Contents | Parent Topic | Previous Topic | Next Topic
Home | Catalog

# 1.4. Generating outputs

## 1.4.1. Overview

The sdf command is used to convert SDF to other formats. The general syntax is:

       sdf [options] file ...

If an extension is not given (and a file is not found with that name), an extension of sdf is assumed.

## 1.4.2. Generating HTML

To convert `mydoc.sdf` to HTML, the command is:

       sdf -2html mydoc

This creates a file called `mydoc.html`.

## 1.4.3. Generating a set of HTML topics

To convert `mydoc.sdf` to a set of HTML topics, the command is:

       sdf -2topics mydoc

This creates the following files:

- mydoc.html - the table of contents
- mydoc_1.html - the first topic
- mydoc_2.html - the second topic.

## 1.4.4. Generating PostScript on Unix

To convert `mydoc.sdf` to PostScript on Unix, the command is:

       sdf -2ps mydoc

This creates a file called `mydoc.ps` by:

1. Generating a MIF (Maker Interchange Format) file called mydoc.out.
2. Using the fmbatch program to convert this file to mydoc.out.ps.
3. Renaming mydoc.out.ps to mydoc.ps.
4. Deleting mydoc.out.

## 1.4.5. Generating PostScript on Windows

To convert `mydoc.sdf` to PostScript on Windows, the command is:

       sdf -2mif mydoc

This creates a file called `mydoc.mif` which can be opened in FrameMaker and printed to a PostScript file.

## 1.4.6. Generating PDF

To generate a PDF file, the steps are:

1. Generate a PostScript document (see above)
2. Open the PostScript document using Adobe Distiller.
3. Generate the PDF file.

Note: The PostScript document generated by SDF includes the information needed by the PDF distiller to generate a table of contents.

## 1.4.7. Generating plain text

To convert `mydoc.sdf` to plain text, the command is:

       sdf -2txt mydoc

This creates a file called `mydoc.txt`.

## 1.4.8. Generating Windows help

To convert `mydoc.sdf` to Windows help, the command is:

       sdf -2hlp mydoc

This creates the following files:

- mydoc.hpj - a help project file
- mydoc.rtf - an RTF document with embedded help codes

These need to be compiled using a help compiler (e.g. hcp.exe). For example:

       hcp mydoc

This creates a file called mydoc.hlp (provided no errors are encountered).