The conversion of a document of type X into a document of type Y is actually not the main function of jadice server. Instead, it appropriates the functionalities of the underlying jadice document platform, which offer various opportunities to convert formats found in long-term archives.
Furthermore, jadice server offers a flexible interface to applications which carry out the conversion. This advantage is based in jadice server's independence of platform constrictions—it can be installed on various platforms and therefore communicate with a wide range of applications.
To this end jadice server offers interfaces to externally operated third-party software. The interfaces can be run on the Java interface, the COM interface or via a batch file written for this purpose.
Depending on the format of the original, the conversion can be accomplished either by a functionality of a program which can display the original format (e. g. Photoshop) or by the use of an existing image printer driver. In both cases the definition of appropriate interfaces between jadice server and the respective software is imperative.
The two-stage design of jadice server, allows for an almost unlimited scalability as an indefinite number of plug-ins for miscellaneous applications can be integrated. Thus, many clients benefit from software installed on few computers (as long as they have jadice server).
