MS-Help links

[Divil]

If possible, it would be nice to have another hack which made the forum software recognise ms-help:// links.

 

[Banjo]

What are they?

 

[Divil]

The new MSDN integrates itself in to explorer, and each page/topic is accessed by a URI starting in ms-help://. Its a good way of pointing people to specific pages in their documentation.

 

[Thinker]

I am a bit confused how this would work? Would these links try
to open msdn on the users computer? In my case, my internet
computer doesnt have VS.Net/MSDN installed, so that would fail.
(But I guess I could try installing the .Net MSDN alone on it.)

 

[Banjo]

I dont know if it does this but it would be quite cool if it checked for MSDN and if not present tried to find the page on the MSDN web site instead.

[edit]Oh, and what happens to people using different browsers.[/edit]

 

[Derek Stone]

Oh, and what happens to people using different browsers.

The link opens in Internet Explorer if youre using Mozilla (and I would assume Netscape as well). Opera chucks an error at you.

And yes, I would like to see ms-help links recognized. The hack would be ridiculously simple.

 

[Thinker]

I am still lost as to what needs to be hacked. The automatic
recognition of a mshelp url?

ms-help://MS.MSDNQTR.2002OCT.1033/dnmsdn/html/msdnstart.htm
using url tag

[edit]Testing changes[/edit]

 

[quwiltw]

Is there anything thats available in the ms-help pages that arent also available in the MSDN library online? If not, whats the benefit of doing this (which targets a smaller audience) over just pointing to the MSDN library (which seems like the lowest common denominator)?

 

[Derek Stone]

I am still lost as to what needs to be hacked. The automatic
recognition of a mshelp url?

Yeah. If its not too much trouble. Granted, this can of course be put on the back burner. Nothing that important.

 

[Thinker]

The hack would be ridiculously simple.

I believe it would be - for a regular expressions expert.
For me it will only require that I become a regular expressions
expert. No big deal.

 

[Thinker]

First attempt has been installed. Please try it out and see if there
are any problems.

 

[Bucky]

Originally posted by quwiltw
Is there anything thats available in the ms-help pages that arent also available in the MSDN library online? If not, whats the benefit of doing this (which targets a smaller audience) over just pointing to the MSDN library (which seems like the lowest common denominator)?

The MS-Help is installed locally, so browsing for info is much faster
and less tedious.

Thinker, that link didnt work for me... All my help files are in
MS.VSCC, like so:

ms-help://MS.VSCC/vsccCommon/html/vsccCommon_Start_Page.htm

 

[Thinker]

That is because you dont have the regular .Net MSDN library
subscription version. ms.vacc is the version that comes with
visual studio. Which brings up another reason this link thing isnt
going to be as useful as other url links. Some have the library
and some dont.

 

[quwiltw]

Originally posted by Bucky
The MS-Help is installed locally, so browsing for info is much faster and less tedious.

Ahhh... the beauty of high speed access. The speed difference is negligible for me. I still think my lowest common denominator point is valid.

 

[lebb]

I agree, but at least now folks will have the option to do it either way.

 

[Iceplug]

Hmm... I thought you threw your retirement party, lebb... .NET too appealing?

[edit]And I voted for this thread to test the voting system.[/edit]

 

[Thinker]

Since no one would come to her party, she just decided to call it
off. Now all we have to do is get her to actually open up her
VS.NET once in awhile.

[edit]Looks like thread rating works just fine.[/edit]

 

[lebb]

* lebb quietly throws herself a welcome-back party [Broken External Image]:http://verbalclay.drunkenhyena.com/smile/bday.gif

 

[Divil]

Awww

 

[Iceplug]

* Iceplug wonders how many smilies lebb really has...