How to use Help View 2 in standalone Winform app similar to VS Package Help2 from DTE2

Question

Hello,
 We are successfully obtaining a DTE2 object and then the Help2 object to connect our context id names with triggering the Help Viewer 2 in a VS package but can’t seem to do the same outside of VS.
 Here’s a sample of how we handle getting it okay from the VS package code:
dte2 = Package.GetGlobalService(typeof(DTE)) as DTE2;
help2 = (Help2) dte2.GetObject("Help2");
 Then we can set out context id like this:
helpId = “MYFORMCONTEXTIDHERE”;
help2.DisplayTopicFromF1Keyword(helpId);
Within VS this works fine for our package.  However, the winform app version can’t get the DTE2 object as no instance of VS is running.  For instance, an example like this:
dte2 = (DTE2)System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.GetActiveObject("VisualStudio.DTE.11.0");
won’t work as there’s no VS instance.
Given all this…and us not wanting to use the older CHM HelpProvider winforms approach, is there any way we can achieve what the package version is doing in a pure Winforms application?
Thanks,
Michael

Answer 1

Hi Michael,
Thank you for posting in the MSDN forum.
Based on your description, I’m afraid that it is not the correct forum for this issue, since this forum is to discuss:
Visual Studio WPF/SL Designer, Visual Studio Guidance Automation Toolkit, Developer Documentation and Help System, and Visual Studio Editor.
To help you find more useful information or find the correct forum for this issue, would you mind letting us know more information about it?
It is the WinForm developing issue, am I right?
You said that you use the DTE 2 object, is it related to the VS extension?
>> However, the winform app version can’t get the DTE2 object as no instance of VS is running.  For instance, an example like this:
dte2 = (DTE2)System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.GetActiveObject("VisualStudio.DTE.11.0");
won’t work as there’s no VS instance.
I did some research about it, the following case and document shared some information about the “Get References to the DTE and DTE2 Objects”, it seems that it also shares some information about “Get an instance of the currently running
Visual Studio IDE” like the code here:
// Get an instance of the currently running Visual Studio IDE.
EnvDTE80.DTE2 dte2;
dte2 = (EnvDTE80.DTE2)System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.
GetActiveObject("VisualStudio.DTE.11.0");
Reference:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/vstudio/68shb4dw(v=vs.110).aspx
Another case:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/21986644/use-addin-project-in-another-application
If still no help, I might not have the correct detailed answer you need, but I might lead you into the right direction to solve your problem.
If it is the WinForm developing issue, you could select the correct forum here:
https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/home?forum=winformsdesigner%2Cwinforms%2Cwinformsdatacontrols&filter=alltypes&sort=lastpostdesc
If it is related to the VS extension, maybe this forum would be better for you:
https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/vstudio/en-US/home?forum=vsx
If I have misunderstood this issue, please feel free to let me know, I will help you find the correct forum for this issue as soon as possible.
Best Regards,
Jack
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