Image - Convert

Declaration

<AMIMAGE ACTIVITY="convert" SOURCEIMAGE="text" TYPE="text (options)" 
DATASET="text" DESTINATIONIMAGE="text" 
SUBFOLDERS="YES/NO" KEEPFOLDERSTRUCT="YES/NO" 
OVERWRITE="YES/NO" ISNEWER="YES/NO" ONLYIFEXIST="YES/NO" 
OVERWRITEREADONLY="YES/NO" OVERWRITEHIDDEN="YES/NO" 
ARCHIVETURNOFF="YES/NO" EXCLUDE="text" RE="YES/NO" 
ISNEWERTHAN="date" ISOLDERTHAN="date" ATTRFILTER="text" />

Description: Converts an image to the desired file format. Supported image formats are JPEG, PNG, BMP, TIFF and GIF.

Practical Usage

Can be used to convert an image to another format to reduce its size. It can also be used together with Loop activities to convert a batch of images to a desired format.

General Parameters

Property

Type

 Required

Default

 Markup

Description

Source

Text

Yes

(Empty)

SOURCEIMAGE="c:\temp\source.jpg"

The path and file name of the source image to convert. Supported image formats are JPEG, PNG, BMP, TIFF and GIF.

Destination

Text

Yes

(Empty)

DESTINATIONIMAGE="c:\temp\dest.jpg"

The path and file name of the destination image. This allows you to save your file under a new path, name and/or type to avoid overwriting the source (original) file. To overwrite the source file, enter its original path and file name.

NOTE: If performing an overwrite, make sure to set the Overwrite if exists parameter to YES (enabled) in the File Options properties. This will allow matching files found in the destination folder to be overwritten.

Convert to

 

 

 

 

The image file type to convert to. This is a visual mode parameter used only during design time to change the file type that appears in the Destination parameter, therefore, it contains no properties or markup. The available options are:

  • Bmp (default) - Convert to Bitmap.

  • Png - Convert to PNG.

  • Gif - Convert to Gif

  • Jpeg - Convert to Jpeg

  • Tiff - Convert to Tiff

Advanced Parameters

Property

Type

Required

Default

Markup

Description

Create and populate dataset (optional)

Text

No

(Empty)

DATASET="datasetName"

The name of a dataset to create and populate with information about this activity's results. For more details, see Datasets below.

File Options Parameters

Property

Type

Required

Default

Markup

Description

Include sub-folders

Yes/No

No

No

SUBFOLDERS="YES"

If set to YES, denotes that, if present, sub-folders should be searched for files matching the mask specified in the Source parameter. If set to NO (default), sub-folders are ignored. Only files that exist in the root of the source folder will be searched.

Preserve folder structure

Yes/No

No

Yes

KEEPFOLDERSTRUCT="NO"

If set to YES (default), sub-folders found in the source folder will be created in the destination folder and source files will be copied into their respective folders. If set to NO, sub-folders will not be created. Files that exist in these sub-folders will be copied into the root of the source folder instead. This parameter is active only if the Include sub-folders parameter is set to YES.

Include empty sub-folders

Yes/No

No

No

EMPTYFOLDERS="YES"

If set to YES, sub-folders found in the source folder will be created in the destination folder even if they do not contain any files. If set to NO (default), empty sub-folders are ignored. This parameter is active only if the Include Sub-folders parameter is set to YES.

Only folder structure

Yes/No

No

No

ONLYFOLDERSTRUCT="YES"

If set to YES, sub-folders found in the source folder will be created in the destination folder but files that reside in these sub-folders will not be copied. This parameter is set to NO by default and is active only if the Include Sub-folders parameter is set to YES.

NOTE: Setting this parameter to YES causes all other folder-specific parameters to be ignored.

Overwrite if Exist

Yes/No

No

No

OVERWRITE="YES"

If set to YES, matching files found in the destination folder are to be overwritten. If set to NO (default), an error will occur as a result of a matching file found.

Only if Newer

Yes/No

No

No

ISNEWER="YES"

If set to YES, only source files that are newer than those that match in the destination are to be overwritten folder will overwrite existing files. If set to NO (default), all matching files found in the destination folder will be overwritten regardless of their date properties. This parameter is active only if the Overwrite if Exists parameter is set to YES.

Only if exist in destination

Yes/No

No

No

ONLYIFEXIST="YES"

If set to YES, only files that already exist in the destination folder will be copied from the source folder. All other files, regardless of whether they match the mask or other parameter settings will be bypassed. This parameter is set to NO by default and becomes active only if the Overwrite if Exist parameter is set to YES.

Overwrite read-only files

Yes/No

No

No

OVERWRITEREADONLY="YES"

If set to YES, matching files found in the destination folder will be overwritten even if they are marked with the read-only attribute. If set to NO (default), read-only files are not overwritten. This parameter is active only if the Overwrite if Exist parameter is set to YES.

Overwrite hidden files

Yes/No

No

No

OVERWRITEHIDDEN="YES"

If set to YES, matching files found in the destination folder will be overwritten even if they are marked with the hidden attribute. If set to NO (default), hidden files are not overwritten. This parameter is active only if the Overwrite if Exist parameter is set to YES.

