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Newb question alert! MS Help 2 - Can it be used for general help files?

Rod

19 November 2008 17:40

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Hi there,

 Just wondering - Is MS Help 2 designed to be used for general application help?  I was reading on other websites that it should only be used to integrate into Visual Studio, or MSDN help?  Is this right?

According to http://www.helpware.net/mshelp2/h20.htm...

"It is important to note that MS Help 2 is designed primarily for Visual Studio help integrators. It is not for creating general application help." 

 I have an application that currently uses HTML help and am looking at options to improve it.  Is Help 2 the way to go?

Thanks

Rod

 

 

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1 comment

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  Pete Lees 20 November 2008 05:23

  Hi, Rod,

  The Helpware site is correct; Help 2.0 is designed only to permit you to integrate your help content into an existing Help 2.0 collection. This wasn't Microsoft's original intention — for a period, Help 2.0 was being developed as the replacement for HTML Help 1.x — but in 2001 Help 2.0 was sidelined into its current role, which is primarily to allow component developers to add their content to the Visual Studio .NET help system.

  One factor to keep in mind is that the components required to view Help 2.0 files aren't standard Windows components (and they aren't readily distributable), so you can't guarantee that your end-users will be able to view files in this format. In addition, Microsoft hasn't published details of the API with which Help 2.0 files can be hooked up to applications.

  So, all in all, it's best to stick with HTML Help or some other format that you can be confident will work in the way that you want it to, such as browser-based help.

   Pete