DjVu Small v0.3

Reference manual

Console utilities help

DjVu Small - is a package for the batch encoding/decoding in/from DjVu (OS Windows).

The package is made out of the Document Express Enterprise with DjVu v5.0 program available at http://www.lizardtech.com/ and is functionally equivalent to it (in some terms it is even more user-convenient than the latter).

The package is made of the small size on purpose (less than 2 MB) - to facilitate its distribution via the Internet. (The original program - Document Express Enterprise with DjVu v5.0 - takes 178 MB).

DjVu Small is proposed to be used as the main program to work with the DjVu format (OS Windows).


Features:

1. Works as under Win98, as under Win2000/XP.

2. Encodes in DjVu as the single files, as the groups of the graphical files.

3. Decodes single- and multypage DjVu-files (in batch mode) into the common graphical files.


Usage:

1. Launch the DjVu Small.exe file.

2. Looking through the program window upside down fill in all the necessary input fields.

3. In case of necessity change the program options: press the Options button and choose other parameters in the opened options window (at the regular program usage it won't probably ever be needed).

4. Press Convert button - the process of encoding (decoding) will start.


Details:

The file DjVu Small.exe is simply a GUI controlling the patched LizardTech console utilities. "Patched" - e.g. serial-independent. These console utilities were taken out ot the Document Express Enterprise with DjVu v5.0 program available at http://www.lizardtech.com/ and than were patched by an unknown cracker.

The package contains 3 such console utilities:

- documenttodjvu.exe (patched) - a console utility for the batch encoding of the black-and-white, grey and color common graphical files in bmp, jpeg, jpg, gif, tiff, tif, pnm, ppm, pgm, pbm formats.

- phototodjvu.exe (patched) - a console utility for the batch encoding of the grey and color common graphical files (of the same formats) with an improved quality.

- djvudecode.exe - a console utility for the batch decoding of any DjVu-files: single- and multypage; containing the black-and-white, grey and color images (in the decoding process the files of the corresponding bitrate are created automatically)

DjVu Small has 3 work modes ņorresponding to these console utilities:

- Document -> DjVu    (controls the documenttodjvu.exe utility)

- Photo -> DjVu    (controls the phototodjvu.exe utility)

- DjVu Decoding    (controls the djvudecode.exe utility)

In any work mode a user visually forms the encoding/decoding parameters, then DjVu Small passes them as a command line to a corresponding console utility. At this time the user can see the reflection of this command line in the log window - in a full or short mode - according to the user's choice.


Encoding profiles:

The encoding profiles are the specially groupped sets of the encoding options created by LizardTech. The encoding profiles are located in the "profiles\documenttodjvu.conf" file. They can be edited manually - for example, you can create the inherited profiles from the existing ones with the goal to change some parameter (but you should know the profile language syntax). Some user profiles were already made this way - see the description of the "user B/W (*** dpi)" profiles below.

DjVu Small reads in at startup the names of all the available profiles from the documenttodjvu.conf file and fills them into the list located under the Select encoding profile: title.

For the effective encoding in DjVu of the BLACK-AND-WHITE graphical files it is recommended to use the corresponding encoding profiles like "user B/W (*** dpi)", where *** - is the resolution of the input graphical files.

The user profiles "user B/W (*** dpi)" were inherited from the "Very Aggressive 300" profile and yield practically the lowest size of the resulting DjVu-file.

WARNING: These encoding profiles are not suitable for GREY and COLOR input graphical files. (!)


Options:

Pressing the Options button opens the program options window. This windows has 5 tabs:

- General - the options of the DjVu Small GUI itself.

- Document -> DjVu    (the command line utility documenttodjvu.exe options)

- Document -> DjVu (2)    (the additional command line utility documenttodjvu.exe options)

- Photo -> DjVu    (the command line utility phototodjvu.exe options)

- DjVu Decoding    (the command line utility djvudecode.exe options)

The meaning and the values of the command line options of all 3 console utilities are described in a specially made excerpt from the help package of the Document Express Enterprise with DjVu v5.0 program:

Console utilities help    (this link is also available on the top of the page)

In this help package the options are groupped according to the 3 console utilities.

General options:

Let's see the meaning and the values of some unobvoius general program options (the tab #1 in the options window):

Create decoded output folder - Usuallu in the process of decoding of a multypage DjVu-file a set of the single-page common graphical files is created. The program then puts these files into the output folder. If you switch this parameter on (this is the default value) then the program will create a subfolder (with a user-defined name) in the output folder and all the decoded files will bt put there.

This option is especially useful when you choose a not empty output folder or the Desktop - in these cases the resulting files are not mixed together with all neighbor files - they are like "packed" in a handy form (e.g. separate subfolder).

Log command line - Here the user can choose a command line log window output mode. Exactly to say DjVu Small forms a command line and passes it to the input of a corresponding console utility and this command line is simply echoed in the log window - just for the user's reference.

The command line can be output either in the full or short mode - when only the options' window options are echoed.


Notes:

1. By default in the list of the profiles is chosen the Default profile.

WARNING: It is not the first profile in the list - as it might seem at first glance - scroll the profiles' list upward and you will see all the other profiles. The Default profile is the last original LizardTech profile in the list. Beneath it are located the user profiles (here "user B/W (*** dpi)").

2. The input filelist (under the title Input file(s)::) supports the Drag'n'drop feature: you can drag there with the mouse one or more graphical files to be encoded; or one DjVu-file to be decoded.

At this time the program mode is switched automatically (if you drop the graphical files or a folder with them then the Document -> DjVu mode is switched on (if you implied the Photo -> DjVu mode switch it on manually), if you drop a DjVu-file - then the DjVu Decoding mode is switched on.

3. The simultaneous decoding of 2 or more DjVu-files is not supported (it does not make much sense).

4. Adding/deleting the files in/from the loaded filelist, changing the order of the files in the filelist is not supported either - it is also not so much needed feature.

5. All the manually changed program parameters are automatically memorized.

6. By default the output folder is the Desktop. This is made for the convenience of the low-qualified users (who are used to work mainly only with the desktop).

The Desktop path is determined automatically by the program depending on the operating system. If you move the program from one OS to another, this path will change accordingly automatically (only if it was not already changed by the user).

7. The program does not yield warnings when it writes over the existent files (folders) - this is made on purpose because such warnings usually are not useful but the bother the users.

8. The full DjVu Small GUI sourcecodes are freely available to everybody (see the address below the page). The DjVu Small GUI is distributed under the GPL License.

9. The program has the russian localization but it is possible to do any other one: just create a localization file looking at the "russian.txt" file and put it into the "languages" folder.


Known program disadvantages:

1. When you create a new folder in the Choose folder window the Choose folderņ is closed automatically and you have to manually reopen it to see the newly created file. Possible cause: the treeview node extraction by command possibly does not work properly under Win98.

2. Sometimes the errors concretization messages (strings starting with "Error") are not echoed in the log window. Possible cause: the console output buffers possibly are not flushed at the proper moments.

3. The program is designed mainly to be used in the russian-language interface mode. In the english-language interface mode the spaces between the control titles and the control windows look lenghty - because that the English language is more "compact" than the Russian language.

4. There is no convenient possibility to edit the encoding profiles - it can be done only manually - if you manually edit the documenttodjvu.conf file. But doing so you must know and understand the profiles language syntax.

5. There are some small irregularities in the console utilities help navigation system (some rare hyperlinks do not work).

6. At the encoding/decoding process the progress bar in the Progress window does not reflect the encoding workflow - it is simply cycling in an endless loop.

7. In the verbose mode the console utility output is echoed into the log window only after the end of the encoding process - not by the regular portions at the encoding process. Possible cause: the console output buffers possibly are not flushed at the proper moments.


Authors:

mas,
Arcand,
monday2000.

GUI creation:

monday2000.


03.11.2006.

monday2000@yandex.ru

(Write me in English if you want to get the full DjVu Small GUI sourcecode or just want to tell me something).