You can make site-specific information available online to Natural ISPF users in either of two ways:
As menu-related online help texts displayed when the user issues the
HELP command from a particular menu. See the
subsection Site-Specific
Help;
As text presented in screens organized in a tree structure through
which the user can navigate. The first (root) screen is displayed when the user
issues the UINFO command. See the subsection
Site-Specific
Information - UINFO.
You can write both types of text with the Editor using the same syntax.
The subsection Text Syntax contains a full description of the definition syntax.
This document covers the following topics:
All help texts are usually stored as Natural members in the
FNAT system file. Texts supplied by Software AG are stored in the
System Help Library. You must not modify these texts. If you wish to create
your own help texts, you must use the User Help Library.
The following topics are covered below:
Overwriting an existing help text means creating a member in the User
Help Library with the same name as a member in the System Help Library. When a
user invokes the help text with the HELP command,
the text is searched first in the User Help Library. Only if the member is not
found there is the help text supplied by Software AG in the System Help Library
displayed.
The member name of each existing help text is displayed at the end of the command line of the help screen.
For example, if you issue the command:
HELP SPLIT
the Software AG help screen explaining the
SPLIT command is displayed:
HELP----------- SESSION COMMANDS (working with N-ISPF) SPLIT ----->>> continued
COMMAND ==> SPLIT
SPLIT Splits the screen to start a new Natural ISPF
session. The screen
is split at cursor position. The new session is started
in the lower part of your terminal screen.
You can change the size of the screen portions devoted
to each session by moving the cursor to where
you require the screen division and repeating the SPLIT
command.
Enter-PF1---PF2---PF3---PF4---PF5---PF6---PF7---PF8---PF9---PF10--PF11--PF12---
Help Split End Suspe Rfind Rchan Up Down Swap Left Right Curso
|
The member name in the System Help Library is SPLIT,
displayed top right in the command line. If you wish to create a different help
text for the SPLIT command, create the member
SPLIT in the User Help Library.
You can write new help texts as members in the User Help Library.
Typically, you will write new help texts for USER-type menus. To
display the member as the result of the HELP
command, you must specify the member name of the help text in the
HELP= line of the menu definition, or reference the member in
another help member (see the subsection Text Syntax).
For examples of help text definitions, see any member in the System Help Library.
Site-specific information texts can be any information of interest to
the user. The first information screen is displayed when the user issues the
command UINFO.
You must define the first (root) screen in the member UINFO
in the User Information Library. The syntax of the text definition is the same
as for site-specific help texts (see the subsection
Text Syntax).
You can define information screens in a tree structure.
Note:
When defining information members, you are advised to use a naming
convention. For example, you could name each member according to its level and
number within the tree structure using the same prefix (the root member is
always UINFO). Alternatively, you could use the prefix
ISPU and use the remaining 4 bytes for a self-explanatory
indication of the member contents.
An example of site-specific information is contained in the following subsection.
Information and help text members consist of two types of lines: lines of text to be displayed and special lines for blank lines and navigational purposes.
Text lines can contain special characters to start and end text attributes:
| Character | Explanation |
|---|---|
# |
Starts highlighting (number sign, hexadecimal
7B).
|
+ |
Activates reverse video: use this attribute for words for which there is a separate help text. |
@ |
Deactivates attributes (commercial at,
hexadecimal 7C).
|
Note:
See Special
Characters at the end of this documentation for a list of
special characters with their hexadecimal values.
The special lines are defined by an ampersand (&) in Column 1 followed by a character and navigational instructions. The following table lists all available options including their format and maximum length:
&H
header (A50)
|
Where the string
header is displayed in the header line
of the information screen.
|
&L |
Creates a blank line in the information screen. |
&F
member (A08)
|
Where
member is the name of the member to be
displayed when the end of the current text is reached and the user presses the
ENTER key or issues the command DOWN
(PF8).
|
&B
member (A08)
|
Where member is the name of the member to be displayed when the user issues the command UP (PF7) from the top of the member. |
&U
member (A08)
|
Where
member is the name of the member to be
displayed when the user issues the command UP LEVEL
(L + PF7) from the top of the member, or the command
BACK.
|
&S
navigation-command
member |
Where
navigation-command invokes the
member when the user enters the
navigation command in the command line of the current screen. Navigation
commands can consist of up to 4 characters and provide a menu-like selection
mechanism to the user to display information from the next level in the
information screen tree structure.
|
Below is an example of a UINFO member definition:
EDIT-NAT:SYSISPIU(UINFO)-Program->Struct-Free-45K --- >>> Versioning is invoked
COMMAND===> SCROLL===> CSR
****** ****************************** top of data *****************************
000010 &H Demo site info system
000020 &S 0 ISPUNET
000030 &S 1 ISPUPROD
000040 &S 2 ISPUBAT
000050 &L
000060 Please select whatever you like
000070 &L
000080 #0@ Demo site NETWORK
000090 #1@ Installed products
000100 #2@ Batch job limits
****** **************************** bottom of data ****************************
Enter-PF1---PF2---PF3---PF4---PF5---PF6---PF7---PF8---PF9---PF10--PF11--PF12---
Help Split End Suspe Rfind Rchan Up Down Swap Left Right Curso
|
Note that the numbers 0, 1 and 2
are defined as navigation commands that invoke the corresponding members when
the user enters these numbers in the command line. This means that member
ISPUNET contains information on option Demo site
NETWORK, member ISPUPROD contains information on option
Installed products and member ISPUBAT offers
information on option Batch job limits.
When a user issues the command UINFO, the
following screen is displayed:
INFO----------------------- Demo site info system -----------------------------
COMMAND ==> UINFO
Please select whatever you like
0 Demo site NETWORK
1 Installed products
2 Batch job limits
Enter-PF1---PF2---PF3---PF4---PF5---PF6---PF7---PF8---PF9---PF10--PF11--PF12---
Help Split End Suspe Rfind Rchan Up Down Swap Left Right Curso
|
The user can display information on the displayed items by entering
Option Number 0, 1 or 2 in the command
line.
For examples of site-specific help texts, see the member
NEWS and related members in the System Help Library. This member
defines the help screen displayed as a result of the command
NEWS, which is handled similarly to the command
UINFO.