<s>
Sandcastle	B-Language
is	O
a	O
documentation	B-Protocol
generator	I-Protocol
from	O
Microsoft	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
automatically	O
produces	O
MSDN-style	O
code	O
documentation	O
out	O
of	O
reflection	B-Language
information	O
of	O
.NET	B-Application
assemblies	O
and	O
XML	B-Protocol
documentation	O
comments	O
found	O
in	O
the	O
source	O
code	O
of	O
these	O
assemblies	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
can	O
also	O
be	O
used	O
to	O
produce	O
user	O
documentation	O
from	O
Microsoft	B-Protocol
Assistance	I-Protocol
Markup	I-Protocol
Language	I-Protocol
(	O
MAML	B-Protocol
)	O
with	O
the	O
same	O
look	O
and	O
feel	O
as	O
reference	O
documentation	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Sandcastle	B-Language
is	O
a	O
set	O
of	O
command	B-Application
line	I-Application
programs	O
,	O
configuration	O
files	O
,	O
build	O
components	O
and	O
XSLT	B-Application
files	O
that	O
work	O
together	O
to	O
convert	O
XML-based	O
documentation	O
into	O
help	O
topics	O
that	O
are	O
fit	O
for	O
viewing	O
in	O
a	O
help	O
system	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Sandcastle	B-Language
is	O
typically	O
used	O
to	O
automatically	O
generate	O
web-ready	O
,	O
XML-compliant	O
HTML	B-Language
documentation	O
in	O
one	O
of	O
three	O
built-in	O
presentation	O
styles	O
from	O
.NET	B-Application
assemblies	O
and	O
XML	B-Protocol
documentation	O
files	O
that	O
are	O
generated	O
by	O
compilers	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
resulting	O
HTML	B-Language
files	I-Language
are	O
then	O
used	O
as	O
input	O
to	O
tools	O
such	O
as	O
the	O
HTML	B-Language
Help	O
Workshop	O
to	O
produce	O
compiled	B-Language
help	O
for	O
distribution	O
with	O
the	O
corresponding	O
computer	B-Application
program	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Sandcastle	B-Language
currently	O
features	O
a	O
lightweight	O
graphical	B-Application
user	I-Application
interface	I-Application
(	O
GUI	B-Application
)	O
as	O
an	O
alternative	O
to	O
the	O
MSBuild	B-Application
project	O
,	O
batch	O
script	O
and	O
Windows	B-Application
PowerShell	I-Application
scripts	O
that	O
are	O
also	O
provided	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Several	O
community	O
GUI	B-Application
tools	O
are	O
also	O
available	O
for	O
Sandcastle	B-Language
,	O
providing	O
additional	O
features	O
and	O
simplifying	O
its	O
usage	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Visual	B-Application
Studio	I-Application
SDKs	B-Application
for	O
2005	O
and	O
2008	O
include	O
older	O
CTP	O
versions	O
of	O
Sandcastle	B-Language
,	O
although	O
the	O
latest	O
release	O
is	O
available	O
on	O
GitHub	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Sandcastle	B-Language
consists	O
of	O
several	O
programs	O
,	O
not	O
all	O
of	O
which	O
are	O
used	O
in	O
the	O
typical	O
help	O
build	O
process	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
MrefBuilder	O
uses	O
Common	O
Compiler	B-Language
Infrastructure	O
(	O
CCI	O
)	O
to	O
reflect	O
against	O
managed	O
assemblies	O
and	O
generate	O
an	O
output	O
file	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
XslTransform	O
applies	O
XSL	B-Application
transformations	I-Application
to	O
an	O
XML	B-Protocol
file	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
BuildAssembler	O
executes	O
a	O
build	O
component	O
stack	O
,	O
once	O
for	O
each	O
topic	O
defined	O
in	O
an	O
XML	B-Protocol
manifest	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
build	O
component	O
stack	O
is	O
defined	O
in	O
an	O
XML	B-Protocol
file	O
with	O
a	O
extension	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Sandcastle	B-Language
provides	O
several	O
build	O
components	O
that	O
are	O
used	O
in	O
build	O
component	O
stacks	O
to	O
perform	O
tasks	O
such	O
as	O
generating	O
in-memory	O
data	O
indexes	O
,	O
resolving	O
links	O
,	O
including	O
shared	O
content	O
,	O
executing	O
XSL	B-Application
transformations	I-Application
