Version 4.49
released September 2nd, 2008
- Resizable Class Import Window
Adjusted the .NET Import Class options window so that the window can be resized to show a larger list of classes at a time. This makes the dialog considerably more visual when dealing with large assemblies for single or multiple class selection.
- Fixed Internal and Static Class Import
Fixed a bug that imported internal classes as private. Also fixed several issues related to static property imports.
- Updated Capture Routines to support SnagIt 9.x
SnagIt 9.x uses a slightly different capture mechanism and so a few adjustments were made to work with SnagIt 9. Note that there are two bugs with the SnagIt COM object that are not resolved: a) In SnagIt's Demo (non-registered) mode the Save As file dialog box may pop up behind the SnagIt editor (if hit Alt-Tab and the Save dialog will pop to the top). b) The SnagIt editor does not release after a capture is completed. Techsmith is reviewing these issues, but unfortunately it looks like they don't agree that this behavior is unfitting for automation support. We'll see if these issues will get fixed.
- Reworked Word Spellchecking and Editing
Due to changes in security and Word 2007 window management the SpellChecking and Edit in Word options now pop up full instances of Word. While not as smooth as the previous inplace editing support, it doesn't require system configuration or any other configuration as long as MS Word is installed.
- Many small Bug Fixes
Over the last few months we've been holding off on new features and going through recent bug report lists and have fixed a large number of small recurring issues which have been merged into this release.
Version 4.47
released March 27, 2008
- Updates to the Word Template
The default Word output template has a few adjustments to work better with Office 2007. The new template also includes additional code to inject a table of contents into the Word document.
- New Style Selection Dialog
The Style drop down menu options has been replaced with a dialog that lets you select styles from a list. The list works better for longer style selections. There's also a new selection choice that lets you choose between <div> or <span> style inclusion of the styles. The style list is now also filtered to only styles that can be assgined as classes.
- Configuration File Format changed to XML
The wwHelp.ini file format has been changed to XML and the file renamed to wwHelp.config. Although easier to edit by hand the previously used INI file format had a number of issues with long configuration settings stored there (like the recent file list). Note the new format will result in losing your existing configuration settings like fonts, editors used etc. if you are updating from a previous version.
Version 4.46
released January 2, 2008
- Option to update Icons and Templates from stock Templates
There's a new set of buttons on the Options dialog that allow you to quickly update both icons and templates from the stock Help Builder icons and templates. Please note: If you have created custom templates (or icons) do not use these options or back up your customized templates first.
- Static member Display Icons
Added support for displaying Static icons for static members in class list and member templates. The import has been updated to properly set the static flag for .NET class members and checkbox allows setting this flag on each class member topic. There's also a new add-in to fix existing projects and properly set the static flag without having to reimport from assemblies.
*** Action Required:
There's a new static.gif icon used to display the static status, so you should update your Icons or copy static.gif into the BMP folder of your project. The Header_Template.wcs file has also been updated to check for the static flag and display the icon and should be updated. There are several additional template changes so we recommend you update your templates and style sheet with the Template Update option from the Options form.
- Code Pasting Improvements in WYSIWYG Edit Mode
If you're using WYSIWYG mode for editing you can now paste code from Visual Studio and Sql Management Studio directly into Help Builder. This operation now preserves all formatting from the VS code editor. Other types of RTF based paste operations pop up a dialog that allows you to choose a code format (or Plain Text) to paste data. This greatly simplifies posting code into the visual editor.
- Syntax Highlighting Support for SQL and JavaScript added
The code formatting functionality used for text mode editing and all non Visual Studio pasting into the WYSIWYG editor now supports JavaScript and SQL syntax options and formatting.
Action Recommended:
If you are updating from a previous you have to manually enable Visual Studio 2008 support on the Options | Administration page.
- Visual Studio 2008 Add-in Support
Added support for Add-in hook up in Visual Studio 2008. Help Builder now automatically detects Visual Studio 2008 and installs itself on first launch.
