Natural provides several types of help:
General information on Natural components such as Natural statements, commands, variables, editors and utilities.
Detailed information on Natural system error messages and user-defined messages.
Specific information on Natural menus and input fields that appear in Natural utilities and editors.
General information on Natural components is contained in the Natural
Help utility which is accessed with the system command
HELP
.
Detailed information on Natural messages is provided by the system
commands HELP
and
LASTMSG
.
Specific information on menus and input fields is provided by individual help functions.
This section describes the help topics provided and how to access them.
The Natural Help utility provides general information on Natural statements, commands, variables, editors, utilities and Natural messages. You can invoke the online help for a particular help topic either by navigating through the Natural Help utility and its subordinate menus, or by directly accessing specific help topics.
This section covers the following topics:
To invoke the menu of the Help utility
Enter the following system command:
HELP
or
?
Choose ENTER.
The Menu of the Natural Help utility similar to the example below appears with the list of help topics provided:
10:58:19 ***** NATURAL HELP UTILITY ***** 2009-05-20 - Menu - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Natural Help provides information on: S Natural Statements V Natural System Variables F Natural System Functions C Natural System Commands E Natural Editors U Natural Utilities P Natural Session Parameters T Natural Terminal Commands N Natural System Messages M User-Defined Messages . Exit Code .. _ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Enter-PF1---PF2---PF3---PF4---PF5---PF6---PF7---PF8---PF9---PF10--PF11--PF12--- Help Exit Canc |
In the Code field, enter the one-letter code that corresponds to the help topic desired.
Choose ENTER.
A result screen appears with information on the help topic selected, or another menu is invoked with further help topics that help narrowing down your search.
As an alternative to navigating through the subordinate menus of the Natural Help utility, you can also directly access help information on a Natural command or the Natural programming language.
To directly access a help topic
Enter the following system command:
HELP command
where command, for example, is the system
command EDIT
about which you request information:
HELP EDIT
Choose ENTER.
The EDIT screen of the Natural Help utility appears with information on the command requested as shown on the example screen below:
15:20:54 ***** NATURAL HELP UTILITY ***** 2009-05-20 - EDIT - Page 1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Function: Invoke a Natural editor for the purpose of editing a Natural object. Parameters: Object-type: Copycode(C), Description(D), Global(G), Helproutine(H), Local(L), Map(M), Parameter(A), Program(P), Subprogram(N), Subroutine(S), Text(T) or Class(4). -> Must be specified if object-name is not specified. Object-name: The name of the object to be edited, which will then be loaded in the edit work area. Library-ID : May only be specified if the object is contained in a library other than the one to which you are currently logged on. -> Must not start with 'SYS' except 'SYSTEM' -> Must not be specified if Natural Security is installed. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ More ... Enter-PF1---PF2---PF3---PF4---PF5---PF6---PF7---PF8---PF9---PF10--PF11--PF12--- Help Menu Exit - + Canc |
If the help text extends beyond the screen, Page 1
appears in the upper-right corner of the screen and More ...
appears in the bottom-right corner of the screen.
Choose ENTER or choose PF8 to scroll down the text.
The end of the text is indicated by Last page
in the
bottom-right corner of the screen.
Choose PF7 if you want to scroll up the text and return
to the first page (Page 1
).
This section contains information on Natural system error messages and user-defined messages.
The system messages issued by Natural begin with NAT
followed by a four-digit number nnnn.
For each Natural error message, there is a short text and a long text:
The short text is the one-line message which is displayed when the error occurs.
The long text is an extended explanation of the error and the action to be taken.
When Natural issues a system message, only the error number and the
short text are displayed on the screen. When using the system command
HELP
, you can also display the long text of the
message.
This section covers the following topics:
This section provides instructions for displaying the long message text of a Natural system error message or user-defined message. See also the instructions for displaying the long text of the Natural error that occurred last.
To display the long text of a Natural system message
Enter one of the following system commands:
HELP NATnnnn
or
? nnnn
where nnnn is the four-digit error number.
Choose ENTER.
The Natural System Message screen of the Natural Help utility appears with the long text of the error requested. This screen is similar to the example screen of Natural system error NAT0082 shown in the following section.
To display the long text of a user-defined message
Log on to the library where the required user-defined message is stored.
Enter the following system command:
HELP USER nnnn
or
? U nnnn
where nnnn is the four-digit error number.
Choose ENTER.
The User Message screen of the Natural Help utility appears with the long text of the user-defined message requested. This screen is similar to the example screen of Natural system error NAT0082 shown in the following section.
You can display the short and the long text of the error message that
occurred last in the current Natural session either by using the command
HELP ERROR
or by positioning the cursor as described
below.
You can list the short text of the error message(s) that occurred last
and additional information on the error situation by using the system command
LASTMSG
. The information displayed includes
associated error messages that possibly preceded the last message.
To display the long text of the
error that occurred last
Use one of the following methods:
Enter the following system command:
HELP ERROR
Choose ENTER.
The Natural System Message screen of the Natural Help utility appears with the long text of the Natural error that occurred last as shown in the example screen below:
15