Microsoft Help 2.0 Preview ReadMe

Known Issues in this Release

1.      Incompatibility with Microsoft Visual Studio.NET Beta 1. This preview release is not compatible with Microsoft Visual Studio.NET Beta 1. Do not attempt to install this preview on a machine that contains Visual Studio.NET Beta 1. If you do so, the Visual Studio.NET Help content will be unusable.

2.      Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 or later required. You must install Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 or later prior to installing this preview. Internet Explorer 5.5 is preferred.
3.      Administrative access required. You must have administrative privileges to install this preview.

4.      Standard Viewer not included. The standard, redistributable viewer for Help 2.0 content is not available at this time. Instead, we have included a viewer called DExplore.exe. This is a viewer that will be used by MSDN and other products targeted at a technical audience. See 'Getting Started' below.

5.      Microsoft Help 2.0 Workshop not included. The Help 2.0 Workshop is not available at this time. For your convenience we have included a tool that will convert your HTML Help 1.x files into Help 2.0 source format. See 'Getting Started' below.

6.      Multi-level keywords and multiple keywords in links fail. If you create a keyword link (ALink or KLink) with multiple keywords (separated by ';') or multi-level keywords (levels separated by ','), the link will not function. This problem has been fixed in post-preview builds of Help 2.0.

7.      Problem canceling compilation. Do not press Ctrl+C twice during compilation. This may cause the compilation service to hang and the compiler to crash.

8.      Compiler assumes ANSI_CHARSET. If you are using OEM fonts in HxT (TOC) or HxK (Index), be sure to specify a charset (DEFAULT_CHARSET or OEM_CHARSET) in the file. Otherwise the characters will not display correctly.

9.      Compiler may crash on filenames containing spaces or %. Filenames that contain spaces or % may cause the compiler to crash when the logfile option is specified. (Seen mostly on Windows 98, but can also happen on Windows 2000). 

10.      Compiler performance. Compiling very large Help files can take a very long time with this release of the compiler. 

Getting Started

The following steps are designed to jump start you into the world of Help 2.0.?Using these steps, you can convert an existing HTML Help 1.x .CHM file into Help 2.0 sources, compile to a Help 2.0 compiled file (.HxS), register the .HxS file, and view the registered Help file. 

1.      Use HxConv.exe to convert your .CHM file to Help 2.0 sources

Hxconv.exe  -l  

2.      Use HxComp.exe to compile the new .HxS file

HxComp  -l 

Note: the .HxC file will be in the output directory specified in step 1.

3.      Use HxReg.exe to register the .HxS file

HxReg 

4.      View your Help file in DExplore

DExplore.exe /helpcol ms-help://myfile

User: