Function HM - Help Maintenance (Administrator)

The help maintenance allows modification of the Com-plete Online Help system to your installation's requirements. When you select the HM option from the UUTIL menu, the help maintenance submenu is displayed:

18:03:28        TID     4           COM-5.1.         User SAGAWW       05/06/97
 System: Lcl 8             ---  HELP Maintenance  ---                       UHM0
 Fc Description.............. Operands     Fc Description.............. Operands
 -- ------------------------- --------     -- ------------------------- --------
 AH Add help item ...........              LH List help items .........
 DH Display help item .......
 MH Modify help item ........
 PH Purge help item .........



 Fc:           (1) Item....            Sub-item   1   Itemtype   /
               (2) Language   0
               (3) System..





 Enter-PF1---PF2---PF3---PF4---PF5---PF6---PF7---PF8---PF9---PF10--PF11--PF12---
                   End

Meaning of the input fields:

Field Meaning
FC Enter one of the available function codes from the column headed FC .
Item The eight-character name identifying the help item.
Sub-Item A number further identifying the sequence within the Item .
Item Type Type of help. Two characters are required. Possible options for the first character:
M Menu. Help menu from which other help items can be selected.
T Text Help text.
G Glossary. Defines terms used in the help text with the same name. When the user presses PF10 from the help text, the glossary for that help screen is displayed.
Possible options for the second character:
S System item Helps of this type are supplied by SOFTWARE AG and should not be modified.
U User item. Use this type for your own help data.
Language Help data for up to 255 languages (1 to 255) can be defined.
System This is the Com-plete patch character of the system under consideration. You are recommended to keep help data 'global' to all Com-pletes at your site, but it is possible to build different help structures for one or more Com-pletes.

Listing Help Items

Select function LH on the main menu, specifying additional criteria for a more selective display:

  • A prefix followed by an asterisk (*), for example, ED*, to view all items with names starting ED.

  • The type of help item you want to see (M, T and/or G). An asterisk selects all types.

  • S or U for yystem or user items (see above).

The following shows a sample output of the LH function (item U*, all types, system items):

14:10:04        TID    10           COM-5.1.          User SAGAWW       30.11.97
 System..: Lcl *           ---  HELP Maintenance  ---                       UHM0
 Language:   1 / System            List Items

 Sel Item.... Type.... Sub  Sel Item.... Type.... Sub  Sel Item.... Type.... Sub
 --- -------- -------- ---  --- -------- -------- ---  --- -------- -------- ---
     UCTLUT   Menu       1      UMAPCREA Text       1                          0
     UCTRL    Menu       1      UMAPDELE Text       1                          0
     UDS      Glossary   3      UMAPDYNT Text       1                          0
     UED      Glossary   3      UMAPEDCO Text       1                          0
     UEDIT    Menu       1      UMAPLPSS Text       1                          0
     UEDITCAL Text       4      UMAPMODI Text       1                          0
     UEDITPFK Text       1      UMAPSAVE Text       1                          0
     UEDITPRF Text       1      UMAPTCCS Text       1                          0
     UEDITSYN Text       1      UPDS     Glossary   1                          0
     ULIB     Glossary   4      UQ       Text       1                          0
     UM       Glossary   2      USPOOL   Text       1                          0
     UMAP     Menu       1      UTILMENU Menu       1                          0
     UMAPARRD Text       1                          0                          0
     UMAPCOPY Text       1                          0                          0

Enter D(isplay), M(odify), P(urge) in the Sel column to manipulate specific items.

Help Menus

If you specify an M-type help, the help menu definition screen is displayed, for example:

18:07:53        TID     4            COM-5.1.         User SAGAWW       05/06/97
 System: Lcl 8             ---  HELP Maintenance  ---                       UHM1

                             Edit Menu MAINMENU   1


                 Item description................. Itemname Type
                 --------------------------------- -------- ----
                 COM-PLETE Utilities ............. UTILMENU M S

















 Enter-PF1---PF2---PF3---PF4---PF5---PF6---PF7---PF8---PF9---PF10--PF11--PF12---
                   End         Updat       bwd   fwd                     Quit

You can enter up to twelve help items in the menu, each representing one half of a help menu. This means that two menu items, one with an evenSub-item number and one with the following oddSub-itemnumber, are used to build one help menu page.

The input columns on the edit menu screen have the following meaning:

Column Meaning
Item description Short comment indicating the topic covered by this help item.
Itemname The name of an existing help item. The hierarchy within the help structure must be clearly defined. This means that an item which is to be used at a higher level than another must also have been defined first.
Type Two characters must be specified. The first character defines the type of help. Valid types are M (Menu), T (Text) and G (Glossary) (see above). Another type is:
P Program. Can be used only in menus. When a user selects an item of this type, the program with the corresponding Itemname is called.
  The second character, after the slash, defines the item as being a S (System) or U (User) help (see above).

Help Text / Glossary

The following is an example of a T-type help. It shows the help text on the SET command, entered as free text. G-type helps are defined in the same way.

 18:10:42        TID     4           COM-5.1.          User SAGAWW       05/06/97
 System: Lcl 8             --- Edit HELP Text (T) ---      EDCMSET    1     UHM2


§Command  Parameter  Argument....  Command Description / Argument meaning.......
§-------  ---------  ------------  ---------------------------------------------
§SET§                              Set the parameter to the new status.
         §BLANKS     ON/OFF§       Fill columns 73-80 with blanks on save.
         §CURSOR     STAY/HOME§    Define positioning of cursor after input.
         §DSNAME     DSNAME§       Change current dataset name.
         §ESCAPE     char/ON/OFF§  Set escape character, ON (#), or OFF.
         §FILE       LIB(MEM)/VOL§ Define LIB, DSN, MEM, VOL with new values.
         §LIBID      LIBID§        Change current library id.
         §LISTCOL    N1 N2§        Set screen list columns.
         §LOWER§                   Switch to lower case mode.
         §MEMBER     MEMBER§       Change current member name.
         §NUMBER     N M§          Defines SEQ start (N) and increment (M).
         §NULLS      ON/OFF§       Fill line up with nulls (ON) or blanks (OFF).
         §PFK        N 'STRING'§   Assign string 'STRING' to PF Key 'N'.
         §SCAN       ABS/TAG§      Set scan mode to absolute or tag.


                     Default is always 'ON' when possible.                  §==>

 Enter-PF1---PF2---PF3---PF4---PF5---PF6---PF7---PF8---PF9---PF10--PF11--PF12---
                   End   Test              bwd   fwd                     Quit

Within the help structure, a help text is at the end of a branch of the help tree (the lowest level of help screens). The maximum number of levels within the help structure is 16. This means that a tree branch can consist of up to 15 menu levels before a help text.

Up to 256 pages of help text are possible for one subject. The online help facility allows the user to page help texts using PF7 and PF8.

A Glossary-type help text accompanies a Text-type help. It must have the same name as the Text-type help and is displayed when the user presses PF10 from the help text.