Oxygen XML Forum

I hope this hasn't already been discussed; I searched but couldn't find anything.

We want to set up our DITA files in a "docs-as-code" context in which a regularly run script would trigger a transformation.

Can a PDF Chemistry transformation be run from the command line?

If so, how?

Thanks in advance,

Hello,

Sure Oxygen PDF Chemistry can be run from command line, but in your case, as you are using DITA documents you may use Oxygen Publishing Engine instead (requires a specific license).
Oxygen Publishing Engine is based on DITA-OT but provides all Oxygen's specific transformations (like WebHelp Responsive and PDF based on HTML5 & CSS - which uses Oxygen PDF Chemistry under the hood).

To run the transformation, you just need to run a DITA-OT command (from oxygen-publishing-engine-3.x/bin folder) like the following one: Other specific parameters are available here, please note that they must be preceded by -D in the command line.

Regards,
Julien

Excellent! Thank you very much for the very quick response!

Followup question: Is the CSS styling with Oxygen Publishing Engine limited to the styles available in the Oxygen Styles Basket, or can I continue to customize the CSS on my own?

Hello,

The styles generated by Oxygen Styles Basket are only a starting point for customizing your PDF/ WebHelp outputs, of course it can be extended!
The only recommendation is to use another style-sheet in which the styles.css file is imported. Like this you will be able to decouple your customization and reupload the CSS onto Oxygen Styles Basket.

Regards,
Julien