A Command Line Interface is one way of automating program output. A more modern way to automate program output is with an API (Application Program Interface). DBT has both a Command Line Interface and an API. SWIFT uses API calls to automate DBT action from within Microsoft Word.
DBT can be run at the Command Line.
Here is an example (embosser name Romeo, file named constitution.htm): DBTW /braille:Romeo constitution.htm<Enter>
An important consideration of any work at the Command Line is: What is the current directory. There are two choices: operate from within the DBT directory, or from a different directory, presumably containing your data. If you run from the DBT directory, it is easy to invoke the program, but hard to invoke the data (due to the long path). If you run from the data directory, it is hard to invoke the program (due to the long path), but easy to invoke the data.
There are more examples at the end of this page.
Here is the syntax (assuming running from the DBT directory, and that the data is in that directory):
Usage: Program Path
[/print | /braille:Embosser Name | /simulate | /brf:<name> | /prf:<name>]
[/Pagesize:<rows>x<columns>]
[/Copies:nn]
[/Template:<name>]
[/wordstylemap:<name>]
[/RemoveEmbosserInfo | /RemovePrinterInfo /RemovePageInfo]
[/dumpstyles:<name>]
[files]
Some carriage returns to make this readable. The brackets indicate that this material is optional. The vertical bar (|) means you can choose between options (print output, braille output, simulated braille, braille file, or print file)
Some options, such as RemovePageInfo have been added to help generate "generic documents" for wide distribution. Some of these options have been added to aid the process of writing the documentation to DBT.
/RemoveEmbosserInfo -- Removes the embosser information embedded in the document(s), including all settings in Document, Embosser Setup. Saves the result(s) back in-place. Exits if no further processing is required.
/RemovePrinterInfo -- Removes the ink printer information embedded in the document(s), including all settings in Document, Printer Setup. Saves the result(s) back in-place. Exits if no further processing is required.
/RemovePageInfo -- Combines the effects of /RemoveEmbosserInfo and /RemovePrinterInfo. Note that it is not actually possible to use the two separate switches together; /RemovePageInfo is *required* if you want strip both printer and embosser information from a document.
/dumpstyles:<name> -- Writes the styles definitions for a document into the specified "dump" file. The behavior of the switch is undefined if more than one document file is specified after this switch. After this switch is processed, DBT will exit if there is no further processing to be done.
/dumpstyles_xml:<name> -- This works just like /dumpstyles, except that the "dump" file is an XML format.
To open and emboss one file (Florida.doc) to a named embosser (Romeo):
"\Program Files (x86)\Duxbury\DBT 11.2\dbtw.exe" /braille:Romeo florida.doc
To open and emboss one file three times (Florida.doc) to a named embosser (Romeo):
"\Program Files (x86)\Duxbury\DBT 11.2\dbtw.exe" /braille:Romeo /Copies:3 florida.doc
To open and create a brf file for one file (notice the output file is first in this command line):
"\Program Files (x86)\Duxbury\DBT 11.2\dbtw.exe" /brf:florida.brf florida.doc
To open and create a brf file for one file (modifying the page dimensions):
"\Program Files (x86)\Duxbury\DBT 11.2\dbtw.exe" /brf:florida.brf /Pagesize:39x26 florida.doc
To open and emboss all *.doc files in the directory to a named embosser (Romeo):
for %file in (*.doc) do "\Program Files (x86)\Duxbury\DBT 11.2\dbtw.exe" /braille:Romeo florida.doc
To open and emboss one file (span.doc) to a named embosser (Romeo) using a particular Template:
"\Program Files (x86)\Duxbury\DBT 11.2\dbtw.exe" /Template:"Espanol con Contracciones" /braille:Romeo span.doc