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January 2003
Ongoing
May 2002
March 2001
December 2000
November 2000
October 2000
September 2000
August 2000
July 2000
June 2000
May 2000
April 2000
March 2000
February 2000
January 2000
December 1999
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The Microsoft® Help team has decided not to release
Microsoft Help 2 as a general Help platform. This is primarily
in response to customer feedback that the most important thing
is providing a standard Help experience on everybody's
machine. With that in mind, we are focusing our work efforts
on providing a great Help experience in the next client
release of Windows (codename "Longhorn") rather than on
releasing an interim solution that is not integrated with the
operating system.
While Microsoft develops future Help technologies, we
encourage Help authors to continue using HTML Help 1.x. Visual
Studio® .NET has great support for integrating HTML Help 1.x
content into the applications you build, see http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/vbcon/html/vbconApplicationAssistance.asp.
There are also many 3rd party tools available that provide a
rich authoring experience for HTML Help 1.x content (for some
examples, see http://www.winwriters.com/restools.htm [not a
Microsoft site]).
The Help 2 engine will continue to be provided with several of
Microsoft's developer-related products, including Visual
Studio .NET, MSDN® Library, Microsoft .NET Framework SDK, and
Microsoft Office Developer. Component developers and others
who need to integrate their Help content into the Help system
in Visual Studio .NET can do so using the Visual Studio Help
Integration Kit (VSHIK). See http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/htmlhelp/html/hwmscExtendingNETHelp.asp
for more information. There are also 3rd party tools that
provide support for Help 2, including FAR HTML (http://www.helpware.net/FAR/index.html
[not a Microsoft site]) and ComponentOne® Doc-To-Help®
(http://www.componentone.com/helptools.aspx [not a Microsoft
site]).
Shane McRoberts
Lead Program Manager, Microsoft Help
This posting imposes no obligations upon Microsoft and is
provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
Some of the sites listed above are not under the control of
Microsoft and Microsoft makes no representations whatsoever
concerning the content of those sites. These links are
provided as a convenience to you. Such listings do not
constitute an endorsement, authorization, sponsorship, or
affiliation by Microsoft with respect to such sites, their
owners, or their providers. The information, software, or
products found on these sites have not been tested by
Microsoft and Microsoft therefore cannot make any
representations whatsoever with respect thereto.
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In the original April release of the Microsoft Visual Studio .NET Help Integration Kit (VSHIK), the Microsoft Help Authoring Guide is not available from the table of contents. The Authoring Guide content is available from index and search. VSHIK has been re-released to correct this problem. If you downloaded VSHIK prior to today (Friday May 24), you should download and install the new VSHIK to correct the table of contents. The table of contents is the only change between the two releases.
To update your VSHIK install:
1. From Add or Remove Programs uninstall the Microsoft Visual Studio .NET Help Integration Kit.
2. Download the updated VSHIK from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/release.asp?ReleaseID=37972 or
http://msdn.microsoft.com/downloads/sample.asp?url=/MSDN-FILES/027/001/914/msdncompositedoc.xml&frame=true.
3. Install the VSHIK downloaded in step 2.
If you know anyone else who may have downloaded VSHIK, please let them know about this update. Feel free to forward this message.
Thanks,
Kipper York
Program Manager, Microsoft Help
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-----Original Message-----
From: Discussion list of JavaHelp
[mailto:JAVAHELP-INTEREST@JAVA.SUN.COM] On Behalf Of Roger Brinkley
Sent: Thursday, May 23, 2002 8:56 AM
To: JAVAHELP-INTEREST@JAVA.SUN.COM
Subject: Re: [JAVAHELP] JavaHelp 2.0
Ray, Stephen L wrote:
> Any updates on a release or beta release date? We're getting anxious!
It is May 23 so I'll make an announcement as to the current status of JavaHelp V2.0. With the exception of a documentation update, copyright update, and new licenses JavaHelp 2.0/JSR-97 has been ready for public review since the first of April.
In October of last year Sun laid off some 10% of it's work force. This was largely done by cutting projects and laying off those individuals. JavaHelp, not fitting into the Netbeans organization or charter, was one of the cut projects. The entire development staff in Prague was released or reassigned. However, Netbeans still had a requirement for a help system, so the V2 work was allowed to continue.
