Release Notes for the DocProject 1.7.0 Release Candidate (and DocProject 2008 Beta)
Please read this document carefully before installing
DocProject.
Additional Software
DocProject requires additional software to be downloaded and installed separately. Some of the software is optional depending upon the DocProject features that you will use.
Please read
Required Software and
Optional Software below to determine which software you must install before installing DocProject.
Required Software
The following software is required by DocProject:
- Visual Studio 2005 with Service Pack 1 must be installed on your system before installing DocProject 1.7.0.
- English only; Other languages may not be compatible.
- Visual Studio 2008 Beta 2 must be installed on your system before installing DocProject 2008 Beta.
- English only; Other languages may not be compatible.
- Note: DocProject 1.7.0 and DocProject 2008 Beta can be installed side-by-side on the same machine.
- Visual C# 2005 Express and Visual Basic 2005 Express editions with Service Pack 1 are supported by DocProject 1.7.0 (see below for details).
- Visual C# 2008 Express and Visual Basic 2008 Express Beta 2 editions are supported by DocProject 2008 Beta.
- Sandcastle, June 2007 CTP (Refresh) is required to use the Sandcastle and Sandcastle/Deployment build engines in DocProject (these are the only engines provided by DocProject).
Required Software for DocSitesThe following software is required to use the
DocSite templates, although it's not required to use the
DocProject templates:
Note: ASP.NET 2.0 AJAX Extensions 1.0 is part of the .NET Framework 3.5. If you're using
DocProject 2008 then you do not have to install this component.
Supported Browsers for DocSitesThe
DocSite templates build a website that has been tested for compatibility with the following web browsers only:
- Firefox 2.0.0.6
- Opera 9.22
- Windows Internet Explorer 7.0.6000.16473
Earlier versions of MSIE, such as 6.0, are not compatible with
DocSite output.
Optional Software
Optional software is recommended, but not required for DocProject's standard feature set.
Web Site ProjectsTo build documentation for
Web Site Projects you must install the
Visual Studio 2005 Web Deployment Projects Add-In.
For more information about support for
Web Site Projects, see
How To Build Help For a Web Site Project.
Compiled HelpDocProjects and DocSites can automate the process of building compiled help 1.x and 2.x if the following software is installed:
HTML Help Workshop (Help 1.x)Install the workshop compiler if you want DocProject to build a distributable help package (.chm file) that can be opened on any Windows system, stand-alone or included as part of the documented application for context-sensitive help.
Visual Studio 2005 SDK (Help 2.x)Install the SDK if you want DocProject to build a help collection (.HxS file) that can be merged with Visual Studio's help collections. This is useful for add-in, control and package developers that integrate their products into Visual Studio.
Important Installation NotesIf you install the Visual Studio 2005 SDK
after the Sandcastle June 2007 CTP then you must manually reset the
DXROOT environment variable on your system to the location of the June 2007 CTP (commonly,
C:\Program Files\Sandcastle).
Note: Do this before installing DocProject; otherwise, if you choose to install DocProject for
Everyone, not
Just me, then you will have to make the same changes to the DXROOT variable with machine-scope, as well as the DXROOT variable with user-scope.
Please be aware that the
DXROOT variable may not reflect the SDK's location until after you reboot your system (this seemed to occur in testing on a Windows Vista system but not a Windows 2003 system), so you may need to reboot immediately after installing the SDK and then update the
DXROOT variable when Windows restarts. Make sure that Visual Studio is not opened before updating the
DXROOT environment variable or else it may reference the previous value (the SDK location) until you restart it.
Windows 2003/XP Instructions
- Open System Properties: Start > Control Panel > System or right-mouse click the My Computer icon and select Properties.
- Go to the Advanced tab.
- Click the Environment Variables button.
- In the User variables list, highlight the DXROOT variable and click Edit.
- Change the Variable value to the root installation directory of the Sandcastle June 2007 CTP (commonly, C:\Program Files\Sandcastle).
- Click OK three times to exit all of the dialogs.
Windows Vista Instructions
- Open System Properties: Logo > Control Panel > System or right-mouse click the Computer icon and select Properties.
- In the pane on the left click Advanced system settings
- Go to the Advanced tab.
- Click the Environment Variables button.
- In the User variables list, highlight the DXROOT variable and click Edit.
