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M
matt_e_moore
Participant
February 11, 2009
Question

RoboHelp 8 RHCL .exe command-line, can this automate updating of linked .fm files?

  • February 11, 2009
  • 2 replies
  • 6109 views
My work flow is as follows.

.fm files -> .book file -> linked in RoboHelp 8 project -> automated build of WebHelpPro via RHCL.exe.

If any of the .fm files are changed, the changes are NOT propogated to the WebHelp I generate because running the generate command from RHCL does not update the linked .fm files.

If I follow the same work flow but build WebHelp from the RoboHelp GUI then it prompts me, "Do you want to update linked files?"

So my question is, "Is there any way to force updating linked files at generate time?"
RoboHelp project property?
RHCL command line argument?

Thanks in advance,

Matt Moore
    This topic has been closed for replies.

    2 replies

    M
    matt_e_mooreAuthor
    Participant
    February 13, 2009
    Thank you for your help Mayank.

    My new problem is that the linked files are done by absolute path rather than relative path so the linked files are 'broken' in the .xpj when they are copied to the build box as they are copied to a different folder path then on my machine.

    I tried to create a script that would open the .xpj and import the individual .fm files but that is failing. RoboHelp opens, my project is loaded, FrameMaker opens, yet no new files are in my RoboHelp.

    For now I will stick with a manual generate from RoboHelp and commit the output pre-build rather than full automation/CI.

    Thanks Mayank for your help, I've learned quite a bit from this.

    Matt
    Mayank_Agrawal
    Mayank_Agrawal
    Participating Frequently
    February 17, 2009
    Inorder to solve your absolute path problem, you can try "Create a Copy and Link" option. This option creates a copy of the original source FM document. This copy is placed in the RH project folder and the copy is linked. RH keeps a relative path of the link. This option can be set in the "Import" tab of "Project Settings" dialog.

    Besides this, if you want to go with scipt you were trying to write, you can share the script with me at my email id magrawalATadobeDOTcom
    Mayank_Agrawal
    Mayank_Agrawal
    Participating Frequently
    March 22, 2010

    The script file attachment is somehow missing from my first post in this thread.

    Here is the download link of the script.

    Download Script

    Mayank Agrawal

    RoboHelp Engineering

    Mayank_Agrawal
    Mayank_Agrawal
    Participating Frequently
    February 12, 2009
    You can use RoboHelp's scripting feature to achieve this.
    Below is a simple script that should solve the purpose. Save this script in a text file with extension .jsx (e.g. UpdateFM.jsx)
    Place the script file at the appropirate location and call this script from command line before making a call to RHCL.exe. This can be done by typing the following command from command line
    RoboHTML.exe -x UpdateFM.jsx

    In case you face any issue, I can send you the script file.

    Another way can be to not to use RHCL.exe at all. RoboHelp scripting is powerful enough to take care of SSL generation as well. The script can be modified to achieve this. In that case calling just the script should suffice.
    Please let me know in case any further elboration is required.
    M
    matt_e_mooreAuthor
    Participant
    February 12, 2009
    Can you direct me to the RoboHelp ExtendScript reference docs?
    Mayank_Agrawal
    Mayank_Agrawal
    Participating Frequently
    February 13, 2009
    You can view the Object Model of scripting from ExtendScript Tookit.
    1. In ExtendScript Tookit goto Help -> Object Model Viewer menu
    2. Viewer will launch. Select "Adobe RoboHelp 8 Object Library" from the Browser drop down on the top left of the viewer

    You can also refer the sample scripts installed with RoboHelp8
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