Scheduling Builds with the Build Scheduler

Using the Build Scheduler, you can schedule and monitor automatic builds of targets. One-time, daily, and weekly builds can be scheduled. 

All of the scheduled builds created display in the Build Scheduler window. Only those with a check mark in the Enabled column will be run. The project name, status, build time, the time of the next and the last build, and the result of the last build are displayed for each scheduled build.

You can build all of the targets for a project from a single build schedule.

The toolbar in the Build Scheduler lets you create, edit, and delete builds; view build logs; run any build on the spot; and refresh the window.

  1. Select File > Tools > Build Scheduler. The Build Scheduler opens.

  2. In the local toolbar, click . The Schedule Build dialog opens.

    You can open the Schedule Build dialog directly from a Doc-To-Help project. Open the project and from the Home tab, click the drop-down arrow at the bottom of the Build or Rebuild buttons. Choose Schedule Build from the options.

  3. In the Project field, click and choose the project.
  4. Select the check box next to each target in that project you would like to build.
  5. Choose the Build type. For an explanation of the difference between Build and Rebuild, see Building Targets.
  6. Choose the Schedule type. You have the choice of One time, Daily, and Weekly.
  7. Choose the Start time and date. If you have chosen a Daily or Weekly build, you can then choose when the build should recur.
  8. Click OK.

Note If you choose to schedule daily builds, the default is for the targets to build every day at the chosen time (Recur every 1 days). If you would prefer to choose the exact days your builds will occur (e.g., every weeknight, choose the Schedule type of Daily and select the days of the week).

After you create a new task using the previous set of steps, you can also do the following in the Build Scheduler:

  • Edit To edit a build schedule, select it, and click the Edit the Selected Task button.
  • Delete Task To delete a task, select it and click the Delete Selected Task button.
  • View Build Log After your build tasks are run,  the log files are stored within your project's Temp\BuildLogs folder. Every target will have a separate folder, and the log file names will have the "schedule_" prefix (e.g., "schedule_2010-11-15_16-60-50.log"). To view the build log of a task, select it and click the View Build Log of Selected Task button.
  • Run Task To run a task immediately, select it and click the Run Selected Task button.
  • Refresh List Click the Refresh Task Status button to refresh the task list.

Note When the scheduled build for a project is building, you cannot open that project. If you open a project and it is scheduled to build within that time frame,  the scheduled build will not begin (it will fail). You can open, edit, and build any other Doc-To-Help project while the scheduled build of another project is building.

Note Windows Task Scheduler must be started for Doc-To-Help's Build Scheduler to run. To check the status of the Windows Build Scheduler:

Windows 7 and later: Click Start > Control Panel > System and Security > Administrative Tools > Scheduled Tasks.