- Added ProjectName to wwHelp::OpenForm COM and .NET Method
Several people have commented that OpenForm would not respect the project that is currently open in the wwHelp object. This is because OpenForm actually starts up a brand new instance of the Help Builder IDE (if it isn't loaded yet) and so doesn't see the existing instance. There's now a third parameter that can optionally be used to explicitly open a Help Builder Project file with OpenFile.
- Bug Fixes
Fixed PRG import for bogus method import. Several minor fixes relating the wwHelp COM and .NET Automation objects. Updated add-in sample code and documentation. Fixed casing bugs for various image insertion routines - inserted images now properly respect disk file casing. Fixed imports of Exception XML Comment tags in C# and VB code. Several fixes regarding .NET type and member imports in regards to <see> links from XML documentation. Fixed several issues with Add-in functionality in Visual Basic.
Version 4.42
released 7/27/2007
- Syntax Highlighting Enhancements
Help Builder's code markup engine has been updated. You can apply syntax highlight for various supported languages against any block of text. There have been a few updates to the syntax highlighting routines that can be used to insert text and automatically syntax color it. There have been updates for C# and VB.NET and JavaScript and SQL have been added as new supported languages for pasted 'formatted text'.
- Miscellaneous UI Updates
There have been many small UI tweaks to improve usability in small subtle ways. Several dialogs now auto-complete by default making for quicker operation in various places.
- Update to command line Assembly import and Help file generation
The command line help file creation now can generate an error message file instead of displaying a forced message box to aid in automatic build scenarios. A new output error file parameter allows specifying of a file to receive error message that can be checked for by a build process.
- Multi-user improvements
The update mechanism that Help Builder uses to update topics has been modified to allow improved multi-user performance and operation. Topic saves no longer do wholesale updates of fields when updating entries but rather update only values that have actually changed since editing. This can avoid save operations entirely in many situations and results in fewer multi-user conflicts. Help Builder still uses a last edit wins mechanism for conflict resolution, but with these changes there should be fewer conflicts to resolve.
- Miscellaneous Bug Fixes
Fixed several issues related to HTML Help 2.0 compilation regarding title encoding and error display of compilation errors.
Version 4.40
released 4/27/2007
- Added Support for nested Templates and Template Headers and Footers
There's new embeddable expression < %= ExecuteTemplate("MyTemplate.wcs") % > that allows creating nested templates that can externalize reusable content. Many topic templates contain the same headers and footers and rather than maintaining these headers and footers (or whatever other reusable content you may have) in all of the topic templates, you can now simply 'call out' to another template to load the content. This makes it much easier to create reusable headers and footers while leaving the core template formatting consistent.
- Separate Header_Template and Footer_Template added to default Template Schemes
In light of the support for recursive templates, the latest set of templates break out the headers and footers into separate templates files that are called from the individual topic templates. Headers and footers are frequently used for theming and this should make it much easier to create a unique look or add special functionality (like a Comment on this topic or a copyright notice) to each topic. There are now also additional template editing options off the Treeview menu - you can now edit the active topic template for the current topic, the global style sheet and the header and footer template and a more generic option to open the template directory in Explorer.
- Improved Multi-Monitor Awareness
Previous versions didn't do very well with multiple monitors if the second expanded monitor was removed from a setup and a preview window or the main window were located on the second screen. Help Builder now properly checks window locations when loading main and preview windows to ensure that the windows can be displayed. When a monitor is removed while Help Builder is running, minimizing and reselecting the Help Builder Icon brings it onto the main monitor as well. Also fixed several issues with the preview window and multiple monitors and the preview window resizing and/or moving off the screen.
- File casing consistency for case sensitive Web Servers
Changed the default filenaming scheme to always use lower case filenames for any generated files and static links. This should facilitate dropping Web Documentation content onto Web Servers that are case sensitive.
*** Action Required:
In order to take advantage of this feature make sure to update your templates and ensure that all files in the projects BMP folder are lower cased. The easiest way is to simply copy the BMP folder from the Help Builder installation. Also ensure that you update your files on the server accordingly - either by deleting the entire project on the server or by manually updating files.