From October until April management struggled with an existing internal commitment to support JavaHelp V1 and the need to continue working on new requests that were required for Netbeans offset with the charge that in October the V2 work was canceled. Interestingly, all of JSR-97 with the exception of server side help were requirements from Netbeans.
In mid-April Netbeans management made a decision that they could no longer support the V2/JSR-97 effort outside of Netbeans. Plans were put in place to cancel JSR-97 and to move the development of V2 into netbeans as a proprietary help system. This involved changing the package names from javax.help to netbeans.org.help.
In the process of closing the JSR, another organization within Sun expressed an interest in taking over control of JavaHelp, V2 and JSR-97. As some of you know in late April we had 5 major players within Sun resign. That and major reorganization has prevented the other organization from being able to acquire the proper resources to take over the effort at this particular time.
Having missed the Netbeans engineering deadline for Netbeans 3.4, a decision has been made to postpone the integration into Netbeans until the next release. That decision gives other organizations within Sun, and outside for that matter, some additional time to provide the correct infrastructure to take over V2/JSR-97 development.
So the status is JavaHelp V2 is still in limbo, neither canceled nor being released. JSR-97 is still active though realistically dormant. Lacking anyone taking over JavaHelp V2 the plan is to continue supporting JavaHelp V1 and move the new work into Netbeans into the netbeans.org.help packages.
I'm sure this raises more questions than it answers. Please feel free to respond to this mail message on JavaHelp-Interest@java.sun.com (you must be a member) if you have any more questions or concerns.
Binky
*************************************************************
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Please do not respond to this message on the list. If you feel you must reply, please reply to me directly, off list. (If this discussion starts up again, I am likely to receive the equivalent of a flogging from our dearly beloved HATT moderators! <grin>)
Yesterday I posted a question as to the number of spaces people use after the ending punctuation in a sentence. Although I could find an abundance of information as to what you SHOULD do with those spaces ending a sentence, I could not find any information as to what people are actually doing. The results of my very unscientific poll, including myself, were as follows:
Total responding: 54
Those who use one space: 44
Those who use two spaces: 8
Those who use both one and two: 2 (different spacing for different output)
Those who use more than two: 2 (but I expect they were in jest)
Those who answered, as requested, without providing any validation: 35 (<grin>)
In response to those who wondered why I wondered... I use one space after, and have for at least the last 10 years (if not longer). I recently inherited a manual from my manager, who is NOT a writer by training or desire, and she uses two spaces after. Before I went thru and did a search-and-destroy, I wanted to back up my "this is what you are supposed to do" with an "oh yeah, and based on an informal survey, this IS what everyone does".
...sue
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I get the digest of the HATT list and never know what's been posted in the past few hours, but I'm fairly sure that Dave Edwinson of Parametrica has written in by now about the Parametrica listserv closing. Many of you probably remember how Dave Edwinson and his company, Parametrica, stepped in with a listserv for Help authors when the old RoboList bit the dust and no one was certain what would take its place (and before HATT was created). I'd just like to use this space to give Dave some well-deserved thanks for showing the once-stranded RoboListers the support he did and for putting in so much time moderating the listserv.
Thanks, Dave!
Sincerely,
Tommy Simmons
Employment Law Advisory Network
www.employmentlawadvisors.com
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Due to the size of the info for this, this information now has
its own section. Enjoy!
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Weisner Associates and Deva Associates today officially announces the upcoming release of Deva Tools for Dreamweaver® and Deva Search.
Deva is a family of products that will help you create easy-to-use navigation systems for web sites, intranets, and HTML-based help.
- Quickly, easily build and maintain tables of contents, keyword indexes, and full-text search systems.
- Leverage the power of Macromedia® Dreamweaver®, the industry standard for web publishing.
- Immediately cut your costs, increase your productivity, and drop your dependence on dedicated online help authoring tools.
Release is scheduled for March 31, 2001. For more information, please visit
http://www.devahelp.com.
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The Help Object Library 4.0 DLL beta has been released, and
offers quite a bit of functionality for both HTML Help and
WinHelp systems. Check it out here.
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The first public announcements and discussions about Help2
will be at the WinWriter's conference
in March, 2001. For more details about what these sessions
will contain, click here.
