Need more documentation

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Jun 06, 2004 12:20 am

I am using NConvert and I had a problem; I solved it only by reading your answer to another person that had a similar problem.
I see that is not possible to use correctly NConvert only using the instruction that is possible to see typing NConvert -help: for example why in some cases is necessary to specify -o filename and in other cases is not necessary? I would like to have a complete manual that explains all cases... is possible?

helmut · Post by **helmut** » Sun Jun 06, 2004 8:35 pm

Anonymous wrote:... I would like to have a complete manual that explains all cases... is possible?

Writing batch commands or scripts for nconvert is naturally a bit more complicated than using a real application and clicking on buttons and menu items.
But I agree with you: There should be some documentation with examples for most common tasks. As a first start, it would be good to simply create a document of the help output (nconvert -help) and structure it nicely. By the time, samples and more infos could be added.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Jun 06, 2004 8:55 pm

I made that: it give all options, but not the meaning of any option ( any argument ), the sequence of the argument and so on...
For example, why some time is necessary to specify -o fileout and other times is not necessary?
What is the meaning, for example, of this:
-average size : Average (3,5,7,9,11,13)
?
I would like to know these and all other things...

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Fri Jun 11, 2004 10:31 pm

Try this:
use xnview, set your options using the gui (Tools/Convert), try out your conversions then use the "save script for nconvert" button.

Note: This post has been edited by a moderator.

helmut · Post by **helmut** » Sat Jun 12, 2004 10:12 am

Anonymous wrote:I made that: it shows all options, but not the meaning of any option ( any argument ), the sequence of the argument and so on...
For example, why some time is necessary to specify -o fileout and other times is not necessary?
What is the meaning, for example, of this:
-average size : Average (3,5,7,9,11,13)
?
I would like to know these and all other things...

Most options of nconvert have the same name as in the user interface of XnView. So you can start XnView, open an image and have a look at the filter and effects available. For example there's 'Filter->Blur->Average' which maps to the -average option.

Also as suggested in the previous post, you can make experiments with the Batch conversion (Tools->Convert) of XnView and save the conversion as NConvert script.

Sure enough, a good documentation could provide all this information and even introduce in the basics of colour manipulation. But this is a lot of work and therefor has not been done.

As written in another post, I think nconvert could support users a bit by doing some extra checks, e.g. as novice user it happens often that you do a conversion and the output file has extension A but format B (e.g. pic001.gif in BMP format). Also specifiying the input/output file and the order of them seems a bit complicated and inconsistent to me. (I know NConvert just a little bit).

At the moment there's the hard way only, you have to try yourself and for serious problems you can post here. Perhaps you can write down your experience and suggestions and we could use them for a FAQ or help document.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 9:59 pm

In some other project, I've seen that using Wiki software instead of Forum software did solve the documentation problem to some extent. IMHO Wiki software is quite useful and helps users to write the documentation when authors do not have time for that.