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13. Text Conversion In Batch Mode
Batch conversion is regarded as the production mode
of text conversion. Recall, in interactive mode of conversion, TextMaestro
converts text found in Input
window and places it on Output
window. In batch conversion one can convert a set of input files
and direct output files to specified names and directories.
It is convenient if one has to convert hundreds of
files for legacy documents or books. Typically these are the steps one
follows:
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Load input files in the list. |
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Select a library. |
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Specify the names and locations of output
files. |
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Preview conversion. |
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Persist conversion changes. |
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There is a
lot to say on Batch Conversion. See Example 19 and 20
to get started. |
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Hold down Shift key and click on Text
Conversion  button from Main
toolbar, and the Batch
Text Conversion dialog will appear as shown below.
 ;
Figure
2:
Then the following dialog will appear, assuming that
the current conversion type is Find
and Replace:
Batch Conversion for Find
and Replace:
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Launches a batch process to create all find-and-replace
instances based on the current conversion library, and lists those instances.
After the process is complete, files marked with
 indicate that at least one instance was found in it,
while  indicates found none.
Various icons are used for instances. They have certain
meanings. They are listed below:
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This instance has source access information.
I.e., double click on this item, it will take you straight to the source
where this instance is located. |
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This instance does not have source access
information, because Build source access
table check box was turned off. We often turn off this check box
to reduce memory usage for extremely large files.
When an instance has this icon, double-clicking
on it will not take you to the source code.
You will not see this icon, if you have
Build source access table checked,
which is the default behavior. |
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This instance has been marked as skipped. That means if you hit Write to files button now, the scheme
will skip this instance while writing takes place. |
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This instance has been marked as manually modified. That means if you
hit Write to files button now,
the scheme will use the text that you have supplied in the Replace
edit box (the lower edit box) instead of what the conversion scheme concocted
originally. |
For all cases however, note that alternate colors
(blue and red) are used to distinguish instances from one macro to those
from another macro. Here is an example.
Suppose current Find-and-Replace library contains
3 macros and for a certain file, first macro generated 8, second macro
7 and third macro 6 instances. Then the right list will display total
21 instances, where first 8 instances will have blue icons, next 7 red
icons and the last 6 blue icons again. |
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Opens the conversion library
to be used for the
batch conversion. |
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Creates output filenames and fills up the second
column of the list. This opens the following dialog:
where you get three choices: |
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Same as input names:
In
this method, the output filenames are exactly the same with input filenames.
Caution:
If you do not Change
the Output location,
you are likely to overwrite the original files.
Using text from Output window:
In this method, the output
filenames are retrieved from Output window sequentially. Number of lines
in Output window must match or exceed the number of selected items on
this list. Caution: It is user's
responsibility to make sure that the names listed on Output window follows
Windows file-naming conventions. |
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Using Prefix,
Suffix, and Extension as noted above,
you can change the output names for the items currently selected in the
list. Enumerate
adds 1, 2, 3, ..., n etc. to
the filenames. This is convenient if you want to enumerate file names.
Preserve
extension leaves the original extension intact. |
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Specify a valid location where the output should
be generated. Hit Change
after editing the location to reflect the changes on the output filenames
(2nd column).
If the destination directory for any output file
does not exist, it is created during the batch conversion. |
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After you have created find-and-replace instances
for the selected files (using the 1st button in this list), you can write
the results into output files using this button. |
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Stops an on-going batch conversion process. A Stop request may not
take place immediately. |
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Removes selected items
from the list. |
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Removes the second column
for the selected items. |
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Select an instance in
the Instance list.
A dialog will appear on the left that displays the Find
and Replace text.
At this point if you modify the Replace
text, and hit this button, this instance will be saved as a modified instance,
and TextMaestro will place your new text in Replace
when you write the results to the output files.
This is called last-minute
override of instance. A modified instance displays one of these
icons: , . |
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Select an instance in
the Instance list.
Hit this button. This will mark the instance as skipped. This means, TextMaestro
will simply ignore this instance when you write the results to the output
files.
This is simply called
skip of instance.
A skipped instance displays one of these icons: , . |
If the current conversion type is Token
Parameter or Key
Lookup, then the following dialog will appear:
Batch Conversion for Key
Look Up:
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Adds files to the list
that are selected in the main application window. |
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Opens the conversion library
to be used for the
batch conversion. |
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Generates output names for selected items. See above. |
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Launches batch conversion for the files set up in
the list using current conversion scheme and library. This process will
parse the input files and write results into output files as found in
the list above. You should hi this button after you have specified the
output names of file and specified a library. |
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Stops an on-going batch conversion process. A Stop request may not
take place immediately. |
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Removes selected items
from the list. |
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Removes the 2nd column
for the selected items. |
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