Conversion is the process of transforming raw document data into Document objects, which can then be indexed. IrfConverter (gov.nist.nlpir.irf.conversion.IrfConverter) is an abstract class that models general features of converters. There are two examples of concrete extensions of IrfConverter:
The first, gov.nist.nlpir.irfapps.hci.Bib2AppDocConv, converts TROFF Bibliographic documents in a file to HciDoc objects. The second, gov.nist.nlpir.irf.conversion.Sgml2AppDocConverter, is a more general converter. It takes as input a file which is the output of running the SGML parser/checker nsgmls and ConversionRules which specify conversion actions to be taken when a given tag in encountered in the input. It produces Document objects with their component data elements of the type(s) specified in the rules.