2.7.2 Understanding how to run DITA2Go DCL

To use dcl.exe to convert DITA documents:

  1. Open a Windows Command Prompt window.
  2. Navigate to the output directory where your DITA2Go project configuration file is located.
  3. Type a command of the following form:

    %dcl% -f output_format [-o output_file] input_file

    where: 

    output_format

    can be one of the following:

    HTML

    XML

    XHTML

    HTMLHelp

    JavaHelp

    OracleHelp

    EclipseHelp

    OmniHelp

    ASCII

    DITA

    DocBook

    Word

    WinHelp

    output_file

    is optional for RTF or HTML output (but required for XML output); one of:

    name - base file name (path optional), with or without extension

    ext - output file-name extension, period required

    input_file

    path (absolute or relative) to your .ditamap, .bookmap, .dita, or .xml file, with extension

  4. Press Enter.

For example, at a command prompt:

D:\Tests\HTML> %dcl% -f html ..\DITATestSuite.ditamap

would produce HTML files in directory HTML, from map file DITATestSuite.ditamap located in directory Tests.

If your input_file has an extension other than .ditamap, .bookmap, .dita, or .xml, you must include one more argument, before the -f switch:

-s xml

to tell dcl.exe what type of file you are converting.

Although dcl.exe provides the -o switch for naming output location, file, or extension, typically you do not need this switch. For topics, DITA provides a naming method for the output files: the copy-to attribute. If your DITA files do not use this attribute, the names of output files are based on the topic id attribute. If necessary, you can remap file names for HTML output; see §43.3 Renaming output files for automated systems.

Previous Topic:  2.7.1 Executing the correct version of DCL

Next Topic:  2.7.3 Creating a script to run DITA2Go DCL

Parent Topic:  2.7 Converting documents from the command line

Sibling Topics:

2.7.1 Executing the correct version of DCL

2.7.3 Creating a script to run DITA2Go DCL

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