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About DotNet Help Output

DotNet Help is a Help output format developed by MadCap Software for Windows desktop applications. It was designed to include the best attributes of HTML Help and WebHelp, while filling the holes left behind by those formats. DotNet Help is designed specifically to support Visual Studio 2005 developers. It includes a freely redistributable viewer (MadCap Help Viewer), as well as components for the Visual Studio 2005 developer. These components can be dropped into your Flare project to facilitate context-sensitive Help, embedded Help, and features such as automated search string communication between the application and the DotNet Help documentation.

The DotNet Help output consists of a collection of files that you will distribute to users with the freely downloadable MadCap Help Viewer. The main entry file has an .mchelp extension.

DotNet Help is a good choice if:

You need a format that supports .NET applications.
You want to produce a customizable interface that is much more modern looking than the aging HTML Help. It will blend easily into a modern Vista environment.
You want users to be able to select between multiple languages for the interface when viewing your output. This is possible because the freely distributable MadCap Help Viewer lets users select English, French, German, or Japanese for the interface.
You do not want users to be burdened by the security warnings and limitations that are often encountered with HTML Help and WebHelp.
You need to include features that are not available with HTML Help.
You want to create embedded context-sensitive Help in a .NET application. This includes the ability to produce Dynamic Help.
You want to include search functionality that supports wildcard searches.

Flare's online Help uses DotNet Help.

Output Type Comparison Table—Online Output Types

Following are the various online output types available, with the distinguishing features of each.

	DotNet Help	HTML Help	WebHelp	WebHelp AIR	WebHelp Plus
.NET integration	X
Embedded context-sensitive Help	X
Feedback statistics and reporting features	X	X	X	X	X
Language support for Help interface	X		X	X	X
Platform—Desktop-based	X	X		X
Platform—Web-based			X		X
Server—advanced features					X
Single output file		X		X
Main entry file extension	.mchelp	.chm	.htm	.air	.htm
Output window	MadCap Help Viewer	Microsoft HTML Help Viewer	Browser window	Application window	Browser window
Other requirements	MadCap DotNet Help Viewer	Internet Explorer		Java Runtime Environment (JRE) Adobe AIR