and	O
saving	O
the	O
final	O
output	O
to	O
a	O
file	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Because	O
in	O
its	O
current	O
state	O
Sandcastle	B-Language
by	O
itself	O
is	O
rather	O
complex	O
to	O
use	O
,	O
people	O
have	O
come	O
up	O
with	O
tools	O
and	O
scripts	O
that	O
can	O
automate	O
the	O
task	O
for	O
them	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Sandcastle	B-Language
produces	O
XML-based	O
HTML	B-Language
files	I-Language
in	O
a	O
chosen	O
presentation	O
style	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
(	O
This	O
does	O
not	O
mean	O
,	O
however	O
,	O
that	O
the	O
files	O
are	O
XHTML-compliant	O
.	O
)	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
HTML	B-Language
is	O
defined	O
by	O
XSL	B-Application
transformation	I-Application
files	O
that	O
are	O
included	O
in	O
the	O
particular	O
presentation	O
style	O
being	O
used	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
HTML	B-Language
files	I-Language
that	O
Sandcastle	B-Language
produces	O
are	O
either	O
conceptual	O
(	O
user	O
)	O
documentation	O
,	O
being	O
the	O
result	O
of	O
a	O
transformation	O
from	O
Microsoft	B-Protocol
Assistance	I-Protocol
Markup	I-Protocol
Language	I-Protocol
(	O
MAML	B-Protocol
)	O
topics	O
,	O
or	O
they	O
are	O
reference	O
documentation	O
,	O
which	O
is	O
automatically	O
generated	O
from	O
reflection	B-Language
data	O
and	O
XML	B-Protocol
documentation	O
comments	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
These	O
two	O
different	O
types	O
of	O
HTML	B-Language
output	O
share	O
the	O
same	O
presentation	O
style	O
and	O
may	O
be	O
compiled	B-Language
together	O
to	O
produce	O
mixed	O
user/reference	O
documentation	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Conceptual	O
documentation	O
consists	O
of	O
topics	O
written	O
using	O
a	O
MAML	B-Protocol
document	O
type	O
schema	O
such	O
as	O
how	O
to	O
,	O
walk-through	O
,	O
troubleshooting	O
and	O
several	O
others	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Sandcastle	B-Language
provides	O
a	O
conceptual	O
build	O
component	O
stack	O
(	O
conceptual.config	O
)	O
that	O
resolves	O
shared	O
content	O
and	O
links	O
,	O
and	O
uses	O
XSL	O
files	O
to	O
transform	O
MAML	B-Protocol
elements	O
into	O
HTML	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Reference	O
documentation	O
is	O
generated	O
automatically	O
for	O
managed	O
Application	B-Application
Programming	I-Application
Interfaces	I-Application
(	O
APIs	B-Application
)	O
from	O
reflection	B-Language
data	O
and	O
XML	B-Protocol
documentation	O
comments	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
"	O
doc	O
model	O
"	O
XSL	B-Application
transformation	I-Application
,	O
provided	O
by	O
the	O
chosen	O
presentation	O
style	O
,	O
is	O
applied	O
to	O
define	O
the	O
files	O
that	O
will	O
be	O
generated	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Sandcastle	B-Language
provides	O
a	O
reference	O
build	O
component	O
stack	O
(	O
sandcastle.config	O
)	O
that	O
builds	O
in-memory	O
indexes	O
of	O
the	O
data	O
,	O
resolves	O
shared	O
content	O
and	O
links	O
,	O
and	O
uses	O
XSL	O
to	O
generate	O
the	O
final	O
HTML	B-Language
output	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Sandcastle	B-Language
does	O
not	O
produce	O
compiled	B-Language
help	O
output	O
itself	O
(	O
although	O
,	O
the	O
HTML	B-Language
files	I-Language
that	O
it	O
produces	O
can	O
be	O
used	O
as	O
input	O
to	O
HTML	B-Language
help	O
compilers	B-Language
such	O
as	O
the	O
HTML	B-Language
Help	O
Workshop	O
and	O
Microsoft	B-Protocol
Help	I-Protocol
2	I-Protocol
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
example	O
,	O
the	O
typical	O
Help	O
1.x	O
build	O
process	O
starts	O
by	O
running	O
MrefBuilder.exe	O
to	O
produce	O
an	O
XML	B-Protocol
reflection	B-Language
file	O
for	O
one	O
or	O
more	O
assemblies	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
reflection	B-Language
file	O
is	O
then	O
processed	O
by	O
