MSDN WinCE Greasemonkey script

[[ NOTE: I have given up on this script. Microsoft change MSDN so often that I cannot keep up and there does not seem to be a reliable way to detect Windows CE pages. It was a nice idea but never worked for more than a few weeks at a time. :( If someone can think of a better way of doing this, please let me know. ]]

This script is for the Greasemonkey extension for Firefox.

When viewing Windows API documentation on the MSDN website, this script will turn the background red if it detects the documentation is for Windows CE, Windows Mobile or Windows Embedded.

I wrote this script after years of frustration caused by web searches for Win32 API documentation (and the craptacularly broken F1 help in Visual Studio) landing me on pages for similar, but slightly different, WinCE APIs with the same names. The default page styles are identical and the APIs are so similar that it's easy to miss that you're on the wrong page. (If you realise at all it's usually after reading most of the page, at which point you have to find and re-read the real API's page in case it's different.) Turning the background red makes it obvious that you've wound up in the wrong place the moment the page loads.

Install:

If you have Greasemonkey installed then you should be able to add the script by clicking this link:

Trigger list:

The script turns the background red if the page's curversion or HeaderTitle elements contain any of the following:

  • Windows CE
  • Windows Mobile
  • Windows Embedded

If you run into any alternative names for these unholy API offshoots then let me know and I'll add them. :-)

(I don't really hate those APIs... I just wish MSDN did a better job of separating them from Win32 and that Visual Studio's F1 wasn't so utterly useless these days.)

Screenshot:

WinCE API pages are highlighted with a red background

History:

I give up :( (26th May 2012):

  • I've give up on this script as Microsoft keep changing MSDN in ways which break it and it's too much work trying to keep up.

Version 1.2 (6th April 2011):

  • Fixed for some more CE parts of MSDN (or maybe changed bits of existing ones?)

Version 1.1 (17th November 2010):

  • First release