Amplifying what Peter said, there is presently no command
line support, other than the home-grown workarounds Peter
mentioned. This is an oft-requested item on the wish list and
hopefully the Adobe RoboHelp 6 that is in the works can incorporate
this. Meanwhile, it sounds like the .NET APIs in your scenario
would not help much.
Since there is not a lot of exposed .NET documentation on the
Adobe site, I thought I'd pass the following snippet. It expands on
what the .NET APIs cover. The following is snipped from the
RoboHelpdotNET.chm online help file for the RH .NET SDK. As you can
see, it's benefit is mostly calling help topics from the
application, rather than being of assistance in generating help
topics.
<snip>
.NET Web Service: The server-based technology in RoboHelp
Office Pro for .NET can operate as a self-contained .NET Web
service. The software also supports Direct Connect with Microsoft's
Visual C++ .NET. With a single query to the server, developers
working in Visual C++ .NET can obtain everything they need to
easily integrate context-sensitive Help into their
application.
.NET APIs: For developers who are working in .NET, but don't
require the power of a full Web service, RoboHelp Office Pro for
.NET provides additional context-sensitive Help APIs that can be
used in Visual C++ .NET, C# .NET, Visual Basic .NET, and ASP .NET.
These APIs facilitate the integration of context-sensitive Help
into your application.
New context-sensitive Help APIs: Quickly and easily create
context-sensitive Help for your all of your .NET applications. We
have written new context-sensitive Help APIs for Visual C++ .NET,
ASP.NET, Visual Basic .NET and C# .NET so that developers creating
standalone Web applications (WebForms) can use either standard
WebHelp or WebHelp Pro as their .NET Help solution.
Note: APIs are NOT necessary for WebHelp Pro. When a
developer is developing a .NET Web service, they actually call the
RoboEngine.NET from within Visual C++ .NET using Direct Connect
technology. The RoboEngine automatically provides the developer
with the technology they need to add context-sensitive support to
their application. This is built into .NET Web
services.
</snip>
Thanx,
john
John Daigle
Adobe Certified RoboHelp and Captivate Instructor
Newport, Oregon