37.1 How the DCL filter works
The command-line version of Mif2Go provides a restricted set of features, and is intended only to support automated build systems. This command-line method assumes you have already set up your project, using the FrameMaker plug-in; and that further conversion runs do not need to do any of the following:
• automatically import formats from FrameMaker templates
• automatically create and delete .mif files
• automatically create configuration files
• automatically create Help-system project files.
You must run Mif2Go from within FrameMaker to accomplish any of the above. To set up a command-line system that will handle these requirements, see §36 Converting via runfm.
Mif2Go uses the DCL (Document Coding Language) filter to convert MIF files according to settings you have already specified in a configuration file (and optionally as arguments to the DCL command). Before you can convert files this way, you must do the following:
• Create a configuration file for the conversion, using the Mif2Go FrameMaker plug-in and a text editor such as Notepad.
• Save as MIF all the FrameMaker files that are to be converted (see §38 Generating intermediate output).
When your configuration file and MIF files are ready, you run the Mif2Go DCL filter at a command-line prompt in a command window.
An advantage of using Mif2Go this way is that you can automate batch processing of many files. The Mif2Go DCL filter is usable even if you do not have FrameMaker, and were given FrameMaker-generated MIF files by someone else. However, the filter cannot process MIF files generated by programs other than FrameMaker. If you want to process such files, load them first in FrameMaker and save them as MIF, then process those MIF files.
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