pyforge-cli 0.5.0

A powerful CLI tool for data format conversion and synthetic data generation

PyForge CLI

A powerful command-line tool for data format conversion and manipulation, built with Python and Click.

📖 Documentation

📚 Complete Documentation | 🚀 Quick Start | 📦 Installation Guide | 🔧 CLI Reference

Features

• PDF to Text Conversion: Extract text from PDF documents with advanced options
• Excel to Parquet Conversion: Convert Excel files (.xlsx) to Parquet format with multi-sheet support
• XML to Parquet Conversion: Intelligent XML flattening with automatic structure detection and configurable strategies
• Database File Conversion: Convert Microsoft Access (.mdb/.accdb), DBF, and SQL Server MDF files to Parquet
• MDF Tools Installer: Automated setup of Docker and SQL Server Express for MDF file processing
• CSV to Parquet Conversion: Smart delimiter detection and encoding handling
• Rich CLI Interface: Beautiful terminal output with progress bars and tables
• Intelligent Processing: Automatic encoding detection, structure analysis, and column matching
• Extensible Architecture: Plugin-based system for adding new format converters
• Metadata Extraction: Get detailed information about your files
• Cross-platform: Works on Windows, macOS, and Linux

Installation

From PyPI

pip install pyforge-cli

From Source

git clone https://github.com/Py-Forge-Cli/PyForge-CLI.git
cd PyForge-CLI
pip install -e .

Development Installation

git clone https://github.com/Py-Forge-Cli/PyForge-CLI.git
cd PyForge-CLI
pip install -e ".[dev,test]"

System Dependencies

For MDB/Access file support on non-Windows systems:

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt-get install mdbtools

# macOS
brew install mdbtools

MDF File Processing Setup

For SQL Server MDF file conversion, install the MDF Tools:

# Interactive setup wizard
pyforge install mdf-tools

# Check installation status
pyforge mdf-tools status

This installs Docker Desktop and SQL Server Express automatically. See MDF Tools Documentation for details.

Quick Start

Convert PDF to Text

# Convert entire PDF
pyforge convert document.pdf

# Convert to specific output file
pyforge convert document.pdf output.txt

# Convert specific page range
pyforge convert document.pdf --pages "1-5"

# Include page metadata
pyforge convert document.pdf --metadata

Convert Excel to Parquet

# Convert Excel file to Parquet
pyforge convert data.xlsx

# Convert with specific compression
pyforge convert data.xlsx --compression gzip

# Convert specific sheets only
pyforge convert data.xlsx --sheets "Sheet1,Sheet3"

Convert Database Files

# Convert Access database to Parquet
pyforge convert database.mdb

# Convert DBF file with encoding detection
pyforge convert data.dbf

# Convert with custom output directory
pyforge convert database.accdb output_folder/

Convert CSV Files

# Convert CSV with automatic delimiter and encoding detection
pyforge convert data.csv

# Convert TSV (tab-separated) file
pyforge convert data.tsv

# Convert with compression
pyforge convert sales_data.csv --compression gzip

# Convert delimited text file
pyforge convert export.txt

Convert XML Files

# Convert XML with automatic structure detection
pyforge convert data.xml

# Convert with aggressive flattening for analytics
pyforge convert catalog.xml --flatten-strategy aggressive

# Handle arrays by expanding to multiple rows
pyforge convert orders.xml --array-handling expand

# Strip namespaces for cleaner column names
pyforge convert api_response.xml --namespace-handling strip

# Preview schema before conversion
pyforge convert complex.xml --preview-schema

Get File Information

# Display file metadata as table
pyforge info document.pdf

# Get Excel file information
pyforge info spreadsheet.xlsx

# Output metadata as JSON
pyforge info database.mdb --format json

List Supported Formats

pyforge formats

Validate Files

pyforge validate document.pdf
pyforge validate data.xlsx

MDF File Processing

# Step 1: Install MDF processing tools (one-time setup)
pyforge install mdf-tools

# Step 2: Check installation status
pyforge mdf-tools status

# Step 3: Start SQL Server (if not running)
pyforge mdf-tools start

# Step 4: Convert MDF files (when MDF converter is available)
# pyforge convert database.mdf --format parquet

# Container management
pyforge mdf-tools stop      # Stop SQL Server
pyforge mdf-tools restart   # Restart SQL Server
pyforge mdf-tools logs      # View SQL Server logs
pyforge mdf-tools test      # Test connectivity
pyforge mdf-tools config    # Show configuration
pyforge mdf-tools uninstall # Remove everything