Note that there is more than one session. As of this writing,
there will be one from Microsoft's Shane McRoberts and one
from fellow HTML Help MVP Cheryl Lockett Zubak.
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The Microsoft
Reader Content SDK was released earlier this month. While
this isn't a help system, its ability to allow for the
creation of ebooks is none-the-less compelling. I particularly
like the idea of being able to develop my own tool for the
creation of the resulting *.lit files.
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The following is from Mat Kramer of VyperHelp:
VyperHelp 1.11 has been released. The new version adds the following
features:
- Output and conversion to HTML (single file, framed and
HTMLHelp)
- Support for bitmaps in the editor
- Retain naming of bitmap files
- Remember last directory for file operations
- Import C header file with IPF file
- Other bug fixes...
VyperHelp is a visual outliner and editor for creating online help for
OS/2, WinHelp, and HTML systems. A command-line conversion program is
included, which allows conversion to and from OS/2 help and WinHelp, and
to HTML, HTMLHelp, and RTF printable output.
The program allows a 30 day trial use period. During this period, it
inserts promotional text at the end of each section. Registration is $49
US. For more information and download and ordering links, see http://www.vyperhelp.com.
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The following announcement was made in
microsoft.public.helpauthoring today:
I finished an early beta version of my help authoring tool called HTML
Helpy. If you are interested in trying/testing it, here is the URL:
http://homepage.uibk.ac.at/~csab3666/helpy.htm
Comments are highly appreciated. How can I improve on this? What features are you missing (except an index editor which is already
being worked on)?
Thanks, and drop me a line via email - the address may be found on my homepage.
Regards,
Phillip Perkmann
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Lé Rip Off???
September 4, 2000
Every once in a while, I'll get into search mode on Google,
throw '"HTML Help" VB' into it, and see what comes
up, adding whatever I find to the links.
The other day, I found what appeared to be a Czechoslovakian
site run by one Martin Pelikán. On the page is part of
the code from my older HTML Help API tutorial, and at the
bottom of the page, he appears to credit my older VB Explorer
location. Cool, no problem. I try to email him to set it
straight with the new URL ... the address bounces. No problem,
I'll just try again tomorrow.
Back into the Google Search results, and there's a French
site. Ok, so I can't read French. Never pretended to
either. However, I get into it out of curiosity, and it's the
first part of a 4-page article on HTML Help. First page looks
good. Second page contains Ralph Walden's KeyTools and KeyHH,
with links to Ralph's site ... very nice. Third page ...
... what's this? Goodness sakes ... my very own HTML Help
Class Module, my sample for the class module ... the fourth
page ... the HTML Help Object Library, the Popup Tester
(complete with an image from this very site), the sample app
explaining the problems with popups in VB6 ... Char's tutorial
...
And unlike Ralph's items, there isn't a single link to yé
ole HTML help Center. I don't see it mentioned anywhere. Check
BabelFish
... nothing. Hmmm ... hosting it all as their own? Looks that
way. Amazing ... there's not even a link to the HTML Help
Center in the list of links!
Oh my goodness ... very interesting ... will you
look at that? In the same list of links on the fourth page,
obviously lifted from this site as well, they list Sandi's
Place. What's interesting in this is that Sandi's Place is
fellow MVP Sandi Hardmeier's web site ... which has nothing
to do with HTML Help ... and the joke's on the French
webmaster!
Sheesh ... if you're gonna steal the content of an entire
site, at least research the material better!
Man-oh-man ... wait till Sandi sees this one ... <LOL!>
Oh, and BTW ... to the French webmaster, who probably comes
in here on occasion to check for updates ... none of the links
to my stuff works. Would you mind fixing that please? <vbg!>
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The following is from WinHlp-L listowner George Byrnes of
Humber College, Toronto, Ontario, Canada:
Nothing is simple. Winhlp-L was started as a means to
provide solutions for people working on Winhelp hypertext
applications. It quickly expanded to include many hypertext
variants and other purposes, but its main purpose remained
pretty much the same: to be a channel for solutions. If other
existing lists can provide this purpose, perhaps there is no
reason to "transfer" winhlp-L to a new site.
