Microsoft Help Viewer: Difference between revisions

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{{short description|Offline help system by Microsoft}}

{{unreferencedUse dmy dates|date=AprilDecember 2014}}

{{Infobox Windows component

{{more citations needed|date=January 2021}}

| name = Microsoft Help Viewer

{{Infobox software

| type = Help system

| included_withname = [[VisualMicrosoft StudioHelp 2010]]Viewer

| screenshot_size = 300px

| replaces developer = [[Microsoft Help 2]]

| name replaces = [[Microsoft Help Viewer2]]

| operating system = [[Microsoft Windows]]

| type genre = [[Help system]]

}}

'''Microsoft Help Viewer''' 1.x('''HV''') is the offline help system (local help) developed by [[Microsoft]] that ships with versions of [[Microsoft Windows]] including and subsequent to [[Windows 8]], as well as [[Microsoft Visual Studio|Visual Studio 2010]] and its associated [[MSDN Library]].

Microsoft Help Viewer 1.x supersedes [[Microsoft Help 2]] which is the help system used by [[Microsoft Visual Studio]] 2002/2003/2005/2008 and [[Office 2007]]. It is shipped with VS 2010. Microsoft Help Viewer 2.x is backwards-compatible with 1.x and is shipped with the operating system as well as VS 2012+.

ThisAlthough isMicrosoft aHelp newViewer productwas andreferred doesto notas use'''MS anyHelp of3.x''' theduring olddevelopment, helpit 2is codea base.wholly Duringnew developmentproduct itand wastechnically referredunrelated to as '''MS[[Microsoft Help 3.x'''2]]. With the growing need for a general Unicode -based help system, it has the potential of becomingbecome the next generaldefault help system for [[Windows 10]].

==History==

* Jan 2008 - April Reagan [MS PM] blogs that [[Microsoft]] will replace [[Microsoft Help 2]].

* Apr 2009 - At [[WritersUA]] 2009 conference April Reagan and Anand Raman announced Microsoft Help 3 will ship with [[Microsoft Visual Studio|Visual Studio 2010]].

* Nov 2009 - Preview of new offline help ships with the VS 2010 Beta 2.

* Jan 2010 - Formal name changed from Microsoft Help 3.0 to Microsoft Help Viewer 1.0

* 12th April 2010 - Microsoft Help Viewer 1.0 is RTM (Release to Manufacturing) as part of the Visual Studio 2010 release.

* 3rd March 2011 - Microsoft Help Viewer 1.1 ships with Service Pack 1 of Visual Studio 2010.

* August 2012 - Microsoft Help Viewer 2.0 ships with Visual Studio 2012 and the Windows 8 OS.

The HelpPane Viewer is found in Windows 10. The version appears to be 2.3.

==File Format==

Help file has a ".mshc" (Microsoft Help Content) file extension and is simply a standard [[ZIP_(file_format) | Zip file]] renamed. It contains no proprietary files, just the author's content files.

A compiler (Workshop) is not required. Instead help files are ripped ([[Index (search engine)|Index]]ed) at installation time.

Topics files are written in XHTML 1.x compatible HTML. Standard HTML [[Meta_tags | Meta Tags]] are used to define various topic attributes including the Table of Contents (TOC), Visible Index and F1 Keyword list.

==User Experience==

The [[user experience]] for Microsoft Help Viewer 1.x is that topics can be viewed in any installed [[web browser]] – a separate application, such as the [[Microsoft Document Explorer]] included with Microsoft Help 2, is not necessary. The browser-based model is meant to provide a more lightweight navigation, downloading, and reading experience than earlier help-viewer models.

Visual Studio 2010 includes a [[taskbar]] applet in the Windows notification area (system tray) that arbitrates between viewing offline help and online help in the browser when F1 is pressed, and resolves help topic [[URI]]s to the proper topic page. It also includes a "library manager" application to manage the download, installation and uninstallation of help topics on the system, as well as whether to prefer online help when connected to the Internet.

Microsoft Help Viewer 2.0 uses a COM runtime library, so the taskbar applet is no longer used. The format is unchanged.<ref>{{cite web |title=Help Viewer - MSHelpWiki |url=http://mshelpwiki.helpmvp.com/mshelp/help-viewer |website=mshelpwiki.helpmvp.com |access-date=11 February 2020 |archive-date=30 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191230063537/http://mshelpwiki.helpmvp.com/mshelp/help-viewer |url-status=live }}</ref> The runtime API is accessible via .NET dlls used in VS2012 and Windows 8; they are equivalent except for a name change.<ref>{{cite web |title=HV2 API Calls - Microsoft Help Viewer 2.0 |url=http://hv2.helpmvp.com/doc/api |website=helpware hv2 |access-date=11 February 2020 |archive-date=25 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200225205652/http://hv2.helpmvp.com/doc/api |url-status=live }}</ref> VS2012 ships a more sophisticated toolkit (HlpViewer and HlpCtntMgr), while Windows 8 only has a one-pane HelpPane program.<ref>{{cite web |title=Microsoft Help Viewer 2.0 |url=http://hv2.helpmvp.com/doc/abouthelpviewer2 |website=hv2 ,helpmvp |access-date=11 February 2020 |archive-date=21 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200221174122/http://hv2.helpmvp.com/doc/abouthelpviewer2 |url-status=live }}</ref>

==File Formatformat==

Help files from Microsoft Help Viewer have a {{tt|.mshc}} file extension. They are ordinary [[Zip file]]s containing HTML documents. Special meta tags are provided for navigation, and there is support for signing the help bundle.<ref name=hv2>{{cite web |title=Help File Format - Microsoft Help Viewer 2.0 |url=http://hv2.helpmvp.com/doc/file-format |website=helpware hv2 |access-date=11 February 2020 |archive-date=25 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200225205632/http://hv2.helpmvp.com/doc/file-format |url-status=live }}</ref>

==See also==

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* [[Microsoft Help 2]]

==References==

== External links ==

{{Reflist}}

* [http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh580782(v=vs.110).aspx Microsoft Help Viewer 2.1 Help]

== External links ==

* [httphttps://msdndocs.microsoft.com/en-us/libraryvisualstudio/hh580782(v=vs.110).aspxhelp-viewer/overview Microsoft Help Viewer 2.1 Helpdocumentation]

* [http://kb.helpwaregroup.com/ms-help-viewer MSHC tools from helpware]

{{Microsoft Windows components}}

[[Category:OnlineSoftware help]]