Usage Examples

Basic PDF Conversion

# Convert PDF to text (creates report.txt in same directory)
pyforge convert report.pdf

# Convert with custom output path
pyforge convert report.pdf /path/to/output.txt

# Convert with verbose output
pyforge convert report.pdf --verbose

# Force overwrite existing file
pyforge convert report.pdf output.txt --force

Advanced PDF Options

# Convert pages 1-10
pyforge convert document.pdf --pages "1-10"

# Convert from page 5 to end
pyforge convert document.pdf --pages "5-"

# Convert up to page 10
pyforge convert document.pdf --pages "-10"

# Include page markers in output
pyforge convert document.pdf --metadata

Excel Conversion Examples

# Convert Excel with all sheets
pyforge convert sales_data.xlsx

# Interactive mode - prompts for sheet selection
pyforge convert multi_sheet.xlsx --interactive

# Convert sheets with matching columns into single file
pyforge convert monthly_reports.xlsx --merge-sheets

# Generate summary report
pyforge convert data.xlsx --summary

Database Conversion Examples

# Convert Access database (all tables)
pyforge convert company.mdb

# Convert with progress tracking
pyforge convert large_database.accdb --verbose

# Convert DBF with specific encoding
pyforge convert legacy.dbf --encoding cp1252

# Batch convert all DBF files in directory
for file in *.dbf; do pyforge convert "$file"; done

CSV Conversion Examples

# Convert CSV with automatic detection
pyforge convert sales_data.csv

# Convert international CSV with auto-encoding detection
pyforge convert european_data.csv --verbose

# Convert semicolon-delimited CSV (European format)
pyforge convert data_semicolon.csv

# Convert tab-separated file with compression
pyforge convert data.tsv --compression gzip

# Batch convert multiple CSV files
for file in *.csv; do pyforge convert "$file" --compression snappy; done

XML Conversion Examples

# Convert XML with automatic structure detection
pyforge convert catalog.xml

# Convert with aggressive flattening for data analysis
pyforge convert api_response.xml --flatten-strategy aggressive

# Handle arrays as concatenated strings
pyforge convert orders.xml --array-handling concatenate

# Strip namespaces for cleaner output
pyforge convert soap_response.xml --namespace-handling strip

# Preview structure before conversion
pyforge convert complex_structure.xml --preview-schema

# Convert compressed XML files
pyforge convert data.xml.gz --verbose

# Batch convert XML files with specific strategy
for file in *.xml; do pyforge convert "$file" --flatten-strategy moderate; done

File Information

# Show file metadata
pyforge info document.pdf

# Excel file details (sheets, row counts)
pyforge info spreadsheet.xlsx

# Database file information (tables, record counts)
pyforge info database.mdb

# Export metadata as JSON
pyforge info document.pdf --format json > metadata.json

Supported Formats

Input Format	Output Formats	Status
PDF (.pdf)	Text (.txt)	✅ Available
Excel (.xlsx)	Parquet (.parquet)	✅ Available
XML (.xml, .xml.gz, .xml.bz2)	Parquet (.parquet)	✅ Available
Access (.mdb/.accdb)	Parquet (.parquet)	✅ Available
DBF (.dbf)	Parquet (.parquet)	✅ Available
CSV (.csv, .tsv, .txt)	Parquet (.parquet)	✅ Available

Development

Setting Up Development Environment

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/Py-Forge-Cli/PyForge-CLI.git
cd PyForge-CLI

# Set up development environment
pip install -e ".[dev,test]"

# Run tests
pytest

# Format code
black src tests

# Run all checks
ruff check src tests

Development Commands

# Testing
pytest                                    # Run tests
pytest --cov=pyforge_cli                 # Run tests with coverage

# Code Quality
black src tests                          # Format code
ruff check src tests                     # Run linting
mypy src                                 # Type checking

# Building
python -m build                          # Build distribution packages
twine upload dist/*                      # Publish to PyPI

Project Structure

PyForge-CLI/
├── src/pyforge_cli/            # Main package
│   ├── __init__.py
│   ├── main.py                 # CLI entry point
│   ├── converters/             # Format converters
│   │   ├── __init__.py
│   │   ├── base.py            # Base converter class
│   │   ├── pdf_converter.py   # PDF to text conversion
│   │   ├── excel_converter.py # Excel to Parquet conversion
│   │   ├── mdb_converter.py   # MDB/ACCDB to Parquet conversion
│   │   └── dbf_converter.py   # DBF to Parquet conversion
│   ├── plugins/               # Plugin system
│   │   └── loader.py          # Plugin loading
│   └── utils/                 # Utilities
│       ├── file_utils.py      # File operations
│       └── cli_utils.py       # CLI helpers
├── docs/                      # Documentation source
├── tests/                     # Test files
├── pyproject.toml            # Project configuration
└── README.md                 # This file

Requirements

• Python 3.8+
• PyMuPDF (for PDF processing)
• Click (for CLI interface)
• Rich (for beautiful terminal output)
• Pandas & PyArrow (for data processing and Parquet support)
• pandas-access (for MDB file support)
• dbfread (for DBF file support)
• openpyxl (for Excel file support)
• chardet (for encoding detection)

Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Make your changes
4. Run tests and linting (pytest && ruff check src tests)
5. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')
6. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
7. Open a Pull Request

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Roadmap

Version 0.2.0 - Database & Spreadsheet Support (Completed)

• ✅ Excel to Parquet Conversion
  • Multi-sheet support with intelligent detection
  • Interactive sheet selection mode
  • Column matching for combined output
  • Progress tracking and summary reports
• ✅ MDB/ACCDB to Parquet Conversion
  • Microsoft Access database support (.mdb, .accdb)
  • Automatic table discovery
  • Cross-platform compatibility (Windows/Linux/macOS)
  • Excel summary reports with sample data
• ✅ DBF to Parquet Conversion
  • Automatic encoding detection
  • Support for various DBF formats
  • Robust error handling for corrupted files

