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Command Line Publishing Interface and Automated Builds

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Help+Manual has a full command line publishing interface that supports conditional include options, batch and INI files, skins and variable definitions. This make it possible to fully automate your publication process. The command line interface runs as a console-only process that does not open the main Help+Manual program. It returns standard exit codes that can be captured and processed by your batch files.

Generally, you will only need to use the command line interface for particularly complex publishing tasks and for integration into your regular software build process. If you just want to generate multiple versions and output formats in a single process it is easier to use the Publishing Task Manager. You can also use the Publishing Task Manager to auto-generate batch files that you can use in your own automated build processes. Publishing tasks created with the Task Manager can also be called via the command line interface as well, using the /TSK= switch.

 

 

License management for batch/build server operation

If you are going to run command line/batch publishing operations with Help+Manual from other users on your network you need to register your license for build server operation. This can be done with any Professional or Floating license version.

Command line batch activation for headless servers

Before using your machine as a build server you need to activate your license for batch use with the following command line call:

<path>HELPMAN.EXE /lic:XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Where XXXXXXXXXXXXX is your license key. The server must have an Internet connection when you do this. Upon successful activation, the digital license key for build server use is saved in the Help+Manual program directory on the headless server. You only need to do this once. After this you can run normal batch operations on the licensed computer from anywhere in your local network.