the	O
XslTransform.exe	O
tool	O
multiple	O
times	O
to	O
apply	O
various	O
XSL	B-Application
transformations	I-Application
that	O
add	O
data	O
such	O
as	O
a	O
"	O
doc	O
model	O
"	O
and	O
optional	O
version	O
information	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Next	O
,	O
an	O
XML-based	O
topic	O
manifest	O
is	O
generated	O
and	O
used	O
by	O
the	O
BuildAssembler.exe	O
program	O
,	O
which	O
generates	O
HTML	B-Language
topic	O
files	O
from	O
the	O
reflection	B-Language
data	O
and	O
XML	B-Protocol
documentation	O
comments	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
An	O
XML-based	O
table	O
of	O
contents	O
(	O
TOC	O
)	O
file	O
is	O
generated	O
and	O
used	O
by	O
CHMBuilder.exe	O
,	O
along	O
with	O
the	O
HTML	B-Language
files	I-Language
produced	O
by	O
BuildAssembler	O
,	O
to	O
generate	O
HTML	B-Language
Help	O
Workshop	O
project	O
,	O
index	O
and	O
TOC	O
files	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Finally	O
,	O
the	O
HTML	B-Language
Help	O
workshop	O
is	O
used	O
to	O
generate	O
a	O
compiled	B-Language
help	O
file	O
(	O
.chm	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Depending	O
upon	O
the	O
requirements	O
,	O
other	O
tools	O
and	O
XSL	B-Application
transformations	I-Application
may	O
be	O
used	O
at	O
various	O
stages	O
during	O
the	O
process	O
to	O
modify	O
Sandcastle	B-Language
's	O
output	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Sandcastle	B-Language
application	O
was	O
developed	O
by	O
Microsoft	O
to	O
create	O
a	O
scalable	O
and	O
performing	O
documentation	B-Protocol
generator	I-Protocol
for	O
their	O
API	B-Application
documentation	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Microsoft	O
released	O
Sandcastle	B-Language
as	O
a	O
Community	O
Technology	O
Preview	O
(	O
CTP	O
)	O
version	O
in	O
July	O
2006	O
,	O
a	O
few	O
days	O
before	O
NDoc	B-Protocol
was	O
declared	O
dead	O
The	O
author	O
of	O
NDoc	B-Protocol
,	O
Kevin	O
Downs	O
,	O
cited	O
in	O
an	O
email	O
sent	O
through	O
his	O
mailing	O
list	O
reasons	O
for	O
discontinuing	O
development	O
of	O
his	O
popular	O
tool	O
as	O
a	O
lack	O
of	O
community	O
support	O
,	O
both	O
financially	O
and	O
as	O
development	O
contributions	O
,	O
an	O
automated	O
mail-bomb	O
attack	O
on	O
his	O
public	O
email	O
address	O
and	O
the	O
NDoc2	O
mailing	O
list	O
address	O
,	O
and	O
also	O
his	O
impression	O
that	O
Sandcastle	B-Language
"	O
will	O
become	O
the	O
de	O
facto	O
standard	O
and	O
that	O
NDoc	B-Protocol
will	O
slowly	O
become	O
a	O
stagnant	O
side-water.	O
"	O
</s>
<s>
Sandcastle	B-Language
averaged	O
217	O
downloads	O
per	O
day	O
during	O
the	O
month	O
of	O
September	O
2010	O
,	O
making	O
it	O
one	O
of	O
the	O
top	O
25	O
most	O
downloaded	O
projects	O
on	O
CodePlex	B-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
June	O
6	O
,	O
2008	O
the	O
SandCastle	B-Language
project	O
was	O
removed	O
from	O
CodePlex	B-Protocol
website	O
after	O
a	O
discussion	O
thread	O
on	O
the	O
CodePlex	B-Protocol
site	O
pointed	O
out	O
that	O
source	O
code	O
was	O
not	O
available	O
;	O
despite	O
CodePlex	B-Protocol
requiring	O
this	O
and	O
the	O
SandCastle	B-Language
project	O
being	O
touted	O
as	O
"	O
open	O
source	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
July	O
2	O
the	O
project	O
returned	O
to	O
CodePlex	B-Protocol
and	O
the	O
source	O
code	O
was	O
published	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
No	O
GUI	B-Application
was	O
present	O
yet	O
,	O
the	O
application	O
did	O
not	O
contain	O
a	O
feature	O
to	O
resolve	O
GAC	O
DLLs	O
yet	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
HTML	B-Language
output	O
of	O
the	O
application	O
is	O
now	O
compatible	O
with	O
Firefox	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Some	O
changes	O
were	O
made	O
to	O
the	O
command	B-Application
line	I-Application
interface	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
October	O
1	O
,	O
2006	O
the	O
September	O
2006	O
CTP	O
version	O
was	O
released	O
,	O