However, I would suggest that maintaining a searchable archive
should be one of our goals, and I believe Majordomo does not
provide this. A community of conversants is great when you
have a problem that needs an immediate solution, but it's also
wonderful if that conversation can be archived and searched.
For me, these are the most important attributes of this kind
of list: daily conversation and a searchable database. Are
there other attributes that should be noted as well?
My systems people have given me a deadline, so Winhlp-L
will cease normal operations on or about August 11. I do have
a promise from my systems people of an alternative service
plan that I propose be followed until the end of August:
Alternatively, we will schedule the list availability
so that it is processing mail in the off-shift hours of our
operation (11:00 pm until 7:00 am daily). Queued mail would
be processed in this window.
I will ask my systems people to close the list at the end
of August.
These actions will drive most of the active list members to
whatever viable solutions are currently in place. I will be
happy to help facilitate the transfer of the archives to
another site(s) if that makes sense to anyone.
Thanks to all for considering how best to proceed.
Cheers.
For a listing of currently-available help-related lists,
click here. The new HATT
list is listed there, and is the replacement for the WinHlp-L
list.
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The following message is from Marty Ford of SolutionSoft,
makers of HelpBreeze:
We have just released HelpBreeze HTML Help Edition, a
complete WYSIWYG authoring tool for creating MS HTML Help
Systems
Our tool is a free download until September 1, 2001. Users can
get the software at http://www.solutionsoft.com/htmlhelp.htm.
HelpBreeze has been one of the leading MS-Word based WinHelp
authoring tools since 1993. The HTML Help Edition is a new
stand-alone tool which is specifically designed for HTML Help.
We also include a tool for creating JavaHelp systems.
A couple of preliminary notes on it from
microsoft.public.helpauthoring:
"I have worked with it quite
a bit over the past few days and it seems very good.
Environment is quite similar to FrontPage or Homesite, but is
specifically designed for HTML Help. . There is also a
JavaHelp tool included which I have not looked at.
Anyway...not perfect, but certainly very good, given that it
is free."
"The program even works with
polish characters! I think that the cooperation with HTML Help
Workshop is necessary, because it doesn't contain some
important tools, like HTML Help controls or more sophisticated
project options. You are right - not perfect, but certainly
good and useful (for example keywords!)."
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I just discovered Ralph Walden has placed the KeyHelp
release candidate on his
site. This is great news for developers looking for
HTML-based popups, as this control will help you create them.
The sample application on this site is now due to be updated
to indicate the correct techniques for using these popups in a
Visual Basic application.
It's really quite simple to use. Briefly, once you've added
the KeyHelp OCX to your project's components, the code to use
to create an HTML-based popup is:
Dim khPopup As New KeyPopup
With khPopup
.DisplayMapID App.Path & "\library.chm", 1000,
10, 10
End With
where 1000 is the topic ID of the HTML Help topic you want
to display in the popup, and the 10's are the left and top
position for the popup respectively (and should be replaced
with the mouse pointer position for accuracy). This could
easily be used with the subclassing functions within the HTML
Help class module files to replace the standard What's
This popups with HTML Help-based popups.
This control is quite extensive, and has a lot of
properties, methods, and events for a massive number of
features. Hopefully, I'll get around to documenting the
majority of them from a Visual Basic development standpoint
soon.
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A few months ago there was a TOC discussion on the WinHlp-L
list, and I'd brought up the fact that the new MSDN online TOC
was XML-based. It looks as though Microsoft has decided not to
keep the technique a secret. A few days ago, they published
the article Online
Carpentry: Crafting a New MSDN Table of Contents. As it
turns out, the TOC is JavaScript with an overlay of XML as the
data layer, and the article also points to some sample code. I
haven't dug into it yet, but it looks like it's worth a look.
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The latest version of hhupd.exe is now 1.32 and is
available here.
This installs the same HTML Help components as the CAB file
located in the upcoming IE 5.5 installation. The version of
hhctrl.ocx in hhupd.exe 1.32 is 4.74.8875.
Thanks to Kenneth and Peter for the
heads-up!
Update, July 14: I just checked, and
this is still blocked for
installation on Windows 2000.
Update, September 30: Just got around
to double-checking, and it's blocked
on WinME in the same manner as Windows 2000.
