What would you use to write end user documentation for a WPF application

Question

We're working on a WPF-based application and we would like to have user documentation included in the application.

Our requirements:

• Must support multiple output formats (CHM,HTML,PDF)
• Be able to load the text into a WPF application
• Be familiar for a windows user
• Preferrable possible to give us context sensitive help within the application
• Nice predefined template so we only need to adjust to our colours

I've been considering basing this on MAML which is Vista's documentation format, but I am a bit unsure about the tooling support and the lack of commitment for a public API by Microsoft. Does anyone have any experience with MAML?

Answer 1

I've heard some pretty good things about Doc-o-Matic. It has multiple output formats. Since it can output to CHM, Help 2 and PDF (amongst others) it should be familiar for users.

They have several editions, the most interesting one in your case is Doc-o-Matic for Authoring, which is focused on auhtoring help files instead of source code documentation.

Answer 2

We're using SandCastle with Sandcastle Help File Builder as a configuration tool. It can create CHM, help2 & website (asp or html). It is very easy to use and free - the only downside is that additional context need to be created using MAML - an XML flavor MS uses.

Answer 3

You could use XPS and FlowDocument within WPF. I assume you would also be able to easily convert these to PDF for download from your web site.

It is nice to have your documentation available online as well. Alternatively you could go with just XHTML and load this within a custom documentation window within your WPF application using the Frame control. May as well use something that is standard and will fit in with your web site and easily updatable / future proof.

Just some thoughts.

Answer 4

We are building a help system that is based on XAML. We are in early prototyping to make sure the scheme we plan to use works and has an efficient workflow. Our tech writer will be writing the help documentation in Word 2007 and exporting the .DOC files into XAML code. The XAML code will be displayed in a FlowDocument control. We are using a converter called XAML Document Creator.

We didn't want to use the standard help document types since we wanted help to look like the rest of our application and didn't like the way the help viewer looked side by side. It was like a Win 3.1 experience next to a Vista experience.