- More tweaks to Generics Imports and Generics in two-way editing of XML Comments
There have been many additional tweaks to improve importing of Generic types into Help Builder. Althogh this functionality has been functional, there were a few quirks with certain Generic parameter configurations that have been addressed.
- Miscellaneous Bug Fixes
Fixed several reported crash issues related to WYSIWYG editing. Several issues with SnagIt screen captures also have been addressed. Both of these address a few random crashes that have been common in WYSIWYG edit mode. A few small changes have been made to the templates to improve readability and the CSS stylesheet. Fixed bug in the script parser which could cause errors when strings between expressions were exactly 81 characters long. Fixed bug in FoxPro DBC import that would fail if Buffering is enabled in DBCs due to MULTILOCKS failures.
- Improved Topic History
Help Builder now better tracks your accessed topic history for the session so you can move backwards and forwards through the last accessed topics. The history list dropdown is also improved to provide easy access to the last used topics.
- Updates for Multi-User operation
Help Builder can operate with multiple users sharing the same help project. There have been several updates that help with concurrency issues of topic updates. The overall process of 'Last update wins' hasn't changed, however, topics are updated only selectively now rather than updating all field data.
- Miscellaneous UI Updates
Updated a number of the icons and menu link in the application to be clearer and more readable to provide a more consistent experience. A number of the context menu links have been consolidated into sub menus to provide a less cluttered interface.
- .NET Import Improvements
Help Builder now properly imports Exception information off XML Comments (Note your templates might need be updated in existing projects to show Exception info). Several minor bugs fixed related to Generic type imports. Several improvements in the Import .NET Class dialog. Fixed issue with file selection dialog that didn't show .NET binary files properly.
Version 4.38
11/15/2006
- Updates for Vista
Fixes a .NET registration problem under Vista that doesn't allow the .NET import routines to work under Vista. Fixed with a new .NET runtime location sniffing.
- Miscellaneous Bug Fixes
This realease includes a few fixes for reported bugs. There have also been a handful of tweaks to the way .NET imports deal with Generic types and parameters.
- New HTML TableOfContents Template
You can now customize the Table of Contents template used to generate the table of contents for the HTML frame view. Previously this page was hardcoded. You can now modify the base layout of this page to customize the layout and links.
Version 4.35
5/23/2006
- Miscellaneous updates to FoxPro VCX Imports
There have been a number of small adjustments to the Visual FoxPro VCX importing mechanism. Help Builder now reads MemberData for name info so member case is preserved. It also fixes a bug that didn't recognize Hidden members properly when only Public member were supposed to be imported. Default values are now also pulled for property values if available.
- Miscellaneous updates to .NET assembly Imports
Help Builder now properly pulls in Exceptions from XmlDocumentation. There have also been a handful of adjustments to how return values and default values are pulled in, which didn't always work previously.
- .NET Type Import Dialog redesigned
The .NET type import dialog has been redesigned to allow easier selection of types using a tree display that shows the assembly, namespaces and classes in a more visual view than the previous plain drop down list. You can now also select multiple types for import to provide an intermediate alternative to full assembly imports.
Version 4.30
4/14/2006
- SQL Connection String persists
When importing multiple SQL Tables or Sql Databases the connection string is not maintained so you don't have to keep re-entering it. The string is persisted only through the current session and not written to disk like other remembered settings.
- .NET Imports retrieve parent embed parent class links for inherited members
If you import a DotNet class and choose to import non-declared members (ie. all parentclass members) Help Builder now displays and tries to link the parentclass type. MSDN links to stock .NET types and links into the current help project are provided. This feature only works when .NET 2.0 is available on the machine.
- .NET Framework Type Lookups now use .NET 2.0 MSDN library
When importing types any base types that reference the Microsoft Base Class Library now reference the .NET 2.0 MSDN links online. Previously the 1.x links were accessed.
- Fixed Example Field import in .NET Imports
Examples now properly import from .NET Xml Documentation respecting the line breaks properly. Previously class level example where not imported and if WordWrap was chosen on imports the formatting was lost.
