RoboHelp Pro for .NET features a help to automation???

[dchang73]

We have help contents generated by our program that we need to merge into an existing RoboHelp project. Once the merge is done, we generate a .CHM file from the project.

Because we generate this content through a nightly batch, we would like to automate the process of merging these content into the RoboHelp project and compilation into .CHM file also.

We found out about the api that comes with RoboHelp Pro for .NET, we would like to know if the api will allow us to pump info into the RoboHelp project. Also, would the api allow us to kick off a compilation of the RoboHelp project.

Your help is much appreciated.

[Peter Grainge]

Welcome to the forum.

Somebody more familiar with APIs can help me here but aren't they all about how the application you are developing calls the help rather than how the help project calls the content?

Command line creation of output is covered many times in previous posts so try a search. In short about the only ways of doing it are (ab)using an automated test tool such as Rational Rose or maybe a very clever macro with Macro Express.

[johndaigle]

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