Building from the Command Line

HelpStudio includes a command line console .exe which can be used to build a project as part of an automated build process. The command line .exe outputs any errors or warnings to the console so that they can be logged and returns an exit code to indicate the success or failure of the build.

Command Line Build .exe Location

The command line build .exe can be found in the \bin sub-directory below the HelpStudio installation directory which by default is C:\Program Files\Innovasys\HelpStudio2024\bin.

Command Line Parameters

HelpStudioCommandLine.exe "c:\path\project.hsp" [/buildconfiguration="buildconfigurationname"]

The BuildConfiguration parameter is optional – by default the first profile is built.

You can define BuildConfigurations in HelpStudio Project Settings editor that build different combinations of profiles / locales.

64bit version: If you are running on a 64bit operating system and are documenting a 64bit only assembly or a very large project that would benefit from the larger memory space available in 64bit, you can use the 64bit version of the command line exe - named HelpStudioCommandLinex64.exe.

Exit Codes

The following exit codes are returned by the command line build .exe:

-1	Project file missing or not found. The project filename could not be located. Ensure that you enclose any paths containing spaces with quote characters.
-2	Build readiness issues exist that prevent the build from executing. Open the project in HelpStudio and start the build to view the Build Readiness issues.
-3	Build Configuration not found. The build configuration name specified using the /buildconfiguration parameter could not be found in the project.
-10	An unexpected error was encountered during the build process.
-100	Build partially completed (one or more outputs completed with warnings).
-101	One or more outputs completed with errors.

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