- Miscellaneous Bug Fixes
Fixed various issues with undo (Ctrl-Z) behavior in body fields. Fixed bug in the 'excluding top level topics' feature for import that caused only one de-selection to actually take.
- Note: Future updates to .NET Type imports require .NET 2.0
Any changes to the .NET type parsing routines from here on out are going to be provided only on the .NET 2.0 version of the wwReflection assembly (wwReflection20.dll). Help Builder will automatically use .NET 2.0 if available or revert to the 1.1 version if only 1.1 is installed. However, any new features will only be added to the 2.0 version since it is backwards compatible and works with 1.x types. Some of the new features added in this release will only work if .NET 2.0 is installed and used. If you've been using Help Builder for some time, and you have .NET 2.0 installed you might want to re-register the Help Builder Interop Assembly to make sure everything is updated to use .NET 2.0. You can find this option in the Options Dialog on the Administration tab.
Version 4.25
12/9/2005
- Drag and Drop Sorting in the topics view
You can now drag and drop topics to resort them within a given topic tree. When you drag and drop a topic from one location to another in the topic tree you now get 4 options to drag below the node, or move before or after the node or cancel. This has been one of the most requested features for Help Builder.
- Update for Generic Imports with .NET types
The last update included rudimentary support for Generics - this update provides more complete support, including proper type signatures and matched imports from XML documentation. Note that some of the new features rely on updates in the underlying templates, so please be sure to update or compare your CLASS templates - specifically make sure that the Syntax and Topic fields are using the What's new syntax.
- New Microsoft Runtimes: Please install the full version
This version ships with a new set of runtime from Microsoft, so it's highly recommended that you do a full reinstall with this version, rather than simply updating through the update service. To do so, uninstall the old version and then simply reinstall the new version - all of your settings will stay intact. The runtimes are a core system component and this requires a full install procedure. The new runtime updates solve a number of small issues in the application environment, specifically a number of edit box related scroll/redraw issues with large text.
Version 4.20
10/31/2005
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Type Imports for .NET 2.0 Assemblies
Help Builder was previously hardwired to the 1.1 version of the .NET framework due to incompatibilities with various pre-release beta versions of .NET. Help Builder now includes a new version of the wwReflection interop assembly that specifically supports .NET 2.0 features. This means you can now parse .NET 2.0 assemblies properly as long as NET 2.0 is installed. Note if .NET 2.0 is not installed opening a 2.0 assembly for import will fail.
Note to existing users: Make sure you re-register the Interop assemblies in the Options Dialog.
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Support for .NET 2.0 Generic Type imports
You can now important generic types. Generic types display their generic parameters as part of the class definition. Note, this feature requries that .NET 2.0 is installed on the machine. In order to take advantage of this new feature make sure to Re-register the .NET Interop Assembly in the Options Dialog .
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Visual Studio 2005 Add-in Support
With the release of VS.NET 2005 Help Builder now works in Visual Studio 2005. We've ported our VS 2003 add-in to support VS.NET 2005. To enable and disable VS.NET 2005 Add-In support use the Options dialog.
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Improved support for Visual Basic Imports
There have been a number of improvements in type imports when using Visual Basic as the documentation language. The function and sub signatures now use the more common MSDN documentation format. With VS.NET 2005 XML Comments also work now with Visual Basic and can be picked up directly by Help Builder as they have with C# previously.
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Improved Undo/Redo behavior for Formatted Text entry
The text input setup includes updated Undo/Redo behavior that provides more standard behavior. Previously the behavior was limited to current edit updates. The new behavior remembers undo state for the duration of the loaded topic.
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Some Bug Fixes
Removed the automatic pretty formatting options for HTML when in WYSIWYG edit mode. The Tidy cleanup caused a few problems with embedded code and some formatting options Help Builder provides.
Version 4.18
10/10/2005
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New SnagIt Screen Capture Configuration Options
We've added a few more configuration options for screen captures with SnagIt. You can now configure the output file format and color depth of captures. This should help reduce configuration changes in SnagIt itself especially for multiple captures and can provide big image size reductions if capturing at lower color depths.
