Conversion Settings

Conversion settings are used to describe the output created by Document Conversion Service and consist of a collection of name-value pairs. These settings can also be used to control the behavior of the individual converters, such as configuring Word to pass a password or telling Excel to ignore the print areas when printing worksheets. The technique you are using to convert your files (command line utilities, the PEERNET.ConvertUtility.dll .NET library or the PNDocConvQueueServiceLib COM object) will determine how you will pass this collection of settings to Document Conversion Service.

Command Line Utilities

When using the command line utilities the settings are passed by supplying the name of a profile file, a structured XML file that contains the list of settings. Below is a sample command line using a profile file named TIFF 300dpi Optimized Color.xml, followed by a listing of the XML file itself. Note that the .xml extension is not needed when using the command line utilities. Several sample profiles are included for your use, or to use as a base to customize to your needs.

 

Passing setting using a profile

 

DCSConvertFile /P="TIFF 300dpi OptimizedColor" /NE "C:\Test\File.pdf"

Sample Profile

 

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<Profile Type="0"

         DisplayName="TIFF 300dpi OptimizedColor"

         Description ="Creates a single TIFF image at 300dpi.">

  <Settings>

 

    <!-- Output file options -->

    <add Name="Devmode settings;Resolution" Value="300"/>

    <add Name="Save;Output File Format" Value="TIFF Multipaged"/>

    <add Name="Save;Color reduction" Value="Optimal"/>

    <add Name="Save;Dithering method" Value="Halftone"/>

    

    <!-- TIFF Compression Options -->

    <add Name="TIFF File Format;BW compression" Value="Group4"/>

    <add Name="TIFF File Format;Color compression" Value="LZW RGB"/>

    <add Name="TIFF File Format;Indexed compression" Value="LZW"/>

    <add Name="TIFF File Format;Greyscale compression" Value="LZW"/>

    <add Name="JPEG File Format;Color compression" Value="Medium Quality"/>

    <add Name="JPEG File Format;Greyscale compression" Value="High Quality"/>

    <add Name="Image Options;Fax" Value="0"/>

 

  </Settings>

</Profile>

PEERNET.ConvertUtility .NET Library

When using the PEERNET.ConvertUtility .NET library methods from your own managed code you have the choice of supplying the name of a profile file, an XML file that contains the list of settings, or by passing in an IDictionary<String,String> collection of name-value pairs directly. Several sample profiles are included for your use, or to use as a base to customize to your needs.

 

Code Sample - Calling ConvertFile with a Profile

 

using PEERNET.ConvertUtility;

 

// conversion results returned, use to find files created or errors

PNConversionItem resultItem = 

    PNConverter.ConvertFile(@"C:\Input\Memo.doc",

                            @"C:\Output\",

                            "ConvertedMemo",

                            true, // overwrite existing

                            false, // remove file extension

                            false, // create log file

                            "TIFF 300dpi OptimizedColor", // profile

                            String.Empty,

                            String.Empty,

                            null, // no extra settings

                            String.Empty, //remote computer

                            String.Empty);

Code Sample - Calling ConvertFile with a settings collection

 

using PEERNET.ConvertUtility;

 

IDictionary<String, String> settings = 

        new Dictionary<String, String>();

 

settings.Add("Devmode settings;Resolution", "300");

settings.Add("Save;Output File Format", "TIFF Multipaged");

settings.Add("Save;Color reduction", "Optimal");

settings.Add("Save;Dithering method", "Halftone");

 

// conversion results returned, use to find files created or errors

PNConversionItem resultItem = 

    PNConverter.ConvertFile(@"C:\Input\Memo.doc",

                            @"C:\Output\",

                            "ConvertedMemo",

                            true, // overwrite existing

                            false, // remove file extension

                            false, // create log file

                            settings,

                            String.Empty,

                            String.Empty,

                            null, // no extra settings

                            String.Empty, //remote computer

                            String.Empty);

 

PNDocConvQueueServiceLib COM Object

The PNDocConvQueueServiceLib COM object uses a list of name-value pairs of conversion settings to configure the output that is created. These settings are passed into the COM object directly through its IPNDocConvQueueItem.Set method before calling IPNDocConvQueueItem.Convert.

