API:EPrints/Plugin/Convert

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EPrints 3 Reference: Directory Structure - Metadata Fields - Repository Configuration - XML Config Files - XML Export Format - EPrints data structure - Core API - Data Objects


API: Core API

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NAME

EPrints::Plugin::Convert - Convert EPrints::DataObj::Document into different formats


DESCRIPTION

This plugin and its dependents allow EPrints to convert documents from one format into another format. Convert plugins are also used by the full-text indexer to extract plain-text from documents.

Convert plugins may provide conversions from any number of formats to any number of other formats (or not even 'formats' per-se e.g. unpacking/packing archives). A single plugin may represent a particular software package (e.g. ImageMagick) or a common goal (e.g. textifying documents for indexing).

Using the root Convert plugin it is possible to query all loaded conversion plugins for available conversions from a given EPrints::DataObj::Document.

To allow for simpler local configuration Convert plugins should use SystemSettings to store the location of external programs.


SYNOPSIS

my $root = $session->plugin( 'Convert' );

my %available = $root->can_convert( $document );

# Convert a document to plain-text
my $txt_tool = $available{'text/plain'};
my $plugin = $txt_tool->{ plugin };
$plugin->convert( $eprint, $document, 'text/plain' );


METHODS

new

new OPTIONS
Create a new plugin object using OPTIONS (should only be called by EPrints::Session).


render_name

$xhtml = $plugin->render_name
Return the name of this plugin as a chunk of XHTML.


is_visible

$plugin->is_visible( $level )
Returns whether this plugin is visible at level (currently 'all' or ).


can_convert

%types = $p->can_convert( $doc, [$type], [%params] )
Returns a hash of types that this plugin can convert the document $doc to. The key is the type. The value is a hash ref containing:
    • plugin
      The object that can do the conversion.
    • encoding
      The encoding this conversion generates (e.g. 'utf-8').
    • phraseid
      A unique phrase id for this conversion.
    • preference
      A value between 0 and 1 representing the 'quality' or confidence in this conversion.


export

@filelist = $p->export( $dir, $doc, $type )
Convert $doc to $type and export it to $dir. Returns a list of file names that resulted from the conversion. The main file (if there is one) is the first file name returned. Returns empty list on failure.


convert

$doc = $p->convert( $eprint, $doc, $type [, $epdata ] )
Convert $doc to format $type (as returned by can_convert). Stores the resulting $doc in $eprint, and returns the new document or undef on failure.
Optionally initialise the new document with $epdata. Specifying 'files' in $epdata will cause the converted file content to be discarded.


COPYRIGHT

Copyright 2000-2011 University of Southampton.

This file is part of EPrints http://www.eprints.org/.

EPrints is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

EPrints is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU Lesser General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public License along with EPrints. If not, see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/.