ECF Pretty-Printer |

gedoc can be used as an ECF pretty-printer. The resulting ECF file will be formatted using the same guidelines as used throughout the Gobo Eiffel Project. It can also be used to convert an ECF file to newer versions of ECF.

## Pretty-printing an ECF file

Here is how to pretty-print the ECF file `project.ecf`:

    	gedoc --force --format=ecf_pretty_print project.ecf

The command-line option `--force` tells gedoc to overwrite the ECF file being pretty-printed. Without this option, files will not be overwritten and gedoc will emit an error message. Alternatively, the command-line option `--interactive` can be used. It will ask confirmation to the user before overwriting files. If you want to generate the pretty-printed file in a directory different from the one containing the original ECF file, you should use the command-line option `--output`.

## Converting an ECF file

Converting an ECF file to a given version of ECF is similar to pretty-printing this ECF file, except that you have to provide the version of ECF you want your ECF file to be converted to:

> `gedoc --force --format=ecf_pretty_print --ecf=1.18.0 project.ecf`

This will convert the ECF file `project.ecf` to version 1.18.0. Alternatively, you can convert your ECF file to the last version of ECF known by gedoc:

> `gedoc --force --format=ecf_pretty_print --ecf=latest project.ecf`

Note that trying to convert an ECF file to a version older than the one initially used to write this file might end up in a loss of information. For example some options, settings or capabilities used in your ECF file may not be supported in older versions.