# Command line syntax — `aleppo`

## Contents

- Purpose
- Command line syntax

### Purpose

Creates EPOC help databases based on information contained in a project file, order file, customisation file and rich text file.

For more information about these source files and:

- Configuring a Help Project see Project files
- Changing the topic display order see Order files
- Customising the appearance of help files see Customisation files
- Editing Rich text source files see RTF files

For examples demonstrating how to use `aleppo`, see Aleppo example projects.

### Command line syntax

  `aleppo` `-epoc` [`-compress` ] [`-unicode`] | `-html` project-file

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

##### Arguments

project-file | Defines the location of all source files used by the project, working directories, and target directories. Users should specify the project filename with extension. The extension `.alp` is suggested but not enforced.
`-epoc` | EPOC Help Database. Generate output database. Used with switch options `compress` and/or `unicode`.
`-compress` | Compressed. Generate both compressed and uncompressed databases.
`-unicode` | Unicode. Generate Unicode help database.
`-html` | HTML. Generate HTML Proofing copy.

##### Compatibility

Databases generated using the `-epoc` argument are compatible with all previous releases of EPOC.

The new `aleppo` features allow compressed and Unicode databases to be generated from the same source files as used to produce the standard database. These databases are not compatible with releases prior to EPOC Release 5.

##### Notes

- The command line syntax may be obtained by typing `aleppo` on the command line.
- Compressed databases, produced by specifying `-compress` on the command line, have a `.c` appended to the filename e.g. the compressed form of `file.hlp` is `file.hlp.c`.
- Compression is only available for non-Unicode databases.