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Information Presentation Facility Compiler
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Information Presentation Facility Compiler
The Information Presentation Facility Compiler, ipfc, creates help documents
for use with Presentation Manager applications. The compiler reads help
source files and creates a compressed, binary database containing the
application's help panels.
A help source file consists of the text and formatting tags. The formatting
tags are special words and symbols that direct ipfc to process or format the
text in a given way. The compiler supports two tag languages: BookMaster and
the Dialog Tag Language (DTL). Although the languages are nearly identical,
they use different coding conventions and therefore cannot be used together
in the same source file.
To create a help document, the application developer creates the help source
file and names the file in the ipfc command line. The compiler command line
has the following syntax:
ipfc [options] filename
The filename parameter specifies the name of the help source file. If the
file is not in the current directory, a full pathname must be given. By
convention, source files containing BookMaster tags have the filename
extension .ipf and files containing DTL tags have the extension .gml.
The options parameter directs the action of the compiler. There are the
following options:
Option Meaning
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/GML Compiles a DTL help source file. The file must contain DTL
tags only. The compiler creates a binary help file having the
same name as the DTL help source file but with the filename
extension .hlp. The compiler also creates a BookMaster file
having the same name as the DTL help source file, but with
the filename extension .ipf.
/GML=IPF Creates a BookMaster file based on the contents of a DTL help
source file. The source file must contain DTL tags only. The
BookMaster file has the same name as the DTL help source
file, but with the filename extension .ipf. This option does
not create a hlp file.
/COUNTRY=nnn Sets the country code for the help document. The nnn value
must specify a valid country code. The default value for this
option is the country-code currently specified for your
system. The abbreviated form of this option is /COU. For a
list of the valid country codes, see the following "Comments"
section.
/CODEPAGE=nnn Sets the code page for the help document. The nnn value must
specify a valid code page. The default value for this option
is the code-page number currently specified for your system.
The abbreviated form of this option is /COD. For a list of
the valid code pages, see the following "Comments" section.
/LANGUAGE=xxx Sets the language code for the help document. The xxx value
is a three-letter identifier specifying the National Language
Support (NLS) file to be used. The NLS file determines the
language that is used for note, warning, and caution titles.
It also determines the characters used to designate items in
ordered and unordered lists. The default value for this
option is ENU (U.S. English). The abbreviated form of this
option is /L. For a list of the NLS file identifiers that you
can specify, see the following "Comments" section.
/Wn Sets the warning level for the compiler. The n value can be
one of the following values:
Value Meaning
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1 Returns only warning-level 1 messages. Warning-level 1
messages are the most severe.
2 Returns warning-level 1 and 2 messages.
3 Returns all three warning levels of messages. This the
default value. (Warning-level 3 messages are the least
severe.)
/X Directs the compiler to display a cross-reference list during
the compilation process. The list identifies each ID,
resource number, and name in the help source file and
specifies, by filename and line number, where each is defined
and referenced.
When ipfc compiles your file, it generates and displays the error messages.
If no errors are found, ipfc will tell you that compiling has been completed
and no errors were found.
You may prefer to redirect error messages from the screen to an error
file(emfor example, you could type the ipfc command as follows:
ipfc myhelp.ipf > myhelp.err
Comments
The following list contains the country codes that can be specified in the
/COUNTRY option:
Country Country code Code pages supported
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Australia 061 437,850
Belgium 032 437,850
Canadian-English 001 437,850
Canadian-French 002 863,850
Denmark 045 865,850
Finland 358 437,850
France 033 437,850
Germany 049 437,850
Italy 039 437,850
Latin America 003 437,850
Netherlands 031 437,850
Norway 047 865,850
Portugal 351 860,850
Spain 003 437,850
Sweden 046 437,850
Switzerland 041 437,850
United Kingdom 044 437,850
United States 001 437,850
The following list contains the NLS file identifiers that can be specified
in the /LANGUAGE option:
ID Language NLS File
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DAN Danish ipfdan.nls
DEU German ipfdeu.nls
ENG English UK ipfeng.nls
ENU English US ipfenu.nls
ESP Spanish ipfesp.nls
FIN Finnish ipffin.nls
FRA French ipffra.nls
FRC Canadian-French ipffrc.nls
ITA Italian ipfita.nls
NLD Dutch ipfnld.nls
NOR Norwegian ipfnor.nls
PTG Portuguese ipfptg.nls
SVE Swedish ipfsve.nls
UND User-defined ipfund.nls
See Also
BookMaster, DTL
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