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Added support for Drag and Drop into Help Builder Text Editor
You can now drag and drop images and hyperlinks into Help Builder's Text editor. Images dropped can be automatically moved to the project's image folder. You can also drag and drop URLs off a Web Browser instance and automatically have them linked in Help Builder. Note this new feature applies only to text editing view. In WYSIWYG mode the drag and drop behavior is slightly different and based on the behavior of Internet Explorer's Editing interface.
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Improved HTML Index Display
Changed the Index display page for the HTML view to provide expandable sections for any expandable topic that has content below it. This changes the old behavior which was based on a few specific topic types. This means you now get expansion for topics underneath topics instead of the always expanded view for certain topic types.
Version 4.17
8/15/2005
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.NET Import Improvements
We fixed a few open issue in the .NET Importing routines, including properly catching and managing Internal/Friend member in imports. The Type Import dialog now also sorts properly.
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HTML Editor Access
If you are editing topics in HTML edit mode and you review the HTML content in text view you can now bring up your configure HTML Template editor directly from the edit box context menu. This should make it easier to edit complex HTML with proper syntax coloring.
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Commandline RESET feature
You can now reset help builder by running wwHelp.exe RESET from the Windows command prompt. This option clears the menu configuration and clears the last used project file to allow making sure that you can load help builder if for whatever reason your project should become corrupt.
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Quick Template and CSS Editor access
You can now right click on a topic in the tree and directly bring up the topic HTML Template for the selected topic. The tree also allows direct access to the CSS for your project. Both of these option offer quicker access to the template pages with your favority HTML Editor.
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Many small UI Enhancements
The Bookmark link dialog now features a smarter Autoselection feature on first entry providing faster key access when first loading up the dialog. Right-clicks in the tree now select topics before bringing up the context menu. Many small fixes in the template editor and template loading.
Version 4.15
6/26/2005
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Html Editing Enhancements
The Html Editing HTML Source View now post-formats the HTML source for an easier view of the HTML data by cleaning up the mess the MSHTML Editor creates. When jumping into source view the edit font also is changed automatically to the code font for easier viewing. There have also been a few optimization in the HTML Edit rendering so moving between topics that contain WYSIWYG HTML content should be much smoother.
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Topic ID to Clipboard on Tree Menu
A lot of people have been asking for a quick way to copy the current topic id to the clipboard, so we've added a new option on the Tree menu which allows you to pick up the current topic ID (_12ddas1asd.htm) from any topic selection.
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Bug fixes
Fixed issue with Index topic getting overwritten in rare circumstances when building projects. Updated logic for the topic sorter to work more intuitively after initial sorting of topics. Topic insertions now insert after the current item always and resort the list sort order properly. Added additional error checking code for project load failure errors that can occur if invalid keys are in the project. Projects now warn about invalid keys and continue loading the rest of the project. Made a few fixes to the Add-in interface with .NET classes.
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Lots of small UI enhancements
There have been a number of small tweaks to the user interface in Help Builder. Thanks to Roxanne Seibert and several others for lots of feedback using the Bug Reporting tool.
Version 4.10
4/15/2005
- New Add-In support added
Help Builder now includes support for add-ins. Add-ins can be created in any .NET language, Visual FoxPro or with any COM capable client. Add-ins are dynamically called from Help Builder and receive a reference to the Help Builder IDE, which in turn gives access to the current project and topic. Add-ins are accessible via the Tools menu and a new Add-in Manager allows easy configuration of add-ins.
- Help Builder .NET Automation Interface added
We've added a wrapper set of .NET classes for the Help Builder Automation interface. The interface is a wrapper around the Help Builder COM interface and provides strongly typed access to all of Help Builder's functionality. The .NET classes provide a streamlined interface to the objects that are slightly refactored from the plain COM interfaces. This should make it much easier to automate Help Builder through .NET. The interfaces are available through the wwReflection assembly.
- Search support for Web HTML View
The generated Web output now has an option to add a Search link to the help content display. With the button you can perform a search of the help content dynamically on the server. This feature requires that the directory that holds your HTML output is ASP.NET enabled and that the ASPNET/NETWORK SERVICE account is configured to allow reading in the Web directory for this help project. In file mode the link not displayed and you have explicitly enable this option.
- Improved Command Line Imports for .NET assemblies
Command line imports now support multiple assemblies via the command line. You can specify any number of assemblies in the AssemblyName parameter. Assembly file names can now also be relative to the path where Help Builder is executed from which simplifies automation from within Visual Studio. These feature are also enabled through the COM interface's wwHelp::CreateAssemblyDocumentation() method.
- Fixed HTML Edit Focus isses with external App Activation
There have been a few focus issues with the Edit control not properly returning focus after switching off to another application and returning. This issue has now been fixed. This also affects several other operations and alternate input devices like tablets where focus now returns into the current edit position.
- Related Topics and optional Id support
The related topics area now optionally supports providing explicit IDs for linked topics. The default in Help Builder is to link by plain topic name so as to provide an easy mechanism for typing in related topic content. In some situations this can cause problems as multiple topics might have the same name in the help file. This function can be overridden by explicitly providing a topic id following the link text (ie. Topic Title|_111111).
- Added a few Updates for VFP 9 database imports
Database imports for Visual FoxPro 9.0 now read and format VFP 9 data types properly. They were being imported before but just with default names. Update also picks up primary key information and AutoInc fields information.
Version 4.05
3/10/2005
- Improved MSDN Template Scheme
The MSDN Template scheme has been improved to match more closely to the full MSDN templates. We chose to stick to a simpler format than the complex MSDN schemes that are easy to work with. The new templates are also much simplified and easier to customize.
- .NET Type and Assembly import improvements
Help Builder now properly imports type descriptions to a specific syntax implementation (C# or VB.NET). Type names now are properly shown for the target language as opposed to the CLR type descriptions used previously. There have also been some updates regarding link imports using XML Comment <see> and <seealso> links. Class imports now get a choice to either word wrap XML comment data, or leaving in the original edited format in the comments to allow exact control, but no wrapping. Overall class imports look much cleaner than previously. Some of the new features rely on the new templates, so you might need to update the templates in your exiting projects.
- Help Builder Extension Program added
Help Builder now can utilize an optional startup program file to run custom code. The program file is dynamically compiled and included and allows you also to create custom classes and functions that can be called from the Help Builder HTML templates.
- SQL Server Import now imports Views
The SQL Server import now imports Views in addition to tables and Stored Procedures.
- Mouse Wheel Support added to HTML Editor
The WYSIWYG Editor now supports MouseWheel operation so you can more easily scroll text in HTML Editing. The Class Inheritance Tree now provides back links to the inherited members if available including MSDN links to the System and Microsoft namespaces. The Syntax display now provides most information about a class or member which matches closely with what is provided in MSDN.
- Drag and Drop Topics maintain topic Ids
For making sure to avoid duplicates, Help Builder previously created new topic IDs when dragging and dropping nodes between open projects. This could break crosslinks in some cases. Help Builder now keeps topic IDs as long as they don't conflict with Topic Ids in the help file to be imported to.
Version 4.00
released 02/12/2005
- Html Help 2.0 Support
We've added support for generating Html Help 2.0 files in this version. Help Builder will now create a compiled .HxS file as well a Visual Studio Help Integration Kit Help Project file you can furr edit in VS.Net. Help Builder also generates Help Collection files and supports Helpware's H2Reg utility for installation registration by generating a registration script you can ship with your installations.
- Visual Studio .NET Integration
Help Builder is now integrated with VS.Net 2003 via an Add-In that can be activated from within VS.NET. The Add-In adds Help Builder options to the Help Menu and to various context menus in WinForms and the C# and VB code editors to provide direct access to Help Builder from within VS. You can automatically pull HelpKeyword Ids into Windows Forms controls, and go directly to a topic from a control that has its HelpKeyword set. In the Source Code Editor you can automatically insert an XML comment from a topic or insert/update a topic from a class, method, field, property or event. The source code features now support both C# and VB.NET.
