Helpful Hints For Creating a Command Line

HINT 1: It is highly suggested you first attempt your task using the User Interface prior to attempting to create an equivalent command line. Reasons for this are to:

· Make sure what you want to do can be done at all

· Makes you aware of exactly what must be specified in the command line

· You can very quickly test the command line by doing the easiest of all approaches, specifying a 'Conversion Job' file by using the /J switch.

HINT 2: It is highly encouraged that at least during the initial creation of the command line that you use the Verbose (/V) switch to see what the status of your conversion is and get any error messages. /V shows you a message telling you how the command line went. If you are not getting any message at all while using the /V switch, then see hint 3 below, as you are probably not even executing the program. If you prefer a log file instead of a pop up message box, use /L{LogFilePath} instead of /V.

HINT 3: If see the following error:

"'ConvertXLS is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file."

It is because the operating system cannot find ConvertXLS.EXE. A sample batch file has been included in the installation folder, which will work provided you have installed in the default folder. Please give it a try; you can edit it with notepad.exe to see how it can be properly done. If you still have trouble then please do one of the following:

A) (Preferred method) Specify the full path to the executable. For example:

"C:\Program Files\Softinterface, Inc\ConvertXLS\ConvertXLS.EXE" /J"C:\Jobs\MyConversionJob.SII" /V

Alternatively if using a batch file you might try something like this:

set ConvertXLS="C:\Clients Work In Progress\SII\X\Convert XLS\ConvertXLS.EXE"

%ConvertXLS% /J"C:\Jobs\MyConversionJob.SII" /V

B) Set the path operating system variable to the location of ConvertXLS.EXE

Also, it is suggested you use fully qualified paths for any files you specify. You can however specify the current folder by using “.\” syntax.

NOTE: Copying ConvertXLS.EXE from the installation folder to some other folder is not likely to work well, so instead try one of the methods above.

HINT 4: A mistake can be made easily when constructing a command by confusing the file type constants for SPECIAL PROCESSES and the file type constants for CONVERSION of files. The file type constants are used with the /F# and /C# to specify input and output file types respectively. Be certain you are using the appropriate constants.

HINT 5: Windows Vista, Windows 7 and newer: These operating systems use a feature called User Account Control (UAC) to safeguard your computer. If you have UAC enabled and you are specifying an output folder that is protected, the files will be created in the %localappdata%\VirtualStore\ folder. To find the output files type in %localappdata%\VirtualStore\ in Windows Explorer. If you think UAC is having an effect on the command line you can quickly change the name of the program in your command line from ConvertXLS.EXE to ConvertXLS.Admin.EXE. Doing this will enable a prompt to elevate security before the command line is fully executed.