Zombie is an application that is meant to provide an easily extensible tool to convert a document from one format to another. Actual conversion takes place in modules that can be written to interface with the internal representation of document data. These modules are responsible for conversion to and from this internal representation.
Zombie itself is responsible for the handling of input and output, as well as loading the appropriate modules for conversion. Additionally, it is to monitor for any errors that may occur and inform the user appropriately.
Zombie can be used via the command-line as a standalone program or as part of a python program as a python module.
General usage of zombie with an INPUT file and OUTPUT file would be:
python zombiecl.py INPUT OUTPUT
Zombie will attempt to autodetect the appropriate modules to use for input and output. It will use the first module it finds, which may not be the module you want. In this case, you can also specify the module names:
python zombiecl.py INPUT OUTPUT [-i input_module] [-o output_module]
You can specify the input module, output module, or both. Refer to individual module documentation for what names to use for these arguments.
A more detailed help description can be found by running:
python zombiecl.py --help
Importing the zombie module should be sufficient to use it in another python application. This can be achieved by doing the following:
from zombie import Zombie
job = Zombie(input=INPUT, output=OUTPUT)
if job.convert(): job.finalize()
The converted document can be accessed without finalizing it. The Output object defined by Zombie.output contains all the data from the conversion.
from zombie import Zombie
job = Zombie(input=INPUT, output=OUTPUT)
if job.convert():
document = job.output.data #The actual data for the converted document.
assets = job.output.assets #Any ancillary assets needed by the document.
In this way you can do whatever you wish with the outputted document.
Some output modules support the optional encoding argument. This can specify which encoding to use for output, such as utf-8, ascii, etc. As a module this is achieved by the following:
job = Zombie(input=INPUT, output=OUTPUT)
job.omod.CHARSET = 'utf-8'
if job.convert(): job.finalize()
For command line usage, refer to the command line help for the appropriate option to pass.