Sandcastle Help File Builder (SHFB). A standalone GUI, Visual Studio integration package, and MSBuild tasks providing full configuration and extensibility for building help files with the Sandcastle tools.
Welcome to the Sandcastle Help File Builder project.
- Get the current release
- Ask a question or open an issue
- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
- Sandcastle Help File Builder Help
- Sandcastle MAML Guide
- Sandcastle XML Comments Guide
This project is composed of two separate parts that work together: the Sandcastle tools and the Sandcastle Help File Builder. The Sandcastle tools are used to create help files for managed class libraries containing both conceptual and API reference topics. API reference topics are created by combining the XML comments that are embedded in your source code with the syntax and structure of the types which is acquired by reflecting against the associated .NET Framework assemblies. Conceptual topics are created by converting XML documents that you author containing Microsoft Assistance Markup Language (MAML). The Sandcastle tools are command-line based and have no GUI front-end, project management features, or an automated build process.
The Sandcastle Help File Builder was created to fill in the gaps, provide the missing NDoc-like features that are used most often, and provide standalone GUI and command line based tools to build a help file in an automated fashion. A Visual Studio integration package is also available for it so that help projects can be created and managed entirely from within Visual Studio.
Sandcastle was originally created by Microsoft back in 2006. The last official release from Microsoft occurred in June 2010. Until October 2012, it was hosted at the Sandcastle project site on CodePlex. In October 2012, Microsoft officially declared that they were ceasing support and development of Sandcastle. The Sandcastle tools have been merged into the Sandcastle Help File Builder project and all future development and support for them will be handled at this project site. The Sandcastle tools themselves remain separate from and have no dependency on the help file builder. As such, they can be used in a standalone fashion with your own scripts and build tools if that is your preference.
See the Installation Instructions for information about the required set of additional tools that need to be installed, where to get them, and how to make sure everything is configured correctly. The guided installer also provides information on the necessary tools and walks you through the installation steps.
If you are new to Sandcastle and the help file builder, see the topics in the Getting Started section to get familiar with it, set up your projects to produce XML comments, and create a help file project.
See the Project Wiki for information on requirements for building the code, contributing to the project, and links to other useful topics.
from https://github.com/EWSoftware/SHFB
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Help File Builder and Tools v2015.10.10.0
EWSoftware released this · 34 commits to master since this release
IMPORTANT: On some systems, the content of the ZIP file is blocked and the installer may fail to run. Before extracting it, right click on the ZIP file, select Properties, and click on the Unblock button if it is present in the lower right corner of the General tab in the properties dialog.
See the Sandcastle Help File Builder 2015.10.10.0 Release Notes for details on all of the changes made to the Sandcastle Help File Builder and tools.
This release uses the Sandcastle Guided Installation package. Download and extract to a folder and then run SandcastleInstaller.exe to run the guided installation of the Sandcastle Help File Builder and Tools core components, the Visual Studio extension package, and extras.
What's Included
- Help 1 compiler check and instructions on where to download it and how to install it if needed
- Sandcastle Help File Builder and Tools v2015.10.10.0
- SHFB Visual Studio Extension Package
- An option to install the MAML schemas in Visual Studio to provide IntelliSense for MAML topics
- An option to install MAML snippets in Visual Studio to provide insertion of common MAML elements in topics while editing
This release includes a corresponding NuGet package along with the initial release of the Universal Windows reflection information data set package.
Downloads
Help File Builder and Tools v2015.7.25.0
EWSoftware released this · 44 commits to master since this release
IMPORTANT: On some systems, the content of the ZIP file is blocked and the installer may fail to run. Before extracting it, right click on the ZIP file, select Properties, and click on the Unblock button if it is present in the lower right corner of the General tab in the properties dialog.
Please Note: This release contains a significant number of breaking changes. All deprecated features and support for Visual Studio 2010 and 2012 has been removed. See the Sandcastle Help File Builder 2015.7.25.0 Release Notes for details on all of the features removed and changes made to the Sandcastle Help File Builder and tools.
This release uses the Sandcastle Guided Installation package. Download and extract to a folder and then run SandcastleInstaller.exe to run the guided installation of the Sandcastle Help File Builder and Tools core components, the Visual Studio extension package, and extras.