- Custom .NET Help Provider that allows runtime activation of Help Builder
We've also provided a customized HelpProvider component that allows you to activate Help Builder at Runtime. This is very useful for letting Documentation workers document the system without having to work with source code. The developer can hook up Help Contexts at design time, and the Doc team can simply run application and pop up Help Builder in Context and fill in topic content. The Help Builder HelpProvider simply extends the built-in .NET provider and can be activated/deactivated with a simple switch in your code to provide runtime Help Builder activation.
- Major Improvements to visual HTML Editing for Body Content
We have made the WYSIWYG HTML editing feature much more usable by adding many shortcut menu options that simplify editing of the document visually. You can now edit table and cell properties in a popup form, insert and delete rows interactively via shortcut menu and tab through tables. Hyperlinks and Bookmarks can now be easily edited from HTML view. You can also Paste Special and Paste Code to get custom code pasted into the document with Syntax Color highlighting. You can switch between visual HTML and HTML Source view and maintain position in the source code. Once edited in HTML view the editor now defaults to HTML editing.
- Syntax color highlighting support for Source Code
You can now syntax color code in the text editor. Simply select any code in your topic and select the PRE/Formatted text option on menu. A dialog lets you choose the source code language (or none) and provides syntax color markup to your selection. Supported languages include C#, VB.Net, Visual FoxPro, Java and minimal coloring for HTML, XML markup. If you're upgrading you need to update your template style sheet in order to receive required styles. New projects automatically inherit the code display styles.
- FTP Web Upload
Help Builder can now upload your Html output directly to your Web Server if you have FTP access to your server. Simply specify an FTP server and path and Help Builder will copy your Help Builder project to the server.
- Exclusion of top level Content Trees for Html Output
You can now select top level items that you want to include (or rather exclude) in your help file. Many of our customers have asked to selectively exclude content from the Help File builds and this option allows you to uncheck any of the top level topics and their children from generating into CHM, Html Help 2.0 or HTML output.
- Improved .Net Imports
New features facilitate the process of importing classes multiple times. All imported .Net topics now included a method signature id that provides much more accurate information on previous imports. Classes now show class inheritance structure and namespace information separate of topic text. The class import dialog has been simplified into a single dialog to select assembly, xml documentation and a list of classes. The Class and Assembly imports also no longer lock imported DLLs so you can import and continue working and recompiling without shutting down Help Builder.
- Command Line .NET Assembly Imports
You can now import .NET assemblies and create or update a project via command line options. This makes it possible to hook documentation generation directly into the build process. The command line import allows you to create a new project or update an existing one and send all types of an assembly into this new or existing project. Options allow you to control how the import proceeds (whether privates are allowed whether inherited classes are imported etc.). You can also optionally display the HTML content immediately and build the CHM file. The Import COM interface has also been updated to support this functionality.
- SnagIt Screen Capture Integration improvements
SnagIt captures are now configurable with a special configuration dialog that allows selection of capture mode, cursor inclusion and delay. The dialog is easily accessible so it's quick to make changes before a capture and options are global so last settings are reused. SnagIt usage can now be turned on and off to switch between SnagIt and Help Builder native capture.
- New Topic Browser to find topics
There's a new Topic Browser that makes it easy to find topics. The browser works independently of your current help topic in edit view so you don't loose your place. The topic browser is also available in all dialogs that ask for a topic or parent topic selection. The topic browser is also accessible from the Search Dialog and the Search Dialog is available from the topic browser making it much easier to find a topic anywhere in Help Builder.
- New Topmost Form Option
The Help Builder form now includes a Topmost button that allows you to quickly set whether Help Builder stays on top of all other windows. This is very useful when running Help Builder to document existing systems or when bringing up Help Builder from Visual Studio or Visual FoxPro in order to work on the application and edit help content simultaneously.
- Improved Microsoft Word Document Generation
A number of improvements have been made to Word output generation. Topic cross links are now properly generated into the final Help Document. There have also been fixes to image embedding which previously caused some problems due to several bugs in Word's HTML import filter. An updated macro script that automatically launches as part of the import provides a workaround for these problems.