- Change the Variable value to the root installation directory of the Sandcastle June 2007 CTP (commonly, C:\Program Files\Sandcastle).
- Click OK three times to exit all of the dialogs.
- Close the System window.
Installation
The DocProject installer installs the templates, Add-In and the complete source code, including the Visual Studio solution and project files.
To install DocProject on your system:
- Download the latest release.
- Close all running instances of Visual Studio 2005.
- Double-click the installer to begin the installation.
- Vista users: right-mouse click and select Run as administrator instead.
The DocProject 1.7.0 installer will install DocProject for
Everyone or
Just me in the following versions of Visual Studio if they are detected on your system:
- Visual Studio 2005 Standard or higher
- Visual C# 2005 Express
- Visual Basic 2005 Express
The DocProject 2008 Beta installer will install DocProject for
Everyone or
Just me in the following versions of Visual Studio if they are detected on your system:
- Visual Studio 2008 Beta 2 Standard or higher
- Visual C# 2008 Express Beta
- Visual Basic 2008 Express Beta
Detailed instructions for installation, configuration and general usage can be found in the
How To... wiki.
Note: Existing
DocProjects and
DocSites created for earlier versions of DocProject
might not be compatible and should not be used.
Known Issues
New Features
- The new DocProject 2008 Beta provides support for Visual Studio 2008 Beta 2 Standard and higher, Visual C# 2008 Express Beta and Visual Basic 2008 Express Beta.
- DocProject External UI (DocProject.exe) allows users to configure and build DocProjects and DocSites outside of the Visual Studio IDE (intended specifically for VS Express users).
- API Topic Management dialog contains an XML documentation editor that allows users to create external xml comments for all API members, namespaces and the project itself.
- API Topic Designer displays a list of editable content items such as the topics' shared header and footer.
- Sandcastle/Deployment Plug-In provides options to deploy various content files and DocSite files as well as the compiled help and build output.
- The Missing Dependencies dialog allows you to add dependencies that DocProject cannot resolve automatically
- Support for Team Build (requires community testing)
Support for Visual Studio Express editions
Support for Visual Studio Express editions is limited because they do not allow add-ins. However, the
DocProject External UI (
DocProject.exe) can be used to configure and build
DocProjects and
DocSites that are created in express editions.
DocProject supports the following features in express editions of Visual Studio:
- identical installation as the full version, except that the Add-In is not installed in express editions.
- support for both Visual Basic and Visual C# DocProject templates, depending upon the versions of Visual Studio that are installed.
- Note: DocSite templates are not currently supported in Visual Web Developer Express.
- the New Project Wizard, which starts when a new DocProject is created.
- the MSBuild task that starts the help-build process inside Visual Studio and outside, such as on the command-line or a build server.
- a custom Build Process Component without Visual Studio automation capabilities.
- configurable project folders and items such as presentation and configuration files for Sandcastle (e.g., sandcastle.help1x.config).
The following features are currently unavailable to express editions
without using the
DocProject External UI:
- the ability to cancel help-builds.
- partial and skipped builds.
- tools options pages for managing build engines and active project settings.
- content and topic management dialogs.
- the Include Project Output Dialog that allows users to easily import project items after each build.
Source Code
The Visual Studio solution and projects that are installed along with DocProject have been tested on multiple systems in an attempt to make them usable, out-of-the-box.
For help using DocProject's Visual Studio solution and projects, see
How To Use The Source Code.
DSZip Utility
Download and install the
DSZip utility if you plan on using the supplied Visual Studio solution to build the Visual Studio Content Installer file (.vsi) or the Windows Installer package (.msi) using the
DaveSexton.DocProject.InstallPrep project.
If you are not planning on using the solution file or projects to build the installers, or if you're not even planning on using the source code at all, then you do not need the DSZip utility.
Note: DSZip version 1.1.0 is provided on the release page. This is the same version that was provided in 1.5.0, so if you've already installed it then there is no need to download DSZip again.
For more information, see
How To Use The Source Code, Projects.
Help
For information about requesting assistance and resolving issues on your own see,
How to Diagnose and Resolve Issues.
Links to documentation can be found in the
Wikimap.
Various help topics and tutorials can be found in the
How To... wiki.
Feedback
Thanks for your interest in DocProject.
Please tell us what you think about DocProject and how it can be improved for you and your organization:
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