TFPrint Command-Line Help

Requesting Help

Use tfprint -H, tfprint -?, tfprint -HELP or tfprint --help for detailed help. On Linux, quote -? ('-?') or use -H, because an unquoted ? can be expanded by the shell. With no arguments, TFPrint displays the short synopsis and exits with a nonzero status. See Exit Codes.

The listings below reproduce the built-in help text of the Windows executable; the Linux help differs only in the lines shown under Linux Synopsis and Linux Differences. The executable adds a banner containing its compiled file version and copyright years; the angle-bracketed values below stand for those build-dependent values.

Banner

TFPrint V<compiled file version> - Command-Line TFORMer Reporting Engine
                     (c) <first year>-<last year> TEC-IT Datenverarbeitung GmbH
                     https://www.tec-it.com

The help text is quoted unchanged. It includes an extra closing ] in the data-options block, and the Linux samples use a version-specific demo path (TFORMer9) without the Examples directory. The license kind listed as Single is accepted by TFPrint only as Workstation or 1; see License Options. Blank lines between the synopsis and the detailed help are omitted, and long sample lines may wrap in print. Use Syntax for the invocation rules and the Linux examples for the installed demo path.

Synopsis

Square brackets indicate optional parameters; this listing is not a command to run verbatim. The built-in synopsis shows -F, but TFS jobs do not require it; see Syntax for the two invocation modes.

tfprint -F (Repository Project FormLayout) | FormLayoutFile
        [ -D DataFile or DataSourceName ]
        [ -DT (XML|TEXT|TFORMER|TFS|ODBC|DATASOURCE) ]
        [ -DO [CL[yes|no]] [ESC[yes|no]] [SCc] [QCc] [RCFname|RCAname]
              [DSN:name [USER:user] [PWD:password] SQL:statement] [XSLT:file] ]
              [ParamName:value] ]
        [ -O DevOrFile ]
        [ -OT (WIN32|REPO|PS|PSPRINTER|PDF|PDFA|HTML|TXT|TXTPRINTER|IMGBMP|
               IMGGIF|IMGJPG|IMGPCX|IMGPNG|IMGTGA|IMGTIF|IMGMULTITIF|ZPL|
               ZPLPRINTER|ZUGFERD|SVG|SVGZ) ]
        [ -OO [CPn] [TCname] [SRn] [SCn] [DXN] [DXH] [DXV] [JTtitle] ]
        [ -L (ActivationCode LicenseeName LicenseKind NumberOfLicenses
              LicenseOptions ExpirationDate Signature)
             | b64:<base64Data> | file:<licenseFile> ]
        [ -Q ]
        [ -C CommandFileASCII ]
        [ -LCUPS ]
        [ -SYSTEMID ]
        [ -CONFIG File ]
        [ -SDK Options ]
        [ -H | -? ] Show detailed help

Linux Synopsis

On Linux, the -OT lines of the synopsis are:

        [ -OT (CUPS|REPO|PS|PSPRINTER|PDF|PDFA|HTML|TXT|TXTPRINTER|IMGBMP|
               IMGGIF|IMGJPG|IMGPCX|IMGPNG|IMGTGA|IMGTIF|IMGMULTITIF|ZPL|
               ZUGFERD|SVG|SVGZ) ]

All other lines are identical.

Detailed Help

Form specification:
-F (Repository Project FormLayout) | FormLayoutFile
     Repository        Filename of Repository (*.tfr)
     Project           Name of Project within Repository
     Form              Name of FormLayout within Project
     FormFile          Filename of Stand-Alone FormLayout (*.tff)

Data File:
-D DataFile or DataSourceName
-DT [XML|TEXT|TFORMER|TFS|ODBC|DATASOURCE]
      Type of DataFile specified by -D
      XML               XML input file
      TEXT              ASCII (e.g. CSV) input file
      TFORMER           Internal TFORMer format
      TFS               TFORMer Server compatible data file
      ODBC              ODBC query (no -D required)
      DATASOURCE        -D specifies a user-defined DataSource
-DO [CL] [ESC] [SCc] [QCc] [RCFname|RCAname] [XSLT:file]
     [DSN [USER] [PWD] SQL] [ParamName]
      Input Data Options
      CL[yes|no]        Clear datafields between Records (default CLyes)
      ESC[yes|no]       Handle escape sequences (e.g.\x30) in input data
                        (default ESCno)
      SCc               Column separator character c (-DT TEXT only)
      QCc               Text qualifier character c (-DT TEXT only)
      RCFname           Fieldname specifying Record copy counter
      RCAname           Attribute specifying Record copy counter (-DT XML only)
      XSLT:file         Specifies the XSLT file for transforming the XML
                        input file before importing the result. (-DT XML only)
      DSN:name          Connection string of the ODBC query
                        (-DT ODBC only)
      USER:user         User name for ODBC query (-DT ODBC only)
      PWD:password      Password for ODBC query (-DT ODBC only)
      SQL:statement     SQL SELECT statement for ODBC query (-DT ODBC only)
      ParamName:value   Set value of DataSourceParameter (-DT DATASOURCE only)

