Release Notes for the DocProject 1.5.0 Release Candidate

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:
Required Software for DocSites
The following software is required to use the DocSite templates, although it's not required to use the DocProject templates:
Supported Browsers for DocSites
The DocSite templates build a website that has been tested for compatibility with the following web browsers only: Earlier versions of MSIE, such as 6.0, are not compatible.

Optional Software

DocProjects 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.

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 Notes
If you install the Visual Studio 2005 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).

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 Windows Vista Instructions

Installation

The Windows Installer package (DaveSexton.DocProject.Installer.msi) installs the templates, Add-In and the complete source code, including the Visual Studio solution and project files.

Note: The Visual Studio Content Installer is no longer used for installation, although the .VSI package is still built by the DocProject solution and included in the root installation directory when you install DocProject. The DocProject installer now works on systems where an Orcas CTP has been installed previously, although DocProject will only be installed in Visual Studio 2005.

To install DocProject on your system:
  1. Download the latest release.
  2. Close all running instances of Visual Studio 2005.
  3. Double-click the DaveSexton.DocProject.Installer.msi file to begin the installation. (Vista users see below for special instructions.)
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.

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.
  1. Download the latest release.
  2. Close all running instances of Visual Studio 2005.
  3. Browse to All Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt.
    1. Right-mouse click.
    2. Select Run as administrator.
  4. You may have to accept the UAC dialog or enter an administrative user name and password to continue.
  5. Change the current directory to where you have downloaded the installer. Example: cd C:\Users\[your name]\Desktop\
  6. Run the following command to install DocProject: msiexec /i DaveSexton.DocProject.Installer.msi

New Features

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

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Please tell us what you think about DocProject and how it can be improved for you and your organization: Feedback