Pelles C forum

Pelles C => Bug reports => Topic started by: Anonymous on May 03, 2005, 12:04:38 PM

Title: New SDK version....
Post by: Anonymous on May 03, 2005, 12:04:38 PM
This is half in jest...

Microsoft has released SP1 for the Platform SDK (May 2, 2005).  The whole thing can be downloaded as a CD image, the indexing finally makes sense and overall it's a lot better organized.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=D8EECD75-1FC4-49E5-BC66-9DA2B03D9B92&displaylang=en

Only thing is, now the IDE won't search it...

Yeah!  ....   Boo!  :lol:
Title: New SDK version....
Post by: Pelle on May 05, 2005, 04:16:09 PM
As clearly stated in the help file, the SDK uses an undocumented help engine. Any attempt to use it, must result in undocumented calls. If it's working, great, otherwise - tough luck. This is not a "bug".

Pelle
Title: New SDK version....
Post by: Anonymous on May 06, 2005, 06:53:39 AM
Quote from: "Pelle"
As clearly stated in the help file, the SDK uses an undocumented help engine. Any attempt to use it, must result in undocumented calls. If it's working, great, otherwise - tough luck. This is not a "bug".

Pelle


Which is why I said it was in jest.  

What they appeared to do was change the way it's called up ...

"C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\help\dexplore.exe" /helpcol ms-help://MS.PSDKSVR2003SP1.1033

Notice the new version specifies SP1 in the command line.  

But, I understand why you wouldn't want to version chase the thing.  It would eventually become a real pain having to detect versions in an undocumented setup.  (And, fwiw, yours is the only IDE I've seen that can even load the thing... so it's hardly expected behaviour)

There's no harm done, I have the win98 SDK which I still prefer for general help anyway...  Keeps me from getting carried away with the XP only stuff that leaves older versions (including my own) out in the cold.  I can still get at the PSDK with a desktop Icon... so at worst it's a minor inconvenience.
Title: New SDK version....
Post by: Pelle on May 06, 2005, 01:40:22 PM
To me a post in "bug reports" means a real bug, or a possible real bug, that should be fixed. This didn't really qualify as such.

When they allow me to order the damn thing on CD, I will try and get it. Then we will see. If only the collection string differs, maybe I can add a setting somewhere - at least in the Registry.

Pelle
Title: New SDK version....
Post by: Anonymous on May 07, 2005, 01:12:43 AM
Quote from: "Pelle"
To me a post in "bug reports" means a real bug, or a possible real bug, that should be fixed. This didn't really qualify as such.

Well it is a bug, sort of... helpfile induced failure :lol:  
Quote

When they allow me to order the damn thing on CD, I will try and get it. Then we will see. If only the collection string differs, maybe I can add a setting somewhere - at least in the Registry.

Actually you can now download the CD image directly from the website.  It burns and works perfectly with Nero.  The link I posted will take you directly to it.  If push comes to shove, I'll be happy to  make you one and mail it to you!

Far as I can tell, the collection name is the  only real difference in launching the thing.
Title: New SDK version....
Post by: Pelle on May 08, 2005, 08:52:34 PM
It's a bug when it's not working as intended - since it's based on undocumented interfaces, the intent can never be that it should work all the time.

If I were interested, I could download the SDK - but I'm not. As I said, I might order the CD later.

Pelle
Title: New SDK version....
Post by: tiwag on May 15, 2005, 06:14:12 PM
Quote from: "ldblake"
...
What they appeared to do was change the way it's called up ...

"C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\help\dexplore.exe" /helpcol ms-help://MS.PSDKSVR2003SP1.1033

Notice the new version specifies SP1 in the command line.  

But, I understand why you wouldn't want to version chase the thing.  It would eventually become a real pain having to detect versions in an undocumented setup.  (And, fwiw, yours is the only IDE I've seen that can even load the thing... so it's hardly expected behaviour)

...


@Pelle
i also suffer from these fixed string used to call the help file,
because i've installed the MSDN Library version, which is called
by the string "ms-help://MS.MSDNQTR.2003FEB.1031"

would it be possible and not too much expense to implement
a variable for this text ?
at least stored in the registry where one can change it accordingly to the local install circumstances.

thanks, tiwag
Title: New SDK version....
Post by: Anonymous on May 15, 2005, 07:06:09 PM
Quote from: "tiwag"
i also suffer from these fixed string used to call the help file, because i've installed the MSDN Library version, which is called
by the string "ms-help://MS.MSDNQTR.2003FEB.1031"

would it be possible and not too much expense to implement
a variable for this text ?
at least stored in the registry where one can change it accordingly to the local install circumstances.
thanks, tiwag


Actually if you look in the registry at

HKLM\software\microsoft\MSDN\<version>\help
or
HKCU\software\microsoft\msdn\<version>\help

You will find the callup command stored there.

Perhaps Pelle could have POIDE look there, on startup, to locate the correct version and filenames
Title: New SDK version....
Post by: tiwag on May 15, 2005, 09:16:21 PM
Quote from: "ldblake"
Perhaps Pelle could have POIDE look there, on startup, to locate the correct version and filenames


Perhaps this isn't worth the expense.
A registry entry is absolutely sufficient,
if there exists a special help-prefix-string in the registry,
then POIDE uses this otherwise it behaves like it's implemented
till now with a standard prefix string.
This is simple, doesn't need much work to implement and every user
which isn't satisfied with the standard behaviour is able to customize it
for his needs, even when one has installed several PSDK's in parallel.

--tiwag
Title: New SDK version....
Post by: Pelle on May 16, 2005, 11:54:24 PM
I will look at this later and decide what to do about it. Right now is not a good time.

Pelle
Title: Alternative
Post by: xanatose on May 24, 2005, 11:49:11 PM
This program can browse the help colection instead.

http://helpware.net/mshelp2/h2viewer.htm

If you run it with the following command line:

H2Viewer.exe /appid pellesc /helpcol "ms-help://MS.PSDKSVR2003SP1.1033" /index "keyword"

Where "keyword" is the keyword you want to look up. It will search the index for the keyword and display its topic, if found. (Just like Visual Studio)

The options are:

/appid = Sets application id. This is use to use only one instance of the application.

/helpcol = Help URL

/index = Search for index.

There are other options

I don't yet know how to make a plugin for PellesC that does this, but I tough this could be useful for someone that knows how to.
Title: New SDK version....
Post by: Greg on May 25, 2005, 04:15:25 AM
I use H2Viewer too, it's a very good program, I actually prefer it to the Microsoft Document Explorer. I set it up in the 'Tools' menu in the Pelle's C IDE to view the Platform SDK docs or MSDN. Works very well. You can't beat the price either (free).
Title: Re: Alternative
Post by: Anonymous on May 25, 2005, 05:52:56 AM
Quote from: "xanatose"
This program can browse the help colection instead.
http://helpware.net/mshelp2/h2viewer.htm


Nice proggy.  Thanks!