bug	O
fixes	O
primarily	O
seem	O
to	O
focus	O
on	O
fixing	O
bugs	O
in	O
the	O
output	O
,	O
and	O
adding	O
better	O
support	O
for	O
some	O
XML	B-Protocol
comment	O
tags	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
November	O
11	O
,	O
2006	O
the	O
November	O
2006	O
CTP	O
version	O
was	O
released	O
,	O
along	O
with	O
bug	O
fixes	O
other	O
items	O
being	O
supported	O
are	O
a	O
few	O
nDoc	B-Protocol
tags	O
,	O
and	O
also	O
transforms	O
support	O
Firefox	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
December	O
10	O
,	O
2006	O
the	O
December	O
2006	O
CTP	O
version	O
was	O
released	O
,	O
providing	O
a	O
DXROOT	O
environment	O
variable	O
used	O
by	O
configuration	O
files	O
,	O
an	O
API	B-Application
"	O
ripping	O
"	O
feature	O
,	O
pass-through	O
HTML	B-Language
,	O
and	O
presentation	O
updates	O
that	O
included	O
support	O
for	O
Firefox	B-Application
in	O
the	O
VS	B-Application
2005	I-Application
style	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
March	O
6	O
,	O
2007	O
the	O
March	O
2007	O
CTP	O
version	O
was	O
released	O
,	O
adding	O
4	O
new	O
and	O
removing	O
3	O
XSL	B-Application
transformations	I-Application
,	O
a	O
batch	O
build	O
script	O
and	O
performance	O
improvements	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
June	O
19	O
,	O
2007	O
the	O
June	O
2007	O
CTP	O
version	O
was	O
released	O
,	O
providing	O
an	O
MSBuild	B-Application
project	O
,	O
a	O
new	O
version	O
of	O
the	O
Common	O
Compiler	B-Language
Infrastructure	O
(	O
CCI	O
)	O
reflection	B-Language
engine	O
,	O
a	O
new	O
presentation	O
style	O
named	O
,	O
"	O
VS	O
ORCAS	B-Application
"	O
,	O
a	O
new	O
build	O
component	O
,	O
new	O
executable	O
utilities	O
,	O
and	O
several	O
other	O
enhancements	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
June	O
27	O
,	O
2007	O
the	O
June	O
2007	O
CTP	O
Refresh	O
version	O
was	O
released	O
,	O
renaming	O
the	O
previously	O
released	O
"	O
VS	O
ORCAS	B-Application
"	O
presentation	O
style	O
to	O
"	O
Hana	O
"	O
to	O
prevent	O
confusion	O
since	O
the	O
Orcas	B-Application
Beta	O
2	O
and	O
RTM	O
documentation	O
shipping	O
in	O
MSDN	O
was	O
going	O
to	O
continue	O
to	O
be	O
built	O
in	O
the	O
VS	B-Application
2005	I-Application
presentation	O
style	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
October	O
1	O
,	O
2007	O
the	O
September	O
2007	O
CTP	O
version	O
was	O
released	O
,	O
with	O
the	O
first	O
appearance	O
of	O
the	O
CHMBuilder	O
,	O
VersionBuilder	O
and	O
DBCSFix	O
tools	O
,	O
a	O
Windows	B-Application
PowerShell	I-Application
build	O
script	O
,	O
presentation	O
style	O
updates	O
(	O
most	O
notably	O
to	O
the	O
VS	B-Application
2005	I-Application
style	O
)	O
,	O
and	O
without	O
the	O
.NET	B-Application
Framework	I-Application
reflection	B-Language
files	O
that	O
were	O
normally	O
included	O
in	O
previous	O
installers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
October	O
30	O
,	O
2007	O
the	O
October	O
2007	O
CTP	O
version	O
was	O
released	O
,	O
including	O
the	O
.NET	B-Application
Framework	I-Application
files	O
that	O
were	O
missing	O
from	O
the	O
previous	O
release	O
,	O
a	O
new	O
conceptual	O
documentation	O
build	O
process	O
requiring	O
Microsoft	B-Protocol
Assistance	I-Protocol
Markup	I-Protocol
Language	I-Protocol
(	O
MAML	B-Protocol
)	O
topics	O
as	O
input	O
,	O
and	O
also	O
improved	O
Firefox	B-Application
support	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
January	O
16	O
,	O
2008	O
the	O
Sandcastle	B-Language
2.4.10115	O
version	O
was	O
released	O
,	O
being	O
the	O
first	O
official	O
non-CTP	O
version	O
of	O
Sandcastle	B-Language
released	O
to	O
the	O
web	O
(	O
RTW	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
An	O
example	O
graphical	B-Application
user	I-Application
interface	I-Application
(	O
GUI	B-Application
)	O
was	O
provided	O
,	O
including	O
an	O
XSL	B-Application
transformation	I-Application
for	O
Script#	O
and	O
the	O
option	O
to	O
output	O
an	O
ASP.NET	B-Application
website	O
.	O
</s>
