Links to Resources

This topics contains links to various resources that you may find useful.

Note

For a list of required tools and suggested additional tools, see the Installation Instructions topic.

Guides and Articles

The following are various guides and articles that will help you become familiar with XML comments, conceptual content, and Sandcastle.

For a comprehensive list of XML documentation elements and a description of their attributes and usage, see the Sandcastle XML Comments Guide installed as part of the help file builder (also available online).
For a comprehensive list of MAML documentation elements used in conceptual content and a description of their attributes and usage, see the Sandcastle MAML Guide installed as part of the help file builder (also available online).
Special thanks to Alessandro Del Sole for featuring the Sandcastle Help File Builder in his Italian language book Programming with Visual Basic 2005 Beyond the Code.
The following article is outdated now but does contain some useful information: Taming Sandcastle: A .NET Programmer's Guide to Documenting Your Code.
For a wall chart that contains condensed information on the various XML comment elements, see this PDF file also by Michael Sorens: Sandcastle Wall Chart.

The following components can add new features to the help topics generated by Sandcastle.

For a list of components supplied with the help file builder, see the BuildAssembler Components topic.
For a list of supplied plug-ins used to alter and extend the help file builder's build process, see the Build Process Plug-Ins topic.
XML Schema Documenter - This plug-in allows you to integrate reference documentation for XML schemas into your help files.
Sandcastle LaTeX - This custom build component converts LaTeX embedded in XML comments to images in the final help file. The component utilizes mimeTeX 1.7.

The following third-party tools are also available for use with Sandcastle and the help file builder.

Code Project Article: Producing Documentation for SQL Server Objects Using Sandcastle
ShoBiz - This is a BizTalk tool that generates Sandcastle documentation from BizTalk artifacts deployed into the databases. It promotes documentation as part of the solution lifecycle. The documentation structure mimics the Admin Console and extracts documentation comments from all sources.

The following resources provide places to discuss Sandcastle and the related tools, report bugs, and ask for help.

To discuss the help file builder and Sandcastle Tools, suggest new features, report bugs in them, and request help using it, visit the Sandcastle Help File Builder project site.
For discussion and questions about help systems in general, visit the Visual Studio General Questions forum.
The retired Microsoft Developer Documentation and Help System forum may also provide information on older help systems.