Command Line User's Manual
The stand alone User's Manual is available here

Introduction
The command line version of DeepSkyStacker is intended to simplify all the batch processing.
The command line version of DeepSkyStacker is sharing the registering and stacking engine of DeepSkyStacker. In other words you will have exactly the same results using either the command line or stand alone versions.

At this time, all the settings are shared between the stand-alone DeepSkyStacker and the command-line DeepSkyStacker including RAW settings, registering and stacking settings, temporary file folder...

It means that before using the command-line version you must use the stand-alone version to set all the values accordingly to your settings.
In future versions it will be possible to override some settings with additional command-line parameters.

Command Line parameters
The command line version of DeepSkyStacker is invoked by using DeepSkyStackerCL.exe located in the DeepSkyStacker folder at the time of the installation.

The command line should look like:

DeepSkyStackerCL.exe [/r|R] [/S] [/SC] [/SR] [/O:<OutputFileName>] [/OFxxx] [/OCx] <ListFileName>

Where the parameters are:

/r
 		 Register light frames (only if they are not already registered)
 
/R
 		 Register light frames (even if they are already registered - equivalent to the force register option)
 
/S
 		 Stack light frames
 
/SC Stack light frames and for each light frame create a file containing the calibrated light frame.
 
/SR
 		 Stack light frames and for each light frame create a file containing the registered and calibrated light frame.
 
/O:<OutputFileName>



 

 Optional name of the output file name (implies /S or /SC)
By default the output file name is Autosave.tif and is located in the first light frame folder.
Note that the output file will always be a TIFF file even if the extension is something else.
The folder in which the file will be created must exist.
 
/OFxxx



 		 Output file format.
Possible values are:
/OF16 or /OF16i : 16 bit integer precision
/OF32 or /OF32i : 32 bit integer precision
/OF32r : 32 bit rational precision (this is the default value)
 
/OCx



 		 Output compression.
Possible values are:
/OC0 : no compression (this is the default value)
/OC1 : LZW compression
/OC2 : ZIP (deflate) compression
 
/FITS Save the output file in FITS format (default is TIFF)
 
<ListFileName>

 		 Full path to a list file like one created by the stand-alone version of DeepSkyStacker
(see format details below).
 

Examples
DeepSkyStackerCL.exe /R c:\MyDSSLists\MyList.txt
Will register (even already registered) all the light frames of the c:\MyDSSLists\MyList.txt file list.
If the file list contains offsets/bias, dark and flat frames they will be used (and the masters will be created) by the registering process.

DeepSkyStackerCL.exe /R /S c:\MyDSSLists\MyList.txt
Will register (even already registered) then stack all the light frames of the c:\MyDSSLists\MyList.txt file list.
If the file list contains offsets/bias, dark and flat frames they will be used (and the masters will be created) by the registering and the stacking processes.
The output file will be a 32 bit rational TIFF file named Autosave.tif located in the folder of the first light frame of the list.

DeepSkyStackerCL.exe /r /SR c:\MyDSSLists\MyList.txt
Will register (only not already registered) then stack all the light frames of the c:\MyDSSLists\MyList.txt file list.
If the file list contains offsets/bias, dark and flat frames they will be used (and the masters will be created) by the registering and the stacking processes.
The output file will be a 32 bit rational TIFF file named Autosave.tif located in the folder of the first light frame of the list.
Furthermore for each stackable light frame a TIFF of FITS file named from the light frame name with a .reg.tif or .reg.fts extension will be created that will contain the registered and calibrated light frame.

DeepSkyStackerCL.exe /S /OF16i /OC2 /O:c:\MyDSSResults\Result.tif c:\MyDSSLists\MyList.txt
Will stack all the light frames of the c:\MyDSSLists\MyList.txt file list.
If the file list contains offsets/bias, dark and flat frames they will be used (and the masters will be created) by the stacking processes.
The output file will be a 16 bit integer ZIP(DEFLATE) compressed TIFF file named c:\MyDSSResults\Result.tif.

File List format
A File List is a text file which structure is the following:

The first line must contain DSS file list
The second line must contain  CHECKED<TAB>TYPE<TAB>FILE
Where <TAB> is the tabulation character (ASCII 09)

The other lines must be in the following form if they are describing a file entry:
[checked]<TAB>[type]<TAB>[full path name]

Where [checked] is 1 if the frame is checked and 0 if it's not checked.
(non checked frames are ignored by DeepSkyStackerCL)
Where [type] is light for a light frame (or reflight for the reference light frame), dark or darkflat for a dark frame, flat for a flat frame and offset for an offset/bias frame.
Where [full path name] is the full path name to the file.

If a line is describing a group change it must have the following form:
#GROUPID#<Group Number>
All the files located after the line describing the group change and until the next group change will be put in the group <Group Number>. <Group Number> must be a positive integer value.
When no group is specified the files are put in the Main Group (ID 0).

You can very easily create File Lists from DeepSkyStacker by using the Save File List... command.