### 2.5 Running a DITA2Go conversion

Once you have created a conversion project with the DITA2Go Project Manager (see §2.1 Creating a DITA2Go conversion project), you can use the DITA2Go Project Manager to execute the conversion. However, you can also run DITA2Go from a command line; see §2.7 Converting documents from the command line.

To operate DITA2Go with the Project Manager:

1. On the Run Project tab, select the conversion project you wish to run. The DITA2Go Project Manager shows the DITA source directory, map file, and output directory, and the output type. You can browse to a different map file, perhaps to convert just a subset of your DITA document. The Project Manager also sets run options based on current settings in the starting project configuration file.
2. On the Run Options tab:

   Under Automation Options, specify any post-conversion steps you need for the current run, or turn off those you do not need. With appropriate settings in place (see §1.3.7 Establish system-wide configuration settings), DITA2Go can produce a ready-to-distribute archive of your completed conversion, and place the archive in the shipping directory.

   Under Advanced Options, you can choose whether to involve creation or use of an intermediate format: ASCII DCL. Your choice has the following effect:

   Source | ASCII DCL files, if any, are converted to the output format.
   Output | DITA XML files are converted to ASCII DCL.
   Neither | DITA XML files are converted straight to the output format.
   Both | DITA XML files are converted first to ASCII DCL, then the ASCII DCL files are converted to the output format.

   When you run normally, with Use ASCII DCL set to Both or Neither, you get the full automation effect: both Start and End automation tasks. If instead you run with Use ASCII DCL set to Output, you get only the Start automation tasks, because the files processed by End do not exist yet. If Use ASCII DCL is set to Source, you get only the End automation tasks, because the files removed by Start are needed for your current process.

   Also, you can choose to run only automation tasks.

   Note: If you choose Run only automation tasks, you must have the bookmap or ditamap in place in the output directory, even though it is not needed for these tasks.

3. On the Run Project tab, click Start. When the conversion is complete, you will see a message to that effect in the Results: field. If you chose run option Wrap and Ship, for some output types the View Output button is enabled by default. For other output types you will have to provide a view-output command to enable the button; see §1.3.7 Establish system-wide configuration settings.
4. Click Show Log File to see an event log that shows what happened during conversion.
5. Click View Output (if this button is enabled) to see the conversion output. To tell DITA2Go which file to open first on View Output, see §22.12 Specifying a starting topic for HTML or XHTML. The View Output button works nicely for XHTML, HTML, OmniHelp, HTML Help, and Word RTF output. However, for JavaHelp, Oracle Help, and Eclipse Help, for the Project Manager to be able to launch the viewer, you will need to add appropriate commands to %OMSYSHOME%\common\local\config\local_omsys.ini. See §1.3.7 Establish system-wide configuration settings.

You can specify options to display a console window while the conversion is running, and a log file when the conversion is complete. See §2.6 Customizing the DITA2Go Project Manager.

Previous Topic: 2.4 Inspecting and editing configuration files

Next Topic: 2.6 Customizing the DITA2Go Project Manager

Parent Topic: 2. Converting DITA documents

Sibling Topics:

2.1 Creating a DITA2Go conversion project

2.2 Modifying a DITA2Go conversion project

2.3 Configuring default DITA2Go project settings

2.4 Inspecting and editing configuration files

2.6 Customizing the DITA2Go Project Manager

2.7 Converting documents from the command line