Version 0.3.0 - Enhanced Features (Released)

• ✅ XML to Parquet Conversion
  • Automatic XML structure detection and analysis
  • Intelligent flattening strategies (conservative, moderate, aggressive)
  • Array handling modes (expand, concatenate, json_string)
  • Namespace processing (preserve, strip, prefix)
  • Schema preview before conversion
  • Support for compressed XML files (.xml.gz, .xml.bz2)
• ✅ CSV to Parquet conversion with auto-detection (string-based)
• CSV schema inference and native type conversion
• JSON processing and flattening
• Data validation and cleaning options
• Batch processing with pattern matching
• Configuration file support
• REST API wrapper for notebook integration
• Data type preservation options (beyond string conversion)

Version 0.4.0 - MDF Tools Infrastructure (Completed)

• ✅ MDF Tools Installer
  • Automated Docker Desktop installation (macOS/Windows/Linux)
  • SQL Server Express 2019 container setup
  • Interactive setup wizard with non-interactive mode
  • Cross-platform compatibility with system package managers
• ✅ Container Management Commands
  • 9 lifecycle commands: status, start, stop, restart, logs, test, config, uninstall
  • Rich terminal UI with status tables and progress tracking
  • Configuration management with JSON persistence
  • Health monitoring and connectivity testing
• ✅ Infrastructure Foundation
  • Complete Docker and SQL Server environment for MDF processing
  • Foundation ready for MDF file conversion implementation
  • Comprehensive documentation with live terminal examples
  • ASCII architecture diagrams and troubleshooting guides

Version 0.5.0 - MDF File Conversion (Planned)

• MDF to Parquet Converter (Issue #13)
  • SQL Server MDF file attachment and processing
  • 6-stage conversion process (matching MDB converter)
  • String-only data conversion for Phase 1 consistency
  • Batch processing with progress tracking
  • Excel summary reports with conversion statistics

Version 0.5.1 - Test Datasets Collection (Planned)

• Sample Datasets Installation (Issue #15)
  • CLI command: pyforge install sample-datasets
  • Curated test datasets for all formats (XML, MDF, DBF, MDB, CSV, PDF)
  • Multiple size categories: small (<1MB), medium (1-100MB), large (100MB-3GB)
  • Direct download from online sources with metadata
  • Organized directory structure for testing scenarios

Version 0.6.0 - Advanced Features (Future)

• SQL query support for database files
• Data transformation pipelines
• Cloud storage integration (S3, Azure Blob)
• Incremental/delta conversions
• Custom plugin development SDK

Support

If you encounter any issues or have questions:

1. Check the 📚 Complete Documentation
2. Search existing issues
3. Create a new issue
4. Join the discussion

Changelog

0.4.0 (Current Release)

• ✅ MDF Tools Installer: Complete automated Docker Desktop and SQL Server Express 2019 setup
• ✅ Cross-Platform Installation: System package managers (Homebrew, Winget, apt/yum)
• ✅ Container Management: 9 lifecycle commands for SQL Server operations
• ✅ Interactive Setup Wizard: User-guided installation with smart detection
• ✅ Rich Terminal UI: Beautiful status tables, progress bars, and error handling
• ✅ Critical Docker Fix: Proper system package manager installation (not pip)
• ✅ Infrastructure Foundation: Complete environment for MDF file processing
• ✅ Comprehensive Documentation: Live terminal examples and ASCII diagrams

0.3.0

• ✅ XML to Parquet Converter: Complete implementation with intelligent flattening
• ✅ Automatic Structure Detection: Analyzes XML hierarchy and array patterns
• ✅ Flexible Flattening Strategies: Conservative, moderate, and aggressive options
• ✅ Advanced Array Handling: Expand, concatenate, or JSON string modes
• ✅ Namespace Support: Configurable namespace processing
• ✅ Schema Preview: Optional structure preview before conversion
• ✅ Comprehensive Documentation: User guide and quick reference
• ✅ Compressed XML Support: Handles .xml.gz and .xml.bz2 files

0.2.1

• ✅ Complete Documentation Site: Comprehensive GitHub Pages documentation
• ✅ Fixed CI/CD: GitHub Actions workflow for automated PyPI publishing
• ✅ Improved Distribution: API token authentication and automation
• ✅ Better Navigation: Fixed broken links and improved project structure

0.2.0

• ✅ Excel to Parquet conversion with multi-sheet support
• ✅ MDB/ACCDB to Parquet conversion with cross-platform support
• ✅ DBF to Parquet conversion with encoding detection
• ✅ Interactive mode for Excel sheet selection
• ✅ Automatic table discovery for database files
• ✅ Progress tracking with rich terminal UI
• ✅ Excel summary reports for batch conversions
• ✅ Robust error handling and recovery

0.1.0 (Initial Release)

• PDF to text conversion
• CLI interface with Click
• Rich terminal output
• File metadata extraction
• Page range support
• Development tooling setup