Question

Anyone using sandcasle..i didnt find any straught forward step by step walktought to use it and create msbuild project settings that would generate the friendly help file.
I installed it from codeplex and installed the file builder but they dont say how to use it clearly. any example would be apptrciated.

Answer 1

When you installed Sandcastle Help File Builder, it should have also installed the documentation file. In that help file, look in Contents -> Getting Started -> Building Projects Outside the GUI. On that page, there is a section called ‘Specifying a Post-Build Event to Build Help File’ that sounds like what you are looking for:

Currently, help file builder projects are not directly supported as solution project items. However, a post-build event in a Visual Studio project can be used to build them. To do so, right click on a project name in the Solution Explorer, select Properties, and select the Build Events sub-item. Click in the Post-build Event Command Line option to enter the command line to run. You can click the Edit Post-build button to open a dialog with a larger editor and a list of available macros. Below is an example of a common command line script that can be used (lines wrapped for display purposes). Replace the path to the tool with the path where you installed it on your PC. The IF statement prevents building the help file in debug builds where it may not be needed.

IF "$(ConfigurationName)"=="Debug" Goto Exit

ECHO Building SHFB help file via MSBuild
"$(SystemRoot)\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.5\MSBuild.exe"
    /p:CleanIntermediates=True /p:Configuration=Release 
    "$(SolutionDir)Doc\SandcastleBuilder.shfbproj"

:Exit