The following code sample show the conversion settings strings for setting the resolution to 200 DPI and creating multipaged black and white TIFF files. The Resolution setting is part of the Devmode settings configuration options, while Output File Format , Append, Color reduction, and Dithering method are part of the Save configuration options.

You can find more sample output configurations by looking at the name and value pairs used in the sample conversion profiles included with Document Conversion Service.

 

Code Sample - C#

 
PNDocConvQueueServiceLib.PNDocConvQueueItem item = null;
 
// Create the conversion item
item = new PNDocConvQueueServiceLib.PNDocConvQueueItem();
 
// Set conversion settings
item.Set("Devmode settings;Resolution", "200");
item.Set("Save;Output File Format", "TIFF Multipaged");
item.Set("Save;Color reduction", "BW");
item.Set("Save;Dithering method", "Floyd");
item.Set("TIFF File Format;BW compression", "Group4");
item.Set("TIFF File Format;Color compression", "LZW RGB");
item.Set("TIFF File Format;Indexed compression", "LZW");
item.Set("TIFF File Format;Greyscale compression", "LZW");
 
// convert the file
item.Convert("Microsoft Word",
             "C:\Test\Report.docx",
             "C:\Test\Out\ConvertedReport");

 

Code Sample - VB.NET

 
Dim item As PNDocConvQueueServiceLib.IPNDocConvQueueItem
 
 ' Create the conversion item
item = New PNDocConvQueueServiceLib.PNDocConvQueueItem()
 
' Set conversion settings
item.Set("Devmode settings;Resolution""200")
item.Set("Save;Output File Format""TIFF Multipaged")
item.Set("Save;Color reduction""BW")
item.Set("Save;Dithering method""Floyd")
item.Set("TIFF File Format;BW compression""Group4")
item.Set("TIFF File Format;Color compression""LZW RGB")
item.Set("TIFF File Format;Indexed compression""LZW")
item.Set("TIFF File Format;Greyscale compression""LZW")
 
' convert the file
item.Convert("Microsoft Word", _
             "C:\Test\Report.docx", _
             "C:\Test\Out\ConvertedReport")

 

Name-Value Tables for Conversion Settings

The table below lists the different conversion settings separated out into categories with a description of the settings available in each. Click the link for that category to view all available settings for that option.

Options

Description of Settings

General Converter Options

These are general options that can be applied to the conversion process itself or to all converters.

Endorsement Options

Endorsements are header and footer information that can be stamped onto each page of the output created by Document Conversion Service.

Word Converter Options

These options are specific to the behavior of the Word converter.

Excel Converter Options

These options are specific to the behavior of the Excel converter.

PowerPoint Converter Options

These options are specific to the behavior of the PowerPoint converter.

Ghostscript Converter Options

These options are specific to the behavior of the Ghostscript converter.

Image Converter Options

These options are specific to the behavior of the Image converter.

OutsideIn AX Options

These options are specific to the behavior of the OutsideIn converter.

Advanced Features

Advanced settings such as custom paper size and text extraction.

Advanced File Naming

Settings to configure the file naming profiles (preset file naming schemes) for multipaged, multipaged with JobID, serialized and serialized with JobID.

Devmode settings

Resolution (DPI), page size and color mode settings.

Image Options

Image output options such as creating fax mode images and page rotation settings.

JPEG File Format

Compression settings for color and greyscale JPEG images.

PDF File Format

PDF file format settings for compression, content encoding and PDF/A-1b compliant PDF files.

PDF Security

PDF encryption and file permissions.

Processing

Settings to adjust the image during conversion such as trimming, cropping, copying to a new page size, resampling and brightness adjustment.

Save

Settings for output file format, color reduction, dithering and file name prompting.

TIFF File Format

Compression settings for black and white, color, indexed and greyscale TIFF images.

Watermark Stamping

Settings to create a text watermark diagonally across the page.