weblog.helpinfo.eu

April Reagan’s thoughts on the future of the MSDN Library (local help), an often ignored, but critical feature for many developers. April also talks about her ThinkWeek paper that Bill Gates commented on, talks about the two big priorities for the next release and asks C9′ers for feedback on their thoughts for how to modernize local help.

• MSDN Channel9 Video (posted 30 Jan 2008):
  http://channel9.msdn.com/Showpost.aspx?postid=377501
• Aprils Blog:
  http://blogs.msdn.com/aprilr/default.aspx

Just want to have some XAML graphs displayed in a help topic and rather have them in a vector format seemed to be a problem. One request was that the user can see without having to install additional plugins (as needed for SVGs).

Assuming that anybody reading a help file about code using WPF/XAML/Silverlight have it installed already and is able to see it. Otherwise a “Get Microsoft Silverlight” is displayed. The Silverlight.js included is the one shipped with the Silverlight SDK.

Download a CHM example (and HTMLHelp Workshop Project) to see how it works.

HHReg, a popular free HTML Help registration utility designed by EC-Software has been updated to version 1.2 and now comes with a dual-language binary that contains English and German. HHReg is designed for end users and security is a critical issue! For this reason, HHReg detects the system language and automatically switches the user interface language.

See: http://www.ec-software.com/products_hhreg.html

WinHelp32 Download for Vista (32bit and 64bit versions) is now available on the Microsoft Download Center.

With this release, Vista customers can now install the WinHelp application on their system and securely view .HLP files on Windows Vista. This release applies to Windows Vista x86 and x64 only.

The WinHelp for Vista KB article will be updated with release documentation soon. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/917607/en-us

Microsoft has released Windows Vista to manufacturing in anticipation of a November 30 business launch and a wider January 2007 launch to consumers.

Vista includes the new Assistance Platform Help 1.0 with content for the Help and Support Center. Only Microsoft, Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) and corporate users will be able to customize this help content for the operating system and OEM help.

AP Help 2.x is not available yet. Microsoft no longer have immediate plans to release a public version of AP Help. So, Microsoft has not decided if it will be an assistance platform for third-party vendors or another Microsoft-only platform.

Within Business Desktop Deployment 2007 (BDD 2007) is the AP Help SDK. This is primarily for integrating Microsoft and OEM help content into Vista Help. It is not recommended for general use. BDD can be run on Windows XP but you will need Vista (and possibly Win 2003 SP1 server) to test the output. See BDD 2007 Download.

Just one week after shipping a surprisingly stable, full-featured, and bug-free pre-Release Candidate 1 (RC1) version of Windows Vista, Microsoft released Vista RC1 to the public. And in the days and weeks ahead, an astonishing number of people will be running this Vista version. Microsoft says it plans to deliver Vista RC1 to more than 6 million people.
RC1 includes the new Assistance Platform Help 1.x.

There is basically a new team in charge of help now and they probably don’t have the same timeline as before. But keep watching. We believe AP help will happen eventually. After all it is the core help shipping with the Windows Vista OS.

Some good news on the Windows Vista / WinHelp front. Microsoft have now decided that Longhorn users can download the WinHelp32 engine. Originally MS indicated WinHelp would not work on Windows Vista at all.

Its official. The notice has been published as a KB article KB917607 at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/917607/en-us

“… Users who want to view .hlp files must download the program from the Microsoft Download Center, and then install it on their computers. The download for Windows Help is still in development and will not be available for the release of Windows Vista Beta 2…”

Microsoft is rethinking its strategy with regard to Windows Vista Help. There are no decisions to announce, but it’s possible that MAML (which they’re now calling just AML) will not ever be widely available as an authoring platform. Microsoft is currently researching how software developers can best supported in creating Help in subsequent releases of Windows.