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A problem that's popping up quite often over the past week
or so is that Office 2000 help isn't working after installing
IE5.01 SP1. The message generally received when trying to use
Office 2000 help is "IE 3.0 Required: Help requires
Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 or greater".
The reason Office help doesn't work is because IE 5.01 SP1
sets the build in the registry of Win2k using an incorrect
format for the build number. Brendon Schmitt, one of the
editors at Win98Central,
posted the fix in the Win98Central.com
forums. He'd received an email from someone with the
moniker "Elway", who figured this out by using a
registry monitor to see what registry entries were being
changed when IE 5.01 SP1 is installed. That's when Elway
noticed that the value of the build had been changed to a full
number instead of these 5 digits: the first, fourth, fifth,
sixth, and seventh numbers of the full build number like its
supposed to be.
With IE 5.01, if you go to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer, you
will see a key named "Build". It will show the value
of the "Build" key as "52920" (these are
the 5 digits of the build number mentioned above).
However, after you install SP1, the value of the Build key
becomes "5.00.3103.1000", which is the FULL build
number. As you can see, these are NOT the 5 digits (mentioned
above) that Office is looking for because the full build
number is not in the correct 5-digit format.
So, now for the fix. After you install SP1, go to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer and
change the value of the build key to "53103" and try
Office again and it should work. Fortunately, Microsoft
decided to fix this issue with IE 5.5, which shows the value
of the build key as "54134.0600" instead of
"5.50.4134.0600" (the full build number).
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Fellow MVP Paul Neshamkin has notified the rest of the HTML
Help MVP's about Microsoft Security Bulletin MS00-037, titled
"Patch Available for 'HTML Help File Code Execution'
Vulnerability". The bulletin can be found here.
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Here's some more information on this subject from Paul
O'Rear:
There was some discussion several weeks ago regarding there
being the wrong license for ISV's up on Microsoft's site and
that it was basically impossible to get the correct license
until they fixed it. The original license is back online now
and can be reached by following the following link and
instructions:
https://www.microsoft.com/windows/ieak/en/licensing/default.asp
1) The above link will take you to the broad licensing page.
You should click "New User".
2) Next you'll arrive at the License & Registration page.
This is just providing information - not agreeing to any
license as yet. Fill in your information for the time being,
then at the bottom of the page select: "Microsoft
Operating System Component License and Distribution
Agreement" and "Submit" (! - Alan Cooper's
favorite).
3) Next you'll arrive at the ISV License Welcome page
describing the most common uses for the ISV license, but
unfortunately not including HTML Help! Don't worry - this is
still the correct license. Click on the link at the bottom
that says "ISV license"
4) Next they'll verify your information once again, but this
is still not agreeing to the license. Click
"Submit".
5) Finally you'll arrive at the ISV license with buttons to
either accept or not accept the license. Peruse the document
and make your choice - you're all set.
Notes:
i. Notice nothing is mentioned regarding reporting
requirements as there are none for the ISV license.
ii. The primary interesting parts with regard to
"requirements" are located at the end of the
document under "Schedule A - Specific Component
Obligations"
Hope that gets those of you going that have been waiting on
this for a while...
Paul A. O'Rear
WUGNET Sysop & Microsoft MVP
Helpful Solutions
http://www.helpfulsolutions.com
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Paul O'Rear has done more research on the WinHelp to HTML
Help conversion error "The DLLs necessary to convert RTF
to HTML have not been installed correctly. Reinstall HTML Help
Workshop and try again." Click here
to read our copy.
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The following message is from Peter
Plamondon of Microsoft Research:
The OS Components License (aka IE ISV license) does not
require any reporting, unfortunately the wrong license is
being presented to users who go to the IE
ISV license site, and that (wrong) license includes
reporting and other requirements. We did not change the terms
of the IE ISV license, the web site suddenly linked to the
wrong license altogether. All will be solved when the correct
license is presented.
If someone is facing a critical need for this license, I can
send out hardcopy of the license agreement for signatures, but
this will create almost as many problems as it solves. Only by
going through the web-based process will licensees be entered
in the database that drives all related processes, like
customization keys, notifications, etc. So the best solution
is to continue waiting for the web site to be fixed.
