFF file with CCITT4 compression.

[/3] TIFF: Append to existing when converting to a TIFF.  Use ”/3 TRUE” to append ”/3 FALSE” not to.

[/4] JPEG: Quality of the resulting JPG from 0 to 100 (default is 100).  0 is lowest and 100 is highest quality.  The higher the quality the larger the resulting target file.  Use “/4 100” for highest quality.

[/5] TAG: TITLE of the image. For example to associate the title of “President” to the resulting image use “/5 President” .

[/6] TAG: DESCRIPTION of the image. For example to associate the description of “Money is the product of a humans capacity to think” to the resulting image use “/6 Money is the product of a humans capacity to think” .

[/7] TAG: DATE/TIME of the image. For example to associate the date/time “July 4^th 1976” to the resulting image use “/7 July 4^th 1976” .

[/8] TAG: AUTHOR of the image. For example to associate the author  “Krishnamurti” to the resulting image use “/8 Krishnamurti” .

[/9] TAG: COPYRIGHT of the image. For example to associate the copyright  “Copyright 2005, Softinterface” to the resulting image use “/9 Copyright 2005, Softinterface”.

/P# Special Process Identifier. An integer, which tells 'Convert Image' which special process to apply to the Original (input) files.  For example /P2 tells ‘Convert Image’ to resize an image.  /P is almost always used with /a- /j switches. See table below for a list of all Special Processes.

[/a- /j] These parameters compliment the /P switch which tells ‘Convert Image’ which special process to perform.  /a- /j are used to specify additional parameters that may be necessary for the special process being done.  For example /P2 tells ‘Convert Image’ to resize an image.  In this case /a is used to specify the width, /b is used to specify the height, /c is used to specify the method of interpolation and /d is used to specify the background color. This might end up looking like:

ConvertImage /SC:\ExampleInput\Tryme.jpg /TC:\ExampeOutput\Output.jpg /P2 /a10 /b20 /c2 /d0 /V