Release Notes for the DocProject 1.4.0 Release Candidate
Please read this document carefully before installing
DocProject.
Additional Software
DocProject requires additional software to be downloaded and installed separately.
Required Software
The following software is required by DocProject:
- Visual Studio 2005
- Visual Studio 2005 must be installed on your system before installing DocProject. Express editions are not supported.
- Sandcastle, March CTP
- Sandcastle is required to use the Sandcastle and Sandcastle/Deployment build engines in DocProject (these are the only engines provided by DocProject).
Configure SandcastleAfter installing Sandcastle you should update the default
vs2005 and
Prototype presentation configuration files by changing
comments.xml to
comments*.xml so that your xml code comments are included in the help. For more information see
How To Install and Configure Sandcastle.
Required Software for DocSitesThe following software is
required to use the
DocSite templates, although it's not required to use the
DocProject templates:
Supported Browsers for DocSitesThe DocSite templates build a website that has been tested for compatibility with Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.0, Mozilla Firefox 1.5.0.11 and Opera 9.10 only.
Earlier versions of MSIE, such as 6.0, are not supported.
Optional Software
DocProjects and DocSites can automate the process of building compiled help 1.* and 2.* if the following software is installed:
HTML Help Workshop (Version 1.* Help)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.
Visual Studio 2005 SDK (Version 2.* Help)Install the SDK if you want DocProject to build a help package (.HxS file) that can be merged with Visual Studio's help collections. This is useful for control, add-in and package developers that integrate into Visual Studio.
Important Installation NoteIf you install the SDK after the Sandcastle March CTP then you must manually reset the
DXROOT environment variable on your system to the location of the March CTP (commonly,
C:\Program Files\Sandcastle).
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 March 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 March CTP (commonly, C:\Program Files\Sandcastle).
- Click OK three times to exit all of the dialogs.
- Close the System window.
Installation
The Windows Installer package (.msi) installs the templates, Add-In and the complete source code, including the Visual Studio solution and project files. Download the installation package to your local computer and double-click it to begin the installation.
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.
Installation on Vista
Due to UAC security, installing DocProject on Vista requires some manual steps. If you have UAC disabled then the following steps are not required.
- Make sure that all instances of Visual Studio are closed before attempting to install DocProject.
- Browse to All Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt.
- Right-mouse click.
- Select Run as administrator.
- You may have to accept the UAC dialog or enter an administrative user name and password to continue.
- Change the current directory to where you have downloaded the installer. Example: cd C:\Users\[your name]\Desktop\
- Run the following command to install DocProject: msiexec /i DaveSexton.DocProject.Installer.msi
New Features
- DocProject's Sandcastle build engine now uses the Sandcastle March CTP transformations.
- DocProjects and DocSites can now build Html Help 1.*, Help 2.*, neither or both via a single build.
- The New Project wizard has been extended for the Sandcastle build engine, allowing you to choose the type of help that your project will build (see previous feature).
- DocSites use AJAX to improve client-side performance.
- DocSite's index can be filtered, client-side.
- The tools options page, "Dave Sexton's Tools", has been renamed to "DocProject" and was split into separate sub categories.
- A status notification and progress bar now appear during help builds.
- Improved error handling, including logging to the Application event log.
- Several bug fixes.
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.
For more information, see
How To Use The Source Code, Projects.
Feedback
Thanks for your interest in DocProject.
Please tell us what you think about DocProject and your ideas on how we can improve its usefulness to you and your organization:
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