Microsoft Help Viewer: Difference between revisions

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

{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2014}}

{{unreferencedmore citations needed|date=AprilJanuary 20142021}}

{{Infobox software

| name = Microsoft Help Viewer

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| replaces = [[Microsoft Help 2]]

| operating system = [[Microsoft Windows]]

| genre = [[Help system]]

}}

'''Microsoft Help Viewer''' ('''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==

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* 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.

==User Experience==

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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 sophiscatedsophisticated 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 format==

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 Compiled HTML Help]]

* [[Microsoft Help 2]]

==References==

{{Reflist}}

==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:Online help]]

[[Category:OnlineSoftware help]]