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Matthijs Kool
Inspiring
January 4, 2023
Answered

Running Robohelp command line in Jenkins agent

  • January 4, 2023
  • 4 replies
  • 742 views

tldr; Robohelp 2020 and later does not work in a Jenkins agent. Robohelp 2019 classic does. What am I doing wrong?

 

We use Jenkins to automate our software build and deployment process. Generating the user manuals (authored using Robohelp) is also part of this process.

 

With Robohelp 2019 classic this works fine. The Jenkins agent invokes the Robohelp command line compiler similar to how a user would invoke the command line using a command shell or script and the manuals are generated.

 

In Robohelp 2020 and later this no longer works as the process appears to be hanging indefinitely during start up. Not even the

Adobe (R) RoboHelp
Copyright (C) 1992-2022, Adobe Inc and its licensors. All rights reserved.

message is displayed. Tested with RoboHelp 2020.5.71 and RoboHelp 2022.0.346.

 

When looking at the task manager, the various Robohelp processes that are also spawned when manually running the command line are present, so it gets that far at least.

 

I suspect this has to do with the new Robohelp being an Electron application which in general requires some sort of display to be present. I know there are ways to run headless Electron apps (for example, the `--headless' and `--disable-gpu' options), but I'm not familiar enough with it to know how to apply this to Robohelp, of if this is even possible to do as an end user.

 

I will also contact support with this question, but I'm curious to see if other users have similar problems or if this is a case of user error or misconfiguration.

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer Matthijs Kool

    With the help of support, I was able to resolve this problem. My assumption about Electron and headless applications was wrong: this turned out to be a licensing issue. We run the Jenkins agent as a Windows service, which by default runs as a different user from the one with which Robohelp was installed and licensed. Once the service was changed to run as the latter user it works perfectly.

     

     

    4 replies

    Peter Grainge
    Community Expert
    Peter GraingeCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    April 3, 2023

    @Matthijs Kool Thank you for coming back and posting the solution. So many do not. It will help someone with the same problem in the future.

    ________________________________________________________

    My site www.grainge.org includes many free Authoring and RoboHelp resources that may be of help.

     

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    M
    Matthijs KoolAuthorCorrect answer
    Inspiring
    April 3, 2023

    With the help of support, I was able to resolve this problem. My assumption about Electron and headless applications was wrong: this turned out to be a licensing issue. We run the Jenkins agent as a Windows service, which by default runs as a different user from the one with which Robohelp was installed and licensed. Once the service was changed to run as the latter user it works perfectly.

     

     

    Peter Grainge
    Community Expert
    Peter GraingeCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    January 4, 2023

    You have started the thread with TLDR which I understand is Too long, didn't read. What is too long?

     

    I haven't seen Jenkins ever reported in these forums so I think it is one for Support. See https://helpx.adobe.com/contact/enterprise-support.other.html#robohelp for your Adobe Support options. The email link tcssup@adobe.com is recommended as it reaches a team dedicated to Technical Communication Suite products including RoboHelp. 

    ________________________________________________________

    My site www.grainge.org includes many free Authoring and RoboHelp resources that may be of help.

     

    Use menu (bottom right) to mark as Best Answer or to Highlight particularly useful replies. Found the answer elsewhere? Share it here.
    M
    Matthijs KoolAuthor
    Inspiring
    January 4, 2023

    The "tldr" line just summarizes the post below. I suppose it is informal internet jargon for "Summary".

    Jeff_Coatsworth
    Community Expert
    Jeff_CoatsworthCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    January 4, 2023

    See this thread - https://community.adobe.com/t5/robohelp-discussions/robohelp-2019-release-command-line-capability/td-p/10449574 - sounds like it may not be ready yet for any New UI version of RH2019+

    M
    Matthijs KoolAuthor
    Inspiring
    January 4, 2023

    The command line does in fact work with the New UI versions (but not without problems: https://community.adobe.com/t5/robohelp-discussions/batch-compile-spotty-in-rh-2020v3/m-p/11761408#M135455). Unfortunately, it just doesn't in a Jenkins environment.

    Jeff_Coatsworth
    Community Expert
    Jeff_CoatsworthCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    January 4, 2023

    In that thread, Support was getting in touch with you - what was the resolution? Were you using Jenkins at that point or just batch command line files?

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