# Project file — `.alp`

An `aleppo` project file specifies various files and directories as follows:

  `inputdirectory` input-directory
  `outputdirectory` output-directory
  `outputfile` output-file
  `sourcefile` source-file-list
  [`orderfile` order-file]`
  graphicsdirectory` graphics-directory
  [`workingdirectory` working-directory]
  [`customizationfile` customisation-file]

For information about how to interpret the syntax, see BNF grammars.

##### Arguments

input-directory | The directory containing all source RTF files.
output-directory | The target output directory for the new EPOC help database. Any directory may be specified. Typically `\epoc32\wins\c\documents\` is used, so that Help databases can be viewed using an EPOC emulator.
output-file | The help database generated by `aleppo`. It is created in output-directory.
source-file-list | The rich-text source file/s to be compiled, which are located in input-directory. One or more source files may be specified. The order of specification is irrelevant. The application name for each source file must, however, be unique. The names are specified without their `.rtf` extension.
order-file | The text file that defines the display order of topics in the output database, see Order files. The order file must be located in the input-directory. If no order file is defined, topics are ordered alphabetically.
graphics-directory | specifies a directory containing `.mbm` graphics, which are searched for using the algorithm described in Graphics. An arbitrary number of graphics directories may be specified. An individual graphic is searched using the order specified in the project file.
working-directory | Directory for storage of temporary files created during `aleppo` conversion. If not specified, temporary files are generated in the same directory as the project file. Temporary files are not deleted after `aleppo` is run.
customisation-file | The text file that defines how `aleppo` interprets styles in the rich-text source file, see Customisation files. If not defined, `aleppo` uses a default customisation file.

##### Notes

- If any file name or directory is specified as a relative path, such as `..\graphics\`, or `\help\agenda\`, then it is resolved against the drive and directory which was current when the `aleppo` command was issued.
- All directories must be specified with a trailing `\`.
- The order of the lines is not important, however it is important that the text file should not have any additional lines — this restriction includes empty lines.
- The target format of the conversion is supplied to `aleppo` as a command line argument, see Aleppo command line syntax.