Turn archive attribute off

Yes/No

No

No

ARCHIVETURNOFF="YES"

If set to YES, archive attribute of the source files will be switched OFF. The Windows archive attribute is generally used to track whether a file has been backed-up. Turning the source file's archive attribute off indicates to many backup programs that the file has already been backed-up. This parameter is set to NO by default.

Exclude mask

Text

No

(Empty)

EXCLUDE="*.txt"

Causes this action to omit files matching the mask(s) specified. File names or wildcard masks may be used. Multiple entries may be specified by separating them with a pipe symbol (|), for example: *.txt|*.bak

Only if newer than

Date

No

(Empty)

ISNEWERTHAN=

"%DateSerial(2001,10,12) + TimeSerial(00,00,00)%"

If enabled, causes this action to only act on files that are newer than the date/time specified. If this parameter is left blank or disabled (default), file dates are ignored.

Click the Custom button to select from a list of pre-defined date parameters. Enable the Expression option to allow entry of a date/time expression.

Only if older than

Date

No

(Empty)

ISOLDERTHAN=

"%DateSerial(2001,10,12) + TimeSerial(00,00,00)%"

If enabled, causes this action to only act on files that are older than the date/time specified. If this parameter is left blank or disabled (default), file dates are ignored.

Click the Custom button to select from a list of pre-defined date parameters. Enable the Expression option to allow entry of a date/time expression.

File Filter Parameters

Property

Type

Required

Default

Markup

Description

Attributes

Text (Options)

No

(Empty)

  1. ATTRFILTER="+R+A-H" (read-only & archive files will be affected but not hidden files)

  2. ATTRFILTER="-S+H+E" (hidden and encrypted files will be affected but not system files)

Instructs the activity to filter which files it should act on based on whether the file's original attribute settings match the attribute settings specified in this parameter. For example, if the Read-only attribute is set to Off (in visual mode) or "-R" (in AML mode) , only source files with the Read-only attribute turned off will be affected. Source files with Read-only turned on will be ignored.

In visual mode, a group of controls are provided to assist in the selection of attribute settings. In AML mode, a single text item must be entered that contains the original attribute mask of the files you wish to affect. Available Options are:

  • R—Read-only - Specifying On or "+R" causes files with this attribute turned on to be included. Specifying Off or "-R" causes files with this attribute turned off to be included. Specifying Doesn't matter or excluding the letter (default) causes this attribute to be ignored.

  • A—Archive - Specifying On or "+A" causes files with this attribute turned on to be included. Specifying Off or "-A" causes files with this attribute turned off to be included. Specifying Doesn't matter or excluding the letter (default) causes this attribute to be ignored.

  • S—System - Specifying On or "+S" causes files with this attribute turned on to be included. Specifying Off or "-S" causes files with this attribute turned off to be included. Specifying Doesn't matter or excluding the letter (default) causes this attribute to be ignored.

  • H—Hidden - Specifying On or "+H" causes files with this attribute turned on to be included. Specifying Off or "-H" causes files with this attribute turned off to be included. Specifying Doesn't matter or excluding the letter (default) causes this attribute to be ignored.

  • C—Compression - Specifying On or "+C" causes files with this attribute turned on to be included. Specifying Off or "-C" causes files with this attribute turned off to be included. Specifying Doesn't matter or excluding the letter (default) causes this attribute to be ignored.

  • E-Encrypted - Specifying On or "+E" causes files with this attribute turned on to be included. Specifying Off or "-E" causes files with this attribute turned off to be included. Specifying Doesn't matter or excluding the letter (default) causes this attribute to be ignored.

Description tab - A custom description can be provided on the Description tab to convey additional information or share special notes about a task step.

Error Causes tab - Specify how this step should behave upon the occurrence of an error. (Refer to Task Builder > Error Causes Tab for details.)

On Error tab - Specify what AWE should do if this step encounters an error as defined on the Error Causes tab. (Refer to Task Builder > On Error Tab for details.)

Datasets

A dataset is a multi-column, multi-row object that contains a collection of data gathered during execution of an activity and stored in memory. This activity creates and populates a dataset with the following rows:

Name

Type

Return Value

theDataset.Destination

Text

The path and filename of the output file.

theDataset.Message

Number

If theDataset.Result returns 1, this field returns a description of the error that occurred. If theDataset.Result returns 0, this field is left blank.

theDataset.Result

Number

The runtime result of this activity. If 0 is returned, this activity ran successfully. If1 is returned, this activity failed with an error.

theDataset.Source

Text

The path and file name of the source (original) file.

Example

The sample AML code below can be copied and pasted directly into the Steps panel of the Task Builder.

Description: Convert image "c:\temp\image1.bmp" to "c:\temp\image2.jpeg".

<AMIMAGE ACTIVITY="convert" SOURCEIMAGE="c:\temp\image1.bmp" 
TYPE="jpeg" DATASET="conversionData" DESTINATIONIMAGE="c:\temp\image2.jpeg" 
SUBFOLDERS="yes" KEEPFOLDERSTRUCT="yes" OVERWRITE="yes" />