HelpStudio Ant Task

Description

This task allows for HelpStudio projects to be created via Ant. To use it, put the HelpStudioAnt-<version>.jar file in an accessible location and add the following to your Ant script:

    <taskdef name="helpstudio" classname="net.sf.helpstudioant.Task" classpath="HelpStudioAnt-<version>.jar"/>

At the moment, it is not possible to use spaces in build profiles or booklet names due to automatic escaping through Ant that HelpStudio cannot handle. For more information on the command line options, please see the HelpStudio documentation. You may download files or ask questions on the forum by visiting the project summary page.

HelpStudioAnt will check if the outputfile is uptodate if you set the checkAgainst attribute. This will normally be the same as the outputfile (even for build profiles where this is not used). However, as HelpStudioAnt has no knowledge of the internal structure of your help project, it is not possible to say if the changed resources would be included in the output. In case you just use the html output and don´t compile a help file, you should set this attribute to some file that gets generated, e.g. webframe.html (Help 1.x).

Starting with HelpStudio 3, the compiler may output some warning messages. This is nothing this Ant task could prevent.

Parameters

Attribute	Description	Required	Default
executable	The path/name to the HelpStudio executable. If you have the executable on the %PATH%, you can omit the path here. If you don´t specify the name either, HelpStudioAnt will use the internal default value.	no, if present on %PATH%	helpstudio3.exe
projectfile	The path and filename of the projectfile	yes
buildprofile	The name of the buildprofile to create (Currently, no spaces allowed)	Exactly one of these
booklet	The name of the booklet to create (Currently, no spaces allowed)	Exactly one of these
silent	If set to "false" shows a message box after build	no	true
result	Shows a result page after build (Currently, HelpStudio doesn´t support this for booklets)	no	false
progress	Shows a progress dialog during build (Currently, HelpStudio doesn´t support this for booklets)	no	false
nodx	Don´t build Document!X content	no	false
outputdir	Sets the output directory (only available for build profiles). If not set, the directory specified in the HelpStudio project will be used. (Currently, no spaces allowed)	no
outputfile	Sets the output filename (only available for booklets). If not set, the filename specified in the HelpStudio project will be used. HelpStudio will use the project file´s directory if you don´t explicitly specify the path within this property. (Currently, no spaces allowed)	no
checkagainst	Specifies the file to use as a target file when checking if output is uptodate.	no
builddirname	Specifies the name of the build directory for build profile output. You should use this if you changed the default output directory so HelpStudioAnt is able to ignore this directory when checking if output is uptodate.	no	"Build"
localeid	Specifies the locale id to be built.	no
failonerror	Stop the buildprocess if HelpStudio exits with a returncode other than 0 or other errors occur	no	true
debug	Prints out debugging information	no	false

Examples

<helpstudio 
	path="c:/program files/innovasys/helpstudio2/bin"
	projectfile="c:/projects/myproject.hsp"
	booklet="manual"
	/>

Creates the booklet "manual" from the project "myproject"

<helpstudio 
	path="c:/program files/innovasys/helpstudio2/bin"
	projectfile="c:/projects/myproject.hsp"
	buildprofile="Default"
	progress="true"
	result="true"
	/>

Creates the build profile "Default" and shows progress and a result page.

<helpstudio 
	path="c:/program files/innovasys/helpstudio2/bin"
	projectfile="c:/projects/myproject.hsp"
	booklet="manual"
	checkAgainst="c:/projects/docs/output/build/manual.pdf"
	/>

Creates a booklet if the output is not uptodate.

<helpstudio 
	path="c:/program files/innovasys/helpstudio2/bin"
	projectfile="c:/projects/myproject.hsp"
	buildprofile="Default"
	checkAgainst="c:/projects/docs/output/build/help.chm"
	/>

Creates a build profile if the output is not uptodate.