Announcing June 2007 Sandcastle CTP

  • Article

I am excited to announce the availability of June 2007 CTP version for Sandcastle. The latest version is now available for download at https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=E82EA71D-DA89-42EE-A715-696E3A4873B2&displaylang=en. My sincere thanks to the Sandcastle user community for providing us with valuable feedback.

What's new in this version:

  1. New version of the CCI reflection engine.
  2. New presentation style and document model code named “VSORCAS”. Please see https://blogs.msdn.com/sandcastle/archive/2007/06/17/introducing-a-new-document-model-design-code-named-vsorcas.aspx.
  3. New ResolveReferenceLinks2 component replacing the existing ResolveReferenceLinks component.
  4. Added 2 new executables under production tools folder. They are SegregateByAssembly.exe and AggregateByNamespace.exe. These are used for building componentized assembly level HxS or CHM. I will blog more details about these in the coming weeks.
  5. Configure MrefBuilder to get dependencies from GAC. Please see changes to MrefBuilder.config file for details.
  6. Moved several common files to Presentation\shared folder.
  7. Support for recursively reading file. Please see changes to configuration files below for details.
  8. Added build.proj under Examples/Sandcastle folder. This Msbuild project file will generate chm/Hxs build from test.cs. Usage details below.

Changes in this version:

  1. Data\Cpref_Reflection folder has been renamed to Data\Reflection
  2. Changes to xpath query expression in configuration files (MrefBuilder.config and Sandcastle.config).
  3. Configuration changes to MrefBuilder.config file as shown below:

1

Addition:

<resolver type="Microsoft.Ddue.Tools.Reflection.AssemblyResolver" assembly="%DXROOT%\ProductionTools\MRefBuilder.exe" use-gac="false" />

1. MrefBuilder can now be configures to read dependencies from GAC.
  1. Configuration changes to Sandcastle.config file as shown below:

1

Changed:  

<data files="%DXROOT%\Data\cpref_reflection\*.xml" />

To:

<data base="%DXROOT%\Data\Reflection" recurse="true" files="*.xml" />

1. The reflection files are moved to data\reflection;

2. Support reading files recursively.

2

Changed :

<content file="%DXROOT%\Presentation\vs2005\content\syntax_content.xml" />

To:

<content file="%DXROOT%\Presentation\shared\content\syntax_content.xml" />

1. We have moved some files to presentation\shared folder.

3

Changed:

<component type="Microsoft.Ddue.Tools.ResolveReferenceLinksComponent" assembly="% DXROOT%\ProductionTools\BuildComponents.dll">

To:

<component type="Microsoft.Ddue.Tools.ResolveReferenceLinksComponent2" assembly="% DXROOT%\ProductionTools\BuildComponents.dll">

1. New ResolveReferenceLinks2 to read directories of reference target files recursively.

Getting Started:

1. Using the command line option for the batch file under Examples folder to build prototype or VS2005 or VSOrcas style CHM or HxS file

1. Build_sandcatle.bat prototype

2. Build_sandcatle.bat vs2005

3. Build_sandcatle.bat vsorcas

To build hxs, please uncomment the last line in build_sandcastle.bat.

:: If you need to generate hxs, please uncomment the following line. Make sure "Microsoft Help 2.0 SDK" is installed on your machine.

::hxcomp.exe -p output\test.hxc

2. Using msbuild to generate build for prototype or VS2005 or VSOrcas, CHM or HxS file

1. Msbuild build.proj /property:PresentationStyle=prototype

2. Msbuild build.proj /property:PresentationStyle=vs2005

3. Msbuild build.proj /property:PresentationStyle=vsorcas

To build hxs, add /target:Hxs, eg: Msbuild build.proj /property:PresentationStyle=vs2005 /target:Hxs

Issues fixed in this version (Reported by Customers):

1. Most of the 16 bugs reported at https://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=1538823&SiteID=1.

2. Sandcastle: BuildAssembler is throwing StackOverflowException when applyinig /internal+ switch to Mrefbuilder

3. Sandcastle: html file name is empty for topic "N:"

4. Sandcastle: BuildAssembler throwing Unhandled Exception in Resolve Links Component

5. Sandcastle: Enumeration member pages missing

6. Sandcastle: MRefBuilder Namespace Ripping Still Broken

7. Sandcastle: Invalid ref link makes BA crash

8. Sandcastle: strange character is appearing in navigator (prototype style)

9. Sandcastle: Mref ripping feature doesn't work

10. Sandcastle: Check in changeset of TocToChmContents.xsl into main tree

11. Sandcastle: Build intellisense documentation without internal members

12. Sandcastle: table heading for enum members is showing as "class" (vs2005 transforms)

13. Sandcastle: Some issues/questions reported by customer.

14. Sandcastle: Bug in the processing of the <overloads> summary information

15. Sandcastle: Overloaded constructor page displayes dot as prefix (vs2005 transforms)

16. Sandcastle: Mrefbuilder throws StackOverflowException.

17. Sandcastle: MRefBuilder is hitting assertion

18. Sandcastle: Inheritance Hierarchy VS2005 incorrect when using inner classes

19. Sandcastle: Inherited from self info is showing up (vs2005 theme)

20. Sandcastle: The method parameters description page omits the type in the lower description section. Style = vs2005

21. Sandcastle: Sandcastle displays "Assertion Failed" dialog when building

22. Sandcastle: Rendering issue with generics in vs2005 transforms

23. Sandcastle: Can Sandcastle find automatically GAC assemblies

24. Sandcastle: content panel don’t expand as expected when corresponding title clicked.

25. Sandcastle: Display a fully qualified name for innerclasses/ innerenums/ innerinterfaces etc

26. Sandcastle: Generic typenames are not displaying correctly

27. Sandcastle: March CTP - Namespace problem with subclasses

28. Sandcastle: generics attribute is not showing up in syntax section

29. Sandcastle: enum members should be deleted from index entry

30. Sandcastle: Incorrect word wrapping of code blocks in vs2005 transforms

31. Sandcastle: Provide an option to generate CHM/HxS and/or VS integration with single click

32. Sandcastle: When there are many constructors, the title of the group page, in the TOC, starts with a dot. The starting dot should be removed

33. Sandcastle: When a method overrides another, the name of the class defining the original method is not present in the description

34. Sandcastle: copycodeHighlight.gif is not included in installer for March CTP.

35. Sandcastle: classnames are not sorted in the namespace overview

36. Sandcastle: some sections looks ugly

37. Sandcastle: TOC is empty (prototype style)

38. Sandcastle: The member of enum should have no link.(vsorcas theme)

39. Sandcastle: syntax issue of EditorAttribute

40. Sandcastle: Not all page titles and base-class names are having a fully qualified name when using innerclasses

41. Sandcastle: some keys are missing from content files(vsorcas theme)

42. Sandcastle: "Warn: SharedContentComponent: Missing shared content item 'subgroup'"(vs2005 theme)

43. Sandcastle: The “Examples” section has no “Copy Code” function (prototype theme).

44. Sandcastle: The tab width is fixed in "Members" section(vsorcas theme)

45. Sandcastle: table text become smaller after clicked link.

46. Sandcastle: Printing issue of prototype transforms

Issues fixed in this version (Features and Bugs as a part of Orcas Beta 2):

 

200 plus items. I will be happy to attach a list if users are interested in seeing them.