FDFMerge Command Line Introduction
Introduction
FDFMerge is a command-line application. If you are used to the Microsoft Windows or Apple Mac OS X operating system, you may not be familiar with running command-line tools. This section shows you all you need to get started.
- Windows tells you how to use FDFMerge on Windows.
- Mac OS X tells you how to use FDFMerge on Macintosh.
Note: You can refer to the Getting Started With Command Line Applications for additional information on using command-line applications.
Windows
To run FDFMerge in Windows, you need to open a Command Prompt window.
In Windows XP, Vista or 7:
- Click Start > Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt
The Command Prompt window opens.
Some basic commands
At the command prompt, you type each command, and press the Enter key to execute it. You can use the mouse to select text to copy or cut to the clipboard, but you cannot position the cursor with it. The command line is completely keyboard driven. Navigation keys are shown below:
KEY | ACTION |
---|---|
Backspace | Delete previous character |
Right arrow | Move right one character |
Left arrow | Move left one character |
Up arrow | Recall previous command |
Tab | File or directory name auto complete |
Enter | Execute command |
In addition to running programs, you have many commands to navigate and maintain the system. Two important ones are cd and dir.
Changing directories
Use the cd command to change directories. For example, to change to the directory that FDFMerge is located in, type:
C:\>cd \Appligent\FDFMerge\
The command prompt changes to:
C:\Appligent\FDFMerge>
to show you where you are.
To move back one level, use the shortcut of two periods (..)
C:\Appligent\FDFMerge>cd..
Don’t forget to press the Enter key after every command. You will now be in this directory:
C:\Appligent>
Move back to FDFMerge:
C:\Appligent>cd FDFMerge
Listing the contents of a directory
Use the dir command to list the contents of a directory:
C:\Appligent\FDFMerge>dir
The computer responds with a listing of all the contents of the FDFMerge directory.
If the directory contents fly by too fast to read, do this:
C:\Appligent\FDFMerge>dir /p
The /p switch tells DOS to display one page at a time. Press the Enter key to see the next page.
To see the contents of all the subdirectories at the same time, type:
C:\Appligent\FDFMerge>dir /s
This displays the contents of FDFMerge and all the subdirectories under it.
Running FDFMerge
To run FDFMerge, type the commands on the command line as shown in other sections of this manual and press Enter. In the next example, we’ve truncated the command prompt path for clarity.
> .\fdfmerge -o \path\samples\healthform\output.pdf \path\samples\healthform\healthform.pdf \path\samples\healthform\healthform.fdf
The healthform.fdf file will be merged into healthform.pdf to create a filled-in form. If you do not specify the correct path, you will get a “file not found” error. Now, refer to the rest of this User Guide for details about using FDFMerge.
Mac OS X
To run FDFMerge on the Macintosh, you need to open a terminal window. In the Applications folder:
- Open the Utilities folder.
- Double-click the Terminal application
The Terminal window opens.
Some basic commands
At the command prompt, you type each command, and press the Return key to execute it. You can use the mouse to select text to copy or cut to the clipboard, but you cannot position the cursor with it. The command line is completely keyboard driven. Navigation keys are shown below:
KEY | ACTION |
---|---|
Backspace | Delete previous character |
Right arrow | Move right one character |
Left arrow | Move left one character |
Up arrow | Recall previous command |
Tab | File or directory name auto complete |
Return | Execute command |
In addition to running programs, you have many commands to navigate and maintain the system. Two important ones are cd and ls.
Changing directories
Use the cd command to change directories. For example, to change to the directory that FDFMerge is located in, type:
[yourcomputer:~]user% cd /Applications/Appligent/FDFMerge
The command prompt changes to:
[yourcomputer:Applications/Appligent/FDFMerge]user%
to show you where you are. yourcomputer is the name of your computer, and user is your user name.
To move back one level, use the shortcut of two periods (..)
[yourcomputer:Applications/Appligent/FDFMerge]user% cd ..
Don’t forget to press the Return key after every command. You will now be in this directory:
[yourcomputer:Applications/Appligent]user%
Move back to FDFMerge:
[yourcomputer:Applications/Appligent]user% cd FDFMerge
Listing the contents of a directory
Use the ls command to list the contents of a directory:
[yourcomputer:Applications/Appligent/FDFMerge]user% ls
The computer responds with a listing of all the contents of the FDFMerge directory.
To see the contents of all the subdirectories at the same time, type:
[yourcomputer:Applications/Appligent/FDFMerge]user% ls -R
The -R switch displays the contents of FDFMerge and all the subdirectories under it. Note that these switches are case sensitive. You must use a capital ‘R.’
Running FDFMerge
To run FDFMerge, type the commands on the command line as shown in other sections of this manual and press Enter. In the next example, we’ve truncated the command prompt path for clarity.
$./fdfmerge -o /path/samples/healthform/output.pdf /path/samples/healthform/healthform.pdf /path/samples/healthform/healthform.fdf
The healthform.fdf file will be merged into healthform.pdf to create a filled-in form. If you do not specify the correct path, you will get a “file not found” error. Now, refer to the rest of this User Guide for details about using FDFMerge.