Using the Convert XML to DAT Tool

You can use a text editor to edit custom commands in XML format. To restrict access to only Dragon users, you can convert your commands from XML format to DAT format. Dragon uses .dat files to store commands.

For more information on creating custom commands, see About custom commands. For help with Structured Commands, see Working with Structured Commands.

You can use the XML to DAT tool (mycmdsxml2dat.exe) to extract user-defined Dragon commands from an XML file. The tool writes the commands to a .dat file.

Starting the Convert XML to DAT tool

  • Windows 7: Click Start>All Programs>Dragon>Dragon Tools>Convert XML to DAT.
  • Windows 8.1: From the Start screen, click the down arrow to show all applications. Scroll to find Dragon, then find Convert XML to DAT.
  • Windows 10: Click Start>All apps. Scroll to find Dragon, then find Convert XML to DAT.

The Convert XML to DAT tool starts in an MS-DOS window, listing the tool’s syntax.

Convert XML to DAT syntax

The convert XML to DAT tool (mycmdsxml2dat.exe) uses the following syntax:

mycmdsxml2dat.exe <dat-file-path> <xml-file-path> [options]

Parameters Type Description

<dat-file-path>

Required

The full path to the local copy of the current end-user's .DAT file (by default, C:\ProgramData\Nuance\NaturallySpeaking15\Data\enx\dat).

<xml-file-path>

Required

The full path to the .XML file to be converted.

-v

Optional

Validates the specified .xml file over the Internet with a Nuance DTD (Document Type Definition) file. Disabled by default.

Use the XML to DAT tool to convert data in an XML file

  1. Create an XML file that contains the commands to use with Dragon.
  2. On a command line, use mycmdsXML2DAT.exe with the syntax shown above to convert the XML file to DAT format.
  3. Use the nsadmin utility to copy the .dat file to the Data Distribution directory. For details, see the nsadmin Help file available in the Help folder of your installation directory (by default, C:\Program Files\Nuance\NaturallySpeaking15\Help).

The next time a user opens a user profile, Dragon incorporates the new commands from the .dat file into the user profile.

4/25/2018 2:33 PM