SHFB v1.9.3.0 Release

Rating:        Based on 13 ratings
Reviewed:  10 reviews
Downloads: 49268
Change Set: 86651
Released: Mar 26, 2011
Updated: Apr 15, 2012 by EWoodruff
Dev status: Stable Help Icon

Recommended Download

Application Sandcastle Help File Builder Installer
application, 24760K, uploaded Mar 27, 2011 - 49268 downloads

Release Notes

Looking for the Visual Studio extension package? Download the latest release from here: http://shfb.codeplex.com/releases

This release supports the Sandcastle June 2010 Release (v2.6.10621.1). It includes full support for generating, installing, and removing MS Help Viewer files. This new release is compiled under .NET 4.0, supports Visual Studio 2010 solutions and projects as documentation sources, and adds support for projects targeting the Silverlight Framework.

03/26/2011 Refresh: Uninstall SHFB, download the installer, and re-install SHFB to obtain the updated help file builder containing the following changes:
  • Fixed a bug in the BuildHelp task that was causing some command line property overrides to be missed when building a project from the command line.
  • Fixed a bug that caused the reflection file to be renamed incorrectly if it contained a UNC path with ".org" as part of one of the path elements.
  • Images added to a project now use a default BuildAction of Image rather than Content.
  • Added a simple file system watcher that watches for changed files and prompts to reload any that are open in the standalone GUI when it regains control. It will not do anything more than watch for changed files. It will not handle deletes, moves, renames, etc. This was implemented to facilitate editing files in the standalone GUI with the project open in Visual Studio until the VSPackage contains all of the required file editors.

This release uses the Sandcastle Guided Installation package used by Sandcastle Styles. Download and extract to a folder and then run SandcastleInstaller.exe to run the guided installation of Sandcastle, the various extra items, and the Sandcastle Help File Builder.

What's Included
  • Help 1 compiler check and instructions on where to download it and how to install it if needed
  • Help 2 compiler check and instructions on where to download it and how to install it if needed
  • Sandcastle June 2010 2.6.10621.1
  • Sandcastle styles patch revision 1 for the June 2010 release of Sandcastle
  • Language pack for the June 2010 release of Sandcastle
  • Sandcastle MAML Guide v1.1.0.1
  • Web Project Custom Code Providers v1.1.0.0
  • HTML to MAML Converter v1.0.0.1
  • An option to install the MAML schemas in Visual Studio to provide IntelliSense for MAML topics
  • Sandcastle Help File Builder 1.9.3.0

See the Sandcastle Styles project site for the source and project files related to its items.

Reviews for this release

     
- Makes documentation generation a breeze. - Comes with excellent documentation itself, which can also be accessed in context as you use the app. - Guided installer is equally easy to use, with clear explanations and well defined steps. - Integrates well with automated build components. - Great user experience overall.
by bigeyez on Dec 10, 2011 at 12:10 AM
     
Great tool and easy to use...
by MartinRichter on Nov 1, 2011 at 12:00 PM
     
This is really great, I was a bit skeptical at first because of all the stuff that's required for the installation, but the Installation Helper Wizard is really good and provided me with no issues what so ever! Awesome job guys!
by TheToid on Oct 23, 2011 at 10:49 PM
     
Excellent tool! Must have for every developer.
by bincoder on May 31, 2011 at 7:10 PM
     
I got a .NET framework version error when trying a clean install. It failed at the SandcastleHelpFileBuilder_1930.msi. The previous .NET framework version check succeeded. I skipped most of the common tools. Windows 7, 32 bit, current windows updates. Trying prior release.
by utahjasonjones on May 20, 2011 at 12:54 PM
     
Great! I wrote two articles in my blog about SHFB, and made up three different documentation projects using SHFB. Very usefull tool, thank you!
by omlin on Apr 17, 2011 at 9:33 PM
     
You spent all that time putting in XML-style comments in your code, but then you tried to use SandCastle and oh my gosh...! Fear not. SHFB allows you to whip out a help file quickly. Or it let's you set up your project to take advantage of all those arcane features of SandCastle. Suddenly all those comments were really worth the time and effort. This is a great developer/integration tool!
by Alfetta159 on Apr 14, 2011 at 10:04 PM
     
Making a help file shouldn't be rocket science, and thanks to SHFB, it's not. Microsoft's help tools are a labyrinth, but SHFB's excellent Guided Installation takes you through everything you need to do to get set up. (Major issue though: sharing documentation between method overloads & hyperlinking to the overload list is excessively difficult to do. Not really SHFB's fault, but still major.)
by Qwertie on Apr 12, 2011 at 6:28 PM
     
This is an awesome tool. The only thing even better than the software is the author's passion and engagement. Whenever I found a problem Eric fixed it and/or pointed me to a solution in virtually no time.
by terrajobst on Mar 28, 2011 at 1:23 AM
     
A tool I aways use when creating help files
by EPT on Mar 24, 2011 at 2:35 PM