Switch /Output[:DefaultDir|GenerateMask]

This is a PPWIZARD command line switch.

This switch does two distinct things:

1. If the value ends with a slash then it is assumed to be the name of a directory. This becomes the "Default Output Directory", this value is global (not mask specific). A "generate mask" can refer to this value and this is in fact the only way the value is ever used. Any masks set via the /ExtnInfo switch can ignore or use the value.

   Its main purpose would be to configure a default output directory so that the switch need not actually be used on the command line.

2. The value is a generate mask which controls how the "InputFile" parameter is transformed to generate the correct name (with or without path) for the generated output file. This is the most common use of this switch.

   Any directory component will be created if required.

   The default mask is "*.htm". I place all my output into a separate "OUT" directory and use "/Output:OUT\*.htm" instead. The generate mask is basically a filename with some special codes, for example "*" represents the base name of the input file, so for example "Fred.it" will generate "out\Fred.htm" using my generate mask.

   If the value is empty you wish to reset things so that any default value (set with /ExtnInfo) will be used.

Note that the rest of this page refers to the use of this switch to pass a generate mask.

This switch can be used any number of times and will affect all input masks that follow. If an input mask comes first then any preconfigured extension information (see /ExtnInfo) will be used or if not available PPWIZARD will abort.

Be very careful about the mask you use, all characters including spaces are significant and the value should not be a directory name. If this value is wrong you might end up with a message similar to "Write to "out\" failed" (I have seen rexx/PPWIZARD hang in some cases, press CTRL+C to cancel).

Generate ".html" in OUT directory #1

You wish output created in the "OUT" directory (relative to current directory):

ppwizard *.it /Output:OUT\*.html

Generate ".html" in OUT directory #2

You wish output created in the "OUT" directory (relative to input file):

ppwizard *.it /Output:{$PATH}OUT\*.html

Separate Source and Destination Trees

ppwizard +c:\src\*.it /output:c:\tmp\out\{$path}*.htm /DependsOn:c:\tmp\DependsOn\{$path}*.dep

The file "c:\src\1.it" would create "c:\tmp\out\1.htm" and "c:\src\subdir1\subdir2\1.it" would create "c:\tmp\out\subdir1\subdir2\1.htm". If using the "/DependsOn" switch you would of course also wish these files into a separate tree so as to eliminate the risk of "depends files" being overwritten.

You might also wish to check out the /BaseDir switch although it is not really required unless you wish to process a subtree of a larger tree which you normally process.

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PPWIZARD Manual

Saturday May 28 2022 at 2:55pm