DocProject 1.9.0 RC Deployed

The DocProject 1.9.0 Release Candidate is now available on CodePlex.  I'm still working on updating the wiki documentation though.

Thanks for your patience with this one.  I invested more time than I probably should have in additional features that weren't immediately necessary, but hey, this project is fun for me and some times I can't seem to come to a logical stop :)

New Features in DocProject 1.9.0 RC

• Compatibility with the Sandcastle October 2007 CTP.
• Preliminary support for conceptual content using Sandcastle's conceptual configuration file. (The conceptual build process has been integrated although it hasn't been tested and DocProject does not automatically generate a conceptual TOC yet.)
• Sandcastle's build component stacks are now available as properties in the DocProject Properties window and the DocProject External UI, with support for hosting custom build component editors that can either show a modal dialog, a drop down editor or subproperties.
• Framework and project reference link types are configurable as subproperties of the build component stacks and can be set by simply choosing one of the following values from a drop-down list: MSDN, Index, Local or None.
• DocSite Templates include four new buttons under the Contents tab: Save, Bookmark, Email and Print. The latter two are supported in IE6, IE7, Firefox and Opera, but the former two are only visible in IE. Note that Save does not currently download supporting files such as JavaScript or style sheets though.
• DocSite performance generating the full-text search index has been greatly improved.
• Version Management Dialog: Create documentation that includes version information by referencing external assemblies and reflection files, and then simply enter custom version names (DocProject uses Sandcastle's VersionBuilder program in the background.)
• ChmBuilder is used exclusively to build the supporting Help 1.x files (WARNING: The .HHC file format has been changed. Beware if you were modifying it to include custom topics.)
• Both the Topic Designer and API Topic Management dialog now remember their last saved position, size, and the positions of splitters.
• Edit all content item documents using the Topic Designer instead of just the shared_content.xml file. All of the available documents are listed in the Create Shared Content step of the New Project Wizard as well.
• Several new API Topic Management dialog features:
  • Improved performance when applying filters.
  • Topic tree nodes now use icons that reflect access type, as do the tooltips.
  • Filter topics by API accessibility or in combination with API types; e.g., protected fields, private interfaces, public or protected methods and delegates, etc.
  • Save filters and load them later or have them applied automatically during builds (dynamic filters).
  • Author external XML documentation in the appearance of the selected presentation style, with special styles for XML documentation tags such as see, c, code, paramref, etc.
  • New XmlTreeView project and control, which supports binding to an IXPathNavigable data source and allows drag/drop internally and externally (although internal drag/drop support is not currently enabled. This feature is planned for conceptual content in a subsequent release).
  • Drag and drop API elements from the tree into the XML documentation editor to generate see links automatically (works in both source and design mode).
  • The appropriate XML documentation sections for each specific API type (.e.g, summary, remarks, return, value, etc.) are listed automatically in the XML documentation editor, including individual param and typeparam tags for methods and delegates.
  • Add additional documentation sections that support multiple instances (e.g., exception, permission) by selecting them from a drop-down list. The list only shows those sections that are appropriate for the selected topic.
  • Quickly create custom XML documentation sections in the editor by entering a name and pressing enter, or register them as built-in sections in DocProject's configuration file. See this blog post for information on how to use custom tags in Sandcastle's XSL transformations.
  • The XML documentation editor automatically cleans up empty sections from the external documentation when it's saved.
• Build Process Components can now take advantage of more of DocProject's API and now have the ability to inject dynamic build steps, pass delegates to DocProject's API and register event handlers.
• Documentation now includes a root Namespaces topic to which the XML documentation's project summary is applied.