- Support for text editing via Microsoft Word
You can now use MSWord for your text editing directly inside of Help Builder. While you can't use Word's layout or formatting features, you can take advantage of integrated spell checking, grammar checking and lookup tools in Word. The new Word Edit option on the Edit toolbar switches current the text control into Word mode and allows in place editing of text using Word. Clicking back on form reverts and updates to original textbox. Help Builder's Edit features can be applied to the Word document while editing.
- Improved Spell Checking Support
Spell checking can now be done in one of two ways: By using the Spell Check option or by embedding Word into the current edit field. The former brings up Microsoft Words spell check dialog box to provide quick spell checking while the later
- New format options
There are a handful of new format options that are quite common: Reducing font size and embedding of Anchor links (<a name='NamedBookmark'>Some Text</a>). These are now accessible via menu. We've also updated Hyperlink insertion routine which now has options to specify whether links are opened internally or in a new window. There's also a new search capability that lets you use a browser to search for links and pick up link directly in form (much like FrontPage does).
- External Topic Preview keeps page position
You can use the External Preview window to preview your topic text 'live' and see both your data entry and previewed text, simply by saving (Ctrl-S) any time. The external preview window now Refreshes rather than reloading so that your page position in the Preview is preserved.
- Topic History dropdown
There's now a new topic history drop down next to back button which lets you see last 15 topics you've visited in currently opened help file. This is in addition to Last Topic arrow which allows jumping back and forth between last topic and current topic.
- CodePage and Help File Language Selection
You can now easily choose CodePage for the Help Builder Project file from Options form. You can now also configure the language of generated Help File. This should make it easier to handle foreign character sets.
- New Topic ID Tab
We've broken out various topic IDs that Help Builder generates and stuck them onto a separate page. This includes Help Context ID as well as topic ID which is used for generated HTML file. This ID is also used as a HelpString by .NET Help Provider. The page also shows class member signatures for .NET types and members that uniquely identify each member. This value which is used to track members based on signature for re-imports can now be edited. Along the same lines automatically imported information like Inheritance Tree, Implemented Interfaces, Namespace and Assembly references can now be viewed and edited directly in UI on this page.
- Icon Strip Generation Added
You can now generate an icon strip from your icon definitions in topic chooser. By assigning Icon Ids to topics Help Builder will generate an icon strip from icons automatically. We've also added options to reset all icons to their default state or to Help Builder's default. All of the icon assignment options are available as part of Item Type editor.
- Help File Generation Performance improved
We've added a new scripting engine to Help Builder that drastically improves performance of HTML output generation. For large help files file generation could be as much as 2-3 times faster. The engine also provides better error reporting for script errors. In most cases the engine can highlight the offending line of code in a text editor ready for editing as well as displaying detailed error information in the main Help Builder preview window.
- Application Updater changed
Due to numerous security problems with running Windows Scripting Host script files we've changed the update VBS file to a fully self contained EXE file. This should solve update problems several users have seen due to security conflicts with Anti-Virus Software prohibiting script file from running.
- Type Library Import improvements
Type library imports now import into a separate tree with a type library root topic. Also new is an extra topic that shows a table of all constants and ir values contained in type library. Type libraries now also properly import object type names that were previously imported as object.
- Web Service Imports support Authentication
You can now specify a username and password for accessing Web Service WSDL URLs for importing.
- Tons of minor UI tweaks
We've spent a bunch of time cleaning up quirks in the UI and tuning operations to flow more easily. Many of these changes are very minor but improve productivity. We've also updated many of icons for a crisper look of toolbars and menus.
- A new Bug Submission Form
We've really been struggling during this beta period to get any decent amount of feedback from users, so we've integrated a bug submission form into application that makes job of reporting problems straight forward. This form optionally submits any bugs and enhancement requests to a Web Service from which we can review and manage information. You can provide additional information about problem or request and you can optionally be kept up to date of status of your bug report.