Help 2 isn't included with VS2010

[jhiner]

I'm trying to get some API documentation for Measurement Studio for .NET, but the link for "NI-DAQmx .NET Framework 3.5 Help" is broken. It searches for dexplore.exe and never finds it; I guess VS2010 uses a completely different help system. I've tried downloading the "help 2 viewer" posted in several other topics here, but when I try to run it I just get a "Help 2 not installed" error and it dumps me back to the desktop. Can someone provide documentation in another format? I can open the included "C reference help" because it's in .chm format, so that would work. (In fact I don't understand why some of the docs are in chm, some are in PDF, and some are in this .hxc/help2 format.) PDF would be just fine too. Hell I'd settle for a flat text file at this point, I just need an API reference or tutorial.

[D_Biel]

Check out this new KB about installing Help for Measurment Studio 2010. Let us know if this doesn't work for you.

Configuring Measurement Studio help in Visual Studio 2010

[jhiner]

I think there's a bit of a misunderstanding. I don't have Measurement Studio installed. I just installed the NI-DAQmx driver/widget/whatever that allows me to interface with my 6501 via C and .NET. For whatever reason the SDK documentation is in "C:\Program Files\National Instruments\MeasurementStudioVS2008" (there's no VS2010 directory) as a set of .HX_ files. Maybe I posted this in the wrong forum?

[D_Biel]

jhiner,

NI-DAQmx installs a help document under Start>>All Programs>>National Instruments>>NI-DAQ>>NI-DAQmx Help.

DAQmx also installs a set of examples that should be linked under Start>>All Programs>>National Instruments>>NI-DAQ>>Text-Based Code Support.

If your DAQmx did not install these files properly, you may try repairing the installation, or reinstalling the driver. The files installed under the Measurement Studio directory are meant for support of the Measurement Studio application. You should use the Help documentation I mentioned above instead.

Let us know if you need more help locating this documentation.

[jhiner]

I'm able to open everything in ".NET 3.5 Examples" within "Text-Based Code Support".  Everything converts and compiles just fine.  But the examples are nearly useless without some idea of what arguments the methods take and how to initialize them, or at the very least some lengthy comments in the source code examples explaining program flow and what's going on.  I need a reference, the one pointed to by "NI-DAQmx .NET Framework 3.5 Help".  I need that API, and you've only provided it in Help 2 format.  VS2010 can't read Help 2 format.  It's not something that can be solved by repair installs, because the content doesn't exist in a format VS2010 can read.  (Don't ask me why they changed the help format yet again, I think it was a stupid idea.)  Apparently I need something like this:

http://mshcmigrate.helpmvp.com/home

The API documentation for ANSI C is provided in .chm format, which I CAN open.

Again, can you PLEASE provide the API docs for NI-DAQmx .NET in a sensibly neutral format such as HTML or PDF?  It doesn't have to be context sensitive, it doesn't have to be pretty, but it has to be legible and it has to work.  This has caused me no end of headaches so far.

[D_Biel · Accepted solution]

Jhiner,

I was able to test the Help documentation for VS 2010. What version of DAQmx are you using? Only the most recent version (NI-DAQmx 9.2.3) supports Visual Studio 2010. We now have support for .NET 4.0. Do you need to use .NET 3.5, or can you upgrade to 4.0?

Download DAQmx 9.2.3 from here.

Follow the instructions described in my first post to incorporate the help into VS 2010.

If you need to use .NET 3.5, then something must be wrong with H2Viewer. If that is the case, we can investigate that further.

[jhiner]

Thanks, I had no idea there was even a newer version of the software available. I'd just installed off the CD that came with it.

[D_Biel]

Yes, that would explain the problem. DAQmx 9.2.3 just became available on the web this month. It will provide .NET 4.0 support and is the preferred driver for .NET languages.

[Rick Cully]

Just went through the same problem, finally stumbled upon this.  It would have been nice for the installer to have notified of a later version...it indicated there were no updates available so I assumed the disk was the latest.  This would have saved a few hours.

[D_Biel]

Thank you for your feedback. Unfortunately the Measurement Studio 2010 released separately from the NI-DAQmx 9.2.3. The driver disc that originally shipped with MS 2010 did not have 9.2.3 on it yet. I would recommend always looking at the Release Notes and Readme for all NI software before purchasing or installing for compatibility concerns.