MS Help Viewer 2.0 Code Examples
HV2 is the help runtime for both Visual Studio 11 and Windows 8. The HV2 runtime API now has a simple to use COM interface. Previously in Help Viewer 1.x (VS 10 help runtime) there was the HelpLibAgent tray application and a REST API interface. These have gone. The examples in this project show you how to access data from any HV 2.x help catalog. The most useful example is probably the standard help viewer with full TOC, Index & Search navigation.Detailed Code Example documentation:
For more information on Help Viewer 2 see also:
- http://thirdblogfromthesun.com/ - Jeff Braaten's blog (MSDN Manager)
- http://blogs.msdn.com/b/thehelpguy/ - Paul O'Rear blog (MSDN PM)
Previous Microsoft Help Systems
A look at where we have been.- WinHelp (.hlp) - Great in it's day but now retired because it's ANSI, RTF based help is no longer popular, and the old C code is hard to maintain and keep secure.
- HTML Help (.chm) - Still active but starting to show it's age. It's also ANSI only, does not scale up particularly well, and the help file format and most of the API are undocumented.
- MS Help 2 (.hxs) - Help system for Visual Studio 2002/2003/2005/2008. Never released for public use. API / COM interface documentation never released.
- AP Help - Various offshoots of MS Help 2 have been used for Window Vista, Windows 7 and Office help. Only available to Microsoft in-house.
- Help Viewer 1.0 (.mshc) - Visual Studio 2010 RTM help. Fully replaced MS Help 2.x runtime. Help files are a simple zipped HTML source renamed to .mshc. The Help API is REST based and very intuitive, powerful and well documented. The runtime is only available on PCs with VS 10. A simple browser based interface with no TOC and Index criticized as a major step backwards in an otherwise very mature product (VS),
- Help Viewer 1.1 (.mshc) - Visual Studio 10 SP1 now has a dedicated help viewer with full TOC and full index and bookmarks (as requested by users). A more familiar experience for users but still lacks filtering. Still only available to VS 10 users.
FAQ
- Q. Is HV2 redistributable? - No. Currently the HV2 runtime is only available on PCs with VS 11, and Windows 8 PCs.
- Q. Can I use HV2 in my own projects? - Yes as long as you have VS 11 or Windows 8, the help runtime is available for use but not officially supported by Microsoft.