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HHupd.exe, located here,
has been updated to 1.31. A couple of the web pages still say
1.3, but don't believe them. The version of hhctrl.ocx it
installs is 4.74.8793 and is dated 3/6/00, so there's no
telling exactly when this change took place. It still can't be
run on Windows 2000, but at least
some folks can use it.
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Having outgrown the HyperMart
location, I would like to thank fellow MVP Felix
Kasza for providing a new location for the HTML Help
Center on the MVPs.org server. I now have a bit more room, and
will be developing even more content than has been in the
center for the past few months.
Thanks again, Felix!
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As announced on the WinHlp-L list, DevComponents has
released the Beta version of HelpKit
and are looking for people to try it. You can visit the site
at http://www.helpkit.com
to get the details. After you register, they will send you the
user name and password (it will take couple of hours to get
this) needed to login into the protected area of the website
so you can download the product. Internet Explorer 5.0 or
later is required.
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February 10, 2000 [updated March 16, 2000]
If you try to install hhupd.exe 1.3 on Windows 2000, you'll
see the following error message:
Really, things aren't as bad as this error message makes
them appear! The fact is, HTML Help 1.3 is included in the
Windows 2000 installation, so the installation of hhupd.exe
1.3 on Windows 2000 has been blocked.
A note on this from Rob Chandler:
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By popular request, Robert Chandler has developed a small
executable that will check the links inside a compiled HTML
Help file, including merged files within the same folder. You
can freely download it from Rob's
site.
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If you're using MS HTML Help Workshop to make your help
files and you are adding context popups to your program then
this Popup
Topic Editor just might be of interest to you. It has
quite a broad range of features, including the ability to test
popups as they're being developed. The Popup Topic Editor is
available in five languages: English, French, German, Italian,
and Spanish.
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Have you ever wanted to add custom buttons to the toolbar
of the HTML Help viewer? Well, as announced today by fellow
HTML Help MVP Cheri Zubak at the WinWriter's conference in San
Diego, Rob Chandler has developed a method whereby you can do
this very thing! His sample file shows how he's added two
buttons to the viewer, including one that fires up the Wizard
from Microsoft Agent so you don't even have to read the help
files yourself! Check it out here.
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This week, fellow HTML Help MVP Paul O'Rear has put
together a couple of great little tools and posted them on his
site:
- HTML Help File Explorer - Try out this cool tool which
allows you to look at HTML Help files of all types, save
out any internal file individually, and even view hex
dumps of binary internal files.
- HTML Help DLL Registrar - For a number of versions now
(including 1.3)*, the installation program for the HTML
Help Workshop appears to have a bug, whereby it doesn't
register several key DLL's. These DLL's are required for
features such as converting an old WinHelp project into a
new HTML Help project. This little program asks you where
you installed HTML Help Workshop, and then registers all
of the required DLL's. Fellow HTML Help MVP Yuko Ishida
has also verified this program on the Japanese OS.
You can download these tools from Paul's
site. Look for the heading "Helpful Solutions’
Downloads".
* For the English version, the consensus
among the HTML Help MVP's is that this problem might go all
the way back to 1.0, while our Japanese MVP Yuko Ishida has
this to say about the Japanese version:
"I remember the conversion failure with 1.0x or 1.0 Beta
on Japanese OS, though I 'm not sure about the precise
version. It works with 1.1 or later, and then fails with
1.3. I tried to convert Winhelp file with 1.3 on Win98,
WinNT 4.0 (Administrator/non Administrator), Win2000, and all
fails. Maybe it happens on non-English OS."
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New Microsoft HTML Help MVP
For The Year 2000
February 24, 2000
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The newest HTML Help MVP is Yuko Ishida, from Osaka, Japan.
Yuko has 14 years experience in technical writing and 9 years
in help authoring. She spent the last 11 years at a software
company where she wrote online help, at first WinHelp and then
HTML Help. Now she has her own firm, KeiYu
HelpLab, offering online help development and manual
production.
She published the book HTML
Help in 1999 with ASCII Corporation, the first chapter of
which is included with the Japanese
version of the MSDN Library. Yuko is a contributor to the
WinHlp-L list, answers questions in the helpauthoring
newsgroup, and is quite creative when it comes to HTML
Help research.
