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Help Broken Help Editing Macros in VS 2005 Beta2

I have found the fix that takes care of the broken help with the VS2005 Beta2 installation. However, I still have broken help if I try to use help while I'm in the macro editor. Does anyone know of a fix for this further problem?

Thanks

[240 byte] By [KenWilson] at [2008-2-3]

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# 1

Hi Ken,

I want to make sure I understand the nature of your problem. So Help is working fine from the VS2005 IDE, right?

Then you choose Tools->Macros IDE to load the Macros IDE. Which scenarios are broken in the Macros IDE? If you choose Index or Contents from the Help menu, what happens? What happens when pressing F1?

Thanks!
Jeremy Jones

JeremyJones at 2007-9-9 >

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# 2

Yes, help is working from the VS2005 IDE.

Here is the run down on the three Macros IDE scenarios you describe.

On F1 the Macros IDE hangs and all I get any time I try access the IDE is this warning from the VS icon in the system tray:

"MIcrosoft Visual Studios Macros is Waiting For an Internal Operation"

After a period control of the program returns but the standard help does not come up.

When I try to access "Contents" or "Index" I get the same hang and when it finally returns I get a standard message box with the following error:

"The operation could not be completed. Server execution failed"

As above, any attempt to access the IDE while it is hung produces the waiting warning from the VS icon in the system tray. Using F1 does not produce the server error.

I have the option set to only use local files when trying to locate help.

KenWilson at 2007-9-9 >

# 3

Interesting issue. We will probably need to debug the machine to determine the core issue. One workaround you can use for Index/Contents/Search is to launch Help from VS and use that instance of the Help viewer. The set of content available is identical in each case. Of course, this won't help you with F1 from the Macros IDE.

To help us diagnose this, you could turn on Activity Logging for VS, reproduce the issue, and provide us with the logs.

To turn on Activity Logging, assign the Environment Variable VSLogActivity=1 (restart the shell).
The logs we need will then be located here:
\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Microsoft\VSA
\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Microsoft\MSDN

The file is called ActivityLog.xml. The Activity Log surfaces some types of errors, so you can take a look at it and post back with the errors, or email the files to me at jeremyj@microsoft.com.

Thanks,
Jeremy Jones

JeremyJones at 2007-9-9 >

# 4

Ken,

Here's a workaround for you that will allow you to get F1 working from the Macros IDE:

1) Launch the Macros IDE
2) Choose Tools->Options | Environment | Help
3) Change the "Show Help using" property to "Integrated Help Viewer"
4) Restart the IDE

Now, F1 documents will load in the Macros IDE instead of in the standalone help viewer, but at least you'll be able to get F1 working!

The logs didn't make it clear to us what is wrong on your machine but we are still investigating.

Thanks!
Jeremy Jones

JeremyJones at 2007-9-9 >

# 5

Thank you very much for your time and that of the Microsoft staff who participated in this. That is a very effective workaround at this time and gives me all the help features through IDE (content, search, etc.).

Sincerely,

KenWilson at 2007-9-9 >

# 6

A late follow up that may be of interest.

I later attempted to install the SQL Server 2005 CTP. This required me to uninstall the .Net 2.0 framework that VS had installed. Needless to say, VS was broken after the installation. I ran ARP and had it do a repair. Help is now available from within all components of VS and from the Start menu shortcuts.

I will leave the guessing about what happened to you as I don't even have an inkling.

Thanks for your support.

KenWilson at 2007-9-9 >

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