Generate documentation for .Net 2.0, update 3
I'm still waiting for the CTP of Sandcastle to be released. I've been expecting it for some weeks now. This was fueled by posts on the Microsoft Forums by Anand Raman, a Group Manager at Microsoft's development division. But more information about Sandcastle is still being released to the general public.
A new thread at the Microsoft Forum describes the pre-requisites for Sandcastle and the steps you need to take to generate a CHM file for a class library. The prerequisites for Sandcastle:
One thing that immediately caught my attention is the fact that there seems to be no GUI for Sandcastle. When you read the steps that need to be taken to generate a CHM file, you will see that it's all command-line stuff. The Sandcastle team will provide a batch file (!!!) that will generate the CHM file. This is great news when you want to include generating the CHM file in a NANT or Microsoft Build process. But a GUI would be great to build projects and test the generation process. Kinda like NDOC. I'm already thinking on building a small GUI application that will convert NDOC projects to Sandcastle builds. When I do, I'll post it on my blog.
And then there's the new Sandcastle team blog on MSDN. At the moment, there's not much more information than what was already known about Sandcastle. There's a mission statement, though:
"Enable managed class library developers throughout the world to easily create accurate, informative documentation with a common look and feel."
I'm surprised that the information from the new thread at the Forum is not there. Still, it does show that there's a lot happening with regards to Documentation compilers. One thing that is interesting though, is the Powerpoint presentation explaining more about Sandcastle. The tension is building!!!
The author of Ndoc, Kevin Downs, appears to have stopped development on a version for .Net framework 2.0. As quoted from one of the forums:
"Once 'Sandcastle' is released, it is my belief that it will become the de-facto standard and that NDoc will slowly become a stagnant side-water."
Another reason for Kevin to abandon further development of NDoc seems to be the mail bombs and threats. These were made by people in the community, who felt that they had the right to demand a new version of NDoc. This despite the fact that NDoc was a private project. I feel it's a real shame that this happened. I can fully understand his reasons to stop working on a new NDoc. I would loved to have seen this great tool continue.