Output Device:
-O DevOrFile
      DevOrFile         Name of device (e.g. a printer) or a filename
-OT [WIN32|REPO|PS|PSPRINTER|PDF|PDFA|HTML|TXT|TXTPRINTER|IMGBMP|
     IMGGIF|IMGJPG|IMGPCX|IMGPNG|IMGTGA|IMGTIF|IMGMULTITIF|ZPL|
     ZPLPRINTER|ZUGFERD|SVG|SVGZ]
      Output type:
      WIN32             Printer name (Microsoft Windows)
      REPO              Name of the device as specified in the Repository
      PS                Filename of PostScript output file
      PSPRINTER         Printer name for PostScript output
      PDF               Filename of PDF output file
      PDFA              Filename of PDFA output file
      HTML              Filename of HTML output file
      TXT               Filename of Text output file
      TXTPRINTER        Printer name for Text output
      IMGBMP            Filename of a BMP output image
                        Filename may contain a series of # characters
                        which will be replaced by the page number.
      IMGGIF            Filename of a GIF output image
                        Filename may contain a series of # characters
                        which will be replaced by the page number.
      IMGJPG            Filename of a JPG output image
                        Filename may contain a series of # characters
                        which will be replaced by the page number.
      IMGPCX            Filename of a PCX output image
                        Filename may contain a series of # characters
                        which will be replaced by the page number.
      IMGPNG            Filename of a PNG output image
                        Filename may contain a series of # characters
                        which will be replaced by the page number.
      IMGTGA            Filename of a TGA output image
                        Filename may contain a series of # characters
                        which will be replaced by the page number.
      IMGTIF            Filename of a TIF output image
                        Filename may contain a series of # characters
                        which will be replaced by the page number.
      IMGMULTITIF       Filename of a multipage TIF output image
      ZPL               Filename of ZPL-II (ZEBRA) output file
      ZPLPRINTER        Printer name (Microsoft Windows) for ZPL-II output
      ZUGFERD           Filename of ZUGFeRD PDF output file
      SVG               Filename of SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) output file
      SVGZ              Filename of SVGZ (Compressed Scalable Vector Graphics) output file
-OO [CPn] [TCname] [SRn] [SCn] [DXN|DXH|DXV] [JTtitle]
      Output Options:
      CPn               Number of copies for print-job [1..n]
      TCname            Name of JobTrayControl settings
      SRn               Row number for first label [0..n]
      SCn               Column number for first label [0..n]
      DXN               No duplex printing
      DXH               Horizontal duplex printing
      DXV               Vertical duplex printing
      JTtitle           Job title for output
                        (spool job name under Microsoft Windows)

License Key:
-L (ActivationCode LicenseeName LicenseKind NumberOfLicenses
    LicenseOptions ExpirationDate Signature)
   | b64:<base64Data> | file:<licenseFile>
      ActivationCode    Activation code
      LicenseeName      Name of licensee
      LicenseKind       Kind of purchased license
                        (Single, Workgroup, Office, Site, Developer, Server)
      NumberOfLicenses  Number of purchased licenses
      LicenseOptions    Options for the license
      ExpirationDate    Expiration date of the license
      Signature         Signature of the license
      base64Data        License data as base64 encoded string
      licenseFile       License filename

Miscellaneous Options:
-Q                      Quiet. Do not write messages to stdout
-C CommandFileASCII     Use command file in addition to command line parameters
-LCUPS                  List CUPS printers (LINUX/UNIX only)
-SYSTEMID               Get your SystemID
-CONFIG File            Path to a TFORMer config file
-SDK Options            Name value pairs e.g. "media=A4 duplex=vertical"
-H | -?                 Detailed help text

Samples:
  Sample 1 (print FormLayout with default data on Windows default printer):
   tfprint -F "..\Demo Repository\Demos.tfr" TFORMer_Runtime_Examples BarcodeLabels

  Sample 2 (output FormLayout with default data as PostScript):
   tfprint -F "..\Demo Repository\Demos.tfr" TFORMer_Runtime_Examples BarcodeLabels -O "C:\output.ps" -OT PS

  Sample 3 (output FormLayout with ODBC data as PostScript):
   tfprint -F "..\Demo Repository\Demos.tfr" TFORMer_Runtime_Examples BarcodeLabels -DT ODBC -DO DSN:"DSN=TFORMer_Sample" USER:username PWD:password SQL:"SELECT * FROM tbl_Example" -O "C:\output.ps" -OT PS

Linux Differences

The Linux help differs from the listing above in the Output Device block and in the samples. The -OT lines read:

-OT [CUPS|REPO|PS|PSPRINTER|PDF|PDFA|HTML|TXT|TXTPRINTER|IMGBMP|
     IMGGIF|IMGJPG|IMGPCX|IMGPNG|IMGTGA|IMGTIF|IMGMULTITIF|ZPL|
     ZUGFERD|SVG|SVGZ]

The output-type list begins with the following line instead of the WIN32 line, and it has no ZPLPRINTER line:

      CUPS              CUPS printer name (LINUX/UNIX)

The samples are:

Samples:
  Sample 1 (print FormLayout with default data on CUPS default printer):
   tfprint -F "/usr/local/share/TFORMer9/Demo Repository/Demos.tfr" TFORMer_Runtime_Examples BarcodeLabels

  Sample 2 (output FormLayout with default data as PostScript):
   tfprint -F "/usr/local/share/TFORMer9/Demo Repository/Demos.tfr" TFORMer_Runtime_Examples BarcodeLabels -O output.ps -OT PS

  Sample 3 (output FormLayout with ODBC data as PostScript):
   tfprint -F "/usr/local/share/TFORMer9/Demo Repository/Demos.tfr" TFORMer_Runtime_Examples BarcodeLabels -DT ODBC -DO DSN:"DSN=Sample" USER:username PWD:password SQL:"SELECT * FROM tbl_Example" -O output.ps -OT PS

All other lines of the Linux help are identical to the Windows listing.

Using the Help Examples

The examples in the quoted help include printer invocations. Select a file-output example when a printed result is not intended. Replace demo paths, DSNs and credentials with the values for your installation, and check the process result before using any output.

The help is an abbreviated interface description. See Parameters for defaults and conditions, Data Sources and Formats for input handling, Output Options for -SDK, and Licensing for the terms of the issued license.

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