NAME

cdff − a brief introduction to CDFF and CDIF

DESCRIPTION

CDFF is an abbreviation for Common Document File Format and represents a document description format supported by Sony.  CDFF has enough expressibility for use in DTP applications and allows for the creation of high-quality documents.  CDFF features the following. 

Document Compatibility
In order to achieve compatibility between conventional word processor documents and CDFF-based document processing software, it’s possible to use a converter for each word processor and CDFF format-compatible software.

High-Level of Expressibility
CDFF is not only capable of describing simple text, but can also be used to describe fonts, point size, underlining, and figure and image data.

Diverse Output Methods
CDFF documents are output to a laser printer or a display monitor after passing through the intermediate format, CDIF (Common Document Intermediate Format). Output from CDIF to photo-typesetters and faxes is also possible through the use of special devices and software. Included among the programs for processing CDFF documents are: an inter-UNIX text converter (included in NEWS-OS), a converter to the intermediate format CDIF, a program for output from CDIF to a printer, a preview program for output to a display monitor, a library for the output of CDIF files. These programs are classified as follows.

Converters
UNIX text converter:utoc(1), ctou(1)
xwd format converter:xwdtoc(1), ctoxwd(1)
TIFF file converter:tiftoc(1), ctotif(1)
CDFF to CDIF converter:ctoif(1)
CDIF to CDFF image converter:ctoif(1)
CDIF to TIFF file converter:tifif(1)
CDIF to xwd format converter:xwdif(1)

Output Programs
X Window System Preview:xif(1)
NWP-533/537/543/550 printer filter:lpf_lbpif(8)
LASER SHOT printer filter:lpf_clsif(8), lpf_cls3if(8)
NWP-549 printer filter:lpf_549ymcif(8)

Other Tools
CDIF assembler and disassembler:asif(1), dasif(1)
ditroff intermediate format to CDIF converter:nftoif(1)
CDFF file listing program:cdfls(1)
CDFF file page division program:splitif(1)
CDIF data output library:outif(3)

The relationships among these programs can be expressed as follows. 

                +------------+
ditroff(1)     |   UNIX     |
      +--------| Plain Text |
      |        +------------+
      |     utoc(1)| ^ ctou(1)
      |            | |
      |            | |    xwdtoc(1)  +-------------+
      |            | |  +----------- | X-Window    |
      |            | |  | +--------->| dump format |
      |            | |  | | ctoxwd(1)+-------------+
      |            | |  | |
      |            | |  | |    tiftoc(1)  +-------------+
      |            | |  | |  +----------- | TIFF format |
      |            | |  | |  | +--------->|  image      |
      v            | |  | |  | | ctotif(1)+-------------+
+------------+     | |  | |  | |
|  ditroff   |     | |  | |  | |
|intermediate|     v |  v |  v |
|   format   |   =============== -------> Other
+------------+   ||   CDFF    || <------- file formats
    |            ===============           |
    |nftoif(1)         | ^                 |
    |                  | |                 | outif(3)
    |          ctoif(1)| |iftoc(1)         | (library)
    v                  v |                 v
+-----------------------------------------------+   ^ xwdif(1)
| +------------+      asif(1)   +-------------+ |   |
| |    CDIF    | <------------- |    CDIF     | |---+ ^ tifif(1)
| |  binary    | -------------> |    source   | |     |
| +------------+      dasif(1)  +-------------+ |-----+
+-----------------------------------------------+
    | | | | |
    | | | | +-------------------> Other output
    | | | |    xif(1)
    | | | +---------------------> Output to X Window System
    | | +-----------------------------------+
    | +---------------------+               |
    |                       | lpf_clsif(8)  |
    | lpf_lbpif(8)          | lpf_cls3if(8) | lpf_549ymcif(8)
    v                       v               v
+-------------------+   +----------+   +----------+
|NWP-533/537/543/550|   |LASER SHOT|   |  NWP-549 |
+-------------------+   +----------+   +----------+

SEE ALSO

asif(1), cdfls(1), ctoif(1), ctotif(1), ctou(1), ctoxwd(1), dasif(1), iftoc(1), nftoif(1), tiftoc(1), utoc(1), xif(1), xwdtoc(1), splitif(1), tifif(1), xwdif(1), outif(3), linedash(7), graphic_operation(7), typeface(7), lpf_lbpif(8), lpf_clsif(8), lpf_549ymcif(8) /usr/sony/doc/CDIFCDIF format specification
/usr/sony/doc/UTOCUsing Utoc

NEWS-OSRelease 4.2.1R