Most web-browsers won't allow the HTML documentation generated by HelpNDoc to run on the local computer due to security restrictions. That's why HelpNDoc includes a full featured web server to work around this limitation: local HTML documentation generated by HelpNDoc can be tested as if it was uploaded to a real web server.

Launching the web server from the generation window

Once the HTML documentation generation process finishes, HelpNDoc will provide multiple. Using the "Launch web server" option will immediately start the integrated web server with the correct options, and launch the default web browser at the required URL to display the newly generated documentation for testing purposes.

Serving a previously served location

When a specific folder or file has been served using HelpNDoc's integrated web server, it will be remembered so that it can rapidly be served another time. This can be achieved as follows:

• From HelpNDoc's "Tools" ribbon tab, locate the "Extra" group
• Click the arrow of the "Launch web server" button to display a list of recently served folders and files
• Click one of those items to serve it again

Serving random files and directories

It might be useful to serve specific files or directories using HelpNDoc's built-in web server. This can be achieved as follows:

• From HelpNDoc's "Tools" ribbon tab, locate the "Extra" group
• Click the top part (without the arrow) of the "Launch web server" button to display the server configuration window
• Customize the web server's options (see bellow) and hit the "Launch" button to start the web server

The following options can be configured before launching the server:

• File or directory: what file or directory will be served. If a file is chosen, the root of the server will be the directory where that file is placed
• Port to listen to: which port will be used by the web server to listen to incoming connections
• Launch web-browser: whether the default web-browser will be launched at the correct URL when the server is started