PsiFS: File Format Converters

!Boot

!Boot

Any files called !PsiFS.Converters.converter.!Boot are run before PsiFS checks for PsiFSConverter$ system variables. This allows stand-alone file converters to be installed simply by copying them to the !PsiFS.Converters directory.

It is recommended that the following tasks are performed within the !Boot file:

  • Loading appropriate file type sprites.
  • Setting a system variable converter$Dir to reference the current directory.
  • Setting system variables File$Type_xxx giving the texual version of each supported file type.
  • Setting a system variable PsiFSConverter$converter to register the file format converter with PsiFS.
  • Setting a system variable Alias$converter to define an alias for running the converter.

Most of these actions are reasonably standard for !Boot files anyway. Other initialisation may also be performed, such as dynamically generating a custom !PsiFS file based on the available resources.

The PsiFSConverter$converter variable is especially important, as it is used by PsiFS to enumerate all of the available file format converters. The converter part of the variable name should be the same as the directory name containing the converter, but without any leading pling (!) character. The value of the variable should be the path of the directory containing the !PsiFS file that describes the file format converter.


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