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February 15, 2000
By popular request, and as promised by HTML Help Program
Manager Shane McRoberts, the newsgroups
microsoft.public.htmlhelp and
microsoft.public.vstudio.htmlhelp were deleted from
msnews.microsoft.com sometime this morning. Please move all
the discussions that were on those newsgroups to news:microsoft.public.helpauthoring
and/or news:microsoft.public.vstudio.helpauthoring.
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February 12, 2000
I've emailed a response to Stan Schultes' article
"Create a Help System" [Getting Started, VBPJ March
2000] to the editors of Visual Basic Programmer's Journal. If
you don't read it there, you'll be able to read it here. We'll
see what happens.
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February 2, 2000
For those of you who have been asking about changing the
name of news:microsoft.public.htmlhelp and
news:microsoft.public.vstudio.htmlhelp so the HTML-only posts
won't show up any longer, the solution has been created. There
are now two new newsgroups on msnews.microsoft.com: news:microsoft.public.helpauthoring
and news:microsoft.public.vstudio.helpauthoring.
Shane McRoberts, HTML Help Program Manager, has told me that
news:microsoft.public.htmlhelp and
news:microsoft.public.vstudio.htmlhelp will be deleted
on-or-about February 15, 2000.
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January 27, 2000 [updated January 29, 2000]
The Microsoft® HTML Help Workshop has been updated to
version 1.3. You can get to it by clicking here.
Note:
If you already have the HTML Help Workshop installed, the
version of hhupd.exe in the Redist folder of the HTML Help 1.3
install will apparently be whatever was there previously. If
you're installing HTML Help Workshop on a machine that has not
had the Workshop installed, the version of hhupd.exe in the
Redist folder will be 4.74.8702, which is the 1.3 version. The
HTML Help team has been notified of this and will probably
update the installer as soon as they can. Make sure you have
the correct version of hhupd.exe from the Microsoft site
before you distribute. The correct version of hhupd.exe for
1.3 should be 4.74.8702.
For an independently-compiled list of changes in this
release, click here.
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January 18, 2000
When Help University folded, one of the many items that
went by the wayside was the official HTML Help Wish/Gripe
List. Fortunately, fellow HTML Help MVP MJ Plaster has taken
it upon herself to take the list over and has posted it here.
Thanks, MJ!
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January 14, 2000
When the beta for SOSAnywhere
was first put up on the web over a couple of years ago, it
caused quite a stir. Unfortunately, it never made it out of
the beta stage, was never released, and now the downloadable
demo is inoperative as it expired in January 1998. The good
news is that the development has been taken over by a group of
programmers who will release it as freeware once it's
complete. Stay tuned ...
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December 30, 1999
The HTML Help documentation
page and the update
page now state "updated December 20, 1999" at
the top. Looks as though it's mostly cosmetic and content
fixes, as the files are still for 1.22. Still waiting for any
info on 1.3 ... although it's starting to show up in the
"Applies To" section of some KB
articles ...
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December 3, 1999
(updated January 27, 2000)
All Visual Basic developers who have run into the problem
of HTML Help-based popups appearing behind Visual Basic forms
will be happy to learn that this has been fixed in hhctrl.ocx
version 4.74.8637. This is included in HTML Help version 1.3
that ships with the Internet Explorer 5.5 Platform Preview.
Now, this version of HTML Help is not redistributable at this
point. Also, installing Internet Explorer 5.5 will only update
HTML Help if hhctrl.ocx is earlier than the version that
shipped with IE 5.00 (4.73.8412). Even so, the fact that
this problem is taken care of at this point means it's well on
its way to the masses.
One problem that apparently still exists with popups and
hhctrl.ocx version 4.74.8637 is that popups will still appear
behind forms in Visual Basic 6 if the form is set to topmost
via a call to SetWindowPos using HWND_TOPMOST. If you have
hhctrl.ocx version 4.74.8637 installed, click here
to download a small sample Visual Basic 6 project illustrating
this problem. Note that, of course, this doesn't generate the
blank button on the taskbar as the previous problem did. Also
interesting is that the 'Close' popup still appears above the
form's Close button when HWND_TOPMOST is true, but the HTML
Help-based popup will still appear behind the form.
The final build number for the hhctrl.ocx for HTML Help 1.3
is 4.74.8702. The problem described in the above paragraph
does still exist with this latest version.
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