Appendix A: Creating a MSHelp2 Combined Collection

Why Create a MSHelp2 Combined Collection?

• You have created numerous MSHelp2 (.HxS) Collections.
  • For example, you've created MSHelp2 Collections for an A.P.I., Class Library, D.L.L. Library and Programmers Guide, all specific to one software product.
  • Instead of listing each of these H2 Collections separately in the Visual Studio Help Contents window, we can combine them under one Parent Node and make each H2 Collection a Child node of that Parent node.
  • We then compile and build this new MSHelp2 Collection.
  • This will save space in the Visual Studio Help Contents window, and also help categorize your H2 Collections with a specific application.
  • The key to accomplishing this is in the Visual Studio Help Integration Wizard 2005 (Page 3 of 4) dialog box, and consists of creating a Parent node with your H.x.S. collections set as Child nodes.
• In order to create a Combined Help Collection consisting of 2 or more H.x.S. files, and have them listed successfully with a Parent node and subsequent Child nodes in the Visual Studio 2005 Help Contents Window, please employ the following Step by Step instructions:

Step by Step

1. Create an H2_Output folder (preferrably on your C:\ drive).
   1. Copy and paste all of your H.x.S. Collections specific to this new MSHelp2 Combined Collection into the H2_Output folder.
   2. Remove the Build folder containing the MergeModule and M.S.I./Setup.exe folders from each H.x.S. collection.
2. Open Visual Studio 2005.
   1. Open the Help Integration Wizard 2005 from the File > New Project > Other Project Types > Extensibility > Help Integration Wizard.
   2. Enter the title of your combined help collection in the Name field.
   3. Make sure the Create Directory for Solution checkbox is checked.
   4. Click the OK button.
3. In the Help Integration Wizard (Page 1 of 4) dialog box:
   1. Choose the Setup Project radio button.
   2. In the Target dropdown list, choose Visual Studio 2005 .
   3. Click the Next button.
4. In the Help Integration Wizard (Page 2 of 4) dialog box:
   1. Click the Add button.
   2. Navigate to the H2_Output folder which contains your H.x.S. Collection files.
   3. Select ALL of the H.x.S. files using the Shift key.
      1. The sequential order of these files is not important now.....we'll fix that in the next step.
   4. Click the Open button.
      1. This adds all of the H.x.S. files to the Source Files window.
   5. Click the Next button.
5. In the Help Integration Wizard (Page 3 of 4) dialog box:
   1. Keep the Plug-in Style radio button selection set to Hierarchical.
   2. In the Target dropdown list, choose Visual Studio 2005.
   3. Click the red book icon in the Help Collection T.O.C. window on the left, and enter a title for your combined help collection.
      1. This will become the Parent node of your combined collection.
   4. In the Exclude from T.O.C. window on the right, select the title of your 1st Child node to appear under the Parent node.
   5. Click the Include button.
      1. Do the same for each title appearing in the Exclude from T.O.C. window, setting the order of precedence in which they will appear under the Parent node.
   6. Click on the Plug-in Node Properties icon.
   7. Edit the name in the text box, eliminating all spaces between words in the name.
      1. Use underscores or another naming convention.
   8. Click the Next button.
6. In the Help Integration Wizard (Page 4 of 4) dialog box:
   1. Enter a namespace for your combined help collection.
      1. Make sure there are no spaces between words in the namespace.
   2. Click the Finish button.
      1. This will return you to the Visual Studio 2005 I.D.E., and your pre-builds for the combined help collection will be showing in the Solution Explorer window.
7. In the Visual Studio 2005 Solution Explorer window:
   1. Right-click the MergeModule pre-build solution.
   2. Click Build in the menu.
      1. Verify that the MergeModule build has finished successfully.
   3. Right-click the M.S.I./Setup.exe pre-build solution.
   4. Click Build in the menu.
      1. Verify that the M.S.I./Setup.exe build has finished successfully.
   5. Save the builds.
   6. Close Visual Studio 2005.
8. Go to your H2_Output folder containing the H.x.S. files, which now contains the combined help collection folder created by the Visual Studio build process.
   1. Open the new combined help collection folder.
   2. Open the M.S.I./Setup.exe folder.
   3. Open the Debug folder.
   4. Double-click on the Setup.exe package, or right-click on the M.S.I. package and choose Install in the menu.
   5. Follow the Install wizard process.
   6. After successfully completing the Install procedure, close all folders.
9. Open Visual Studio 2005 and click on the Help Contents tab.
   1. Your combined help collection will be listed in the Help Contents Window navigation tree.
   2. Expand the Parent node and you will see your Child nodes listed in the order of precedence you set in the Help Integration Wizard procedure.

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