What's Included
- Help 1 compiler check and instructions on where to download it and how to install it if needed
- Sandcastle Help File Builder and Tools v2015.7.25.0
- SHFB Visual Studio Extension Package
- An option to install the MAML schemas in Visual Studio to provide IntelliSense for MAML topics
- An option to install MAML snippets in Visual Studio to provide insertion of common MAML elements in topics while editing
This release includes a corresponding NuGet package along with the initial release of the reflection information data set packages.
Downloads
Help File Builder and Tools v2015.5.2.0
EWSoftware released this · 76 commits to master since this release
IMPORTANT: On some systems, the content of the ZIP file is blocked and the installer may fail to run. Before extracting it, right click on the ZIP file, select Properties, and click on the Unblock button if it is present in the lower right corner of the General tab in the properties dialog.
This release contains a few bug fixes and new feature implementations. Of note in this release is support for the new Markdown content presentation style.
See the Sandcastle Tools 2015.5.2.0 Release Notes for details on all of the changes made to the underlying Sandcastle tools and presentation styles.
See the Sandcastle Help File Builder 2015.5.2.0 Release Notes for details on all of the changes made to the Sandcastle Help File Builder and the Visual Studio Package.
This release uses the Sandcastle Guided Installation package. Download and extract to a folder and then run SandcastleInstaller.exe to run the guided installation of the Sandcastle Help File Builder and Tools core components, the Visual Studio extension package, and extras.
What's Included
- Help 1 compiler check and instructions on where to download it and how to install it if needed
- Help 2 compiler check and instructions on where to download it and how to install it if needed
- Sandcastle Help File Builder and Tools v2015.5.2.0
- SHFB Visual Studio Extension Package
- An option to install the MAML schemas in Visual Studio to provide IntelliSense for MAML topics
- An option to install MAML snippets in Visual Studio to provide insertion of common MAML elements in topics while editing
No NuGet Package: This release does not include a corresponding NuGet package. Due to size restrictions, I was unable to publish it. The extra framework reflection data pushes it over the 30MB size limit. I plan on reworking the reflection data support for a future release to allow it to be more modular and keep it below the size limit.
Downloads
Help File Builder and Tools v2015.1.12.0
EWSoftware released this · 119 commits to master since this release
IMPORTANT: On some systems, the content of the ZIP file is blocked and the installer may fail to run. Before extracting it, right click on the ZIP file, select Properties, and click on the Unblock button if it is present in the lower right corner of the General tab in the properties dialog.
This release contains a few bug fixes and new feature implementations. Support for Visual Studio 2015 Preview and .NET Framework versions 4.5.2 and 4.5.3 is included. Of note in this release is support for informational tool tips and Go To Definition support for various MAML and XML comments link-related elements.
NOTE: Some breaking changes were made in order support framework-specific reflection data. See the release notes for details if you have custom presentation styles or use the ESent/SQL Server cached data build components.
See the Sandcastle Tools 2015.1.12.0 Release Notes for details on all of the changes made to the underlying Sandcastle tools and presentation styles.
See the Sandcastle Help File Builder 2015.1.12.0 Release Notes for details on all of the changes made to the Sandcastle Help File Builder and the Visual Studio Package.
This release uses the Sandcastle Guided Installation package. Download and extract to a folder and then run SandcastleInstaller.exe to run the guided installation of the Sandcastle Help File Builder and Tools core components, the Visual Studio extension package, and extras.
What's Included
- Help 1 compiler check and instructions on where to download it and how to install it if needed
- Help 2 compiler check and instructions on where to download it and how to install it if needed
- Sandcastle Help File Builder and Tools v2015.1.12.0
- SHFB Visual Studio Extension Package
- An option to install the MAML schemas in Visual Studio to provide IntelliSense for MAML topics
- An option to install MAML snippets in Visual Studio to provide insertion of common MAML elements in topics while editing
No NuGet Package: This release does not include a corresponding NuGet package. Due to size restrictions, I was unable to publish it. The extra framework reflection data pushes it over the 30MB size limit. I plan on reworking the reflection data support for the next release to allow it to be more modular and keep it below the size limit.
Downloads
- 39 MBSHFBInstaller_v2015.1.12.0.zip
- Source code (zip)
- Source code (tar.gz)
- from https://github.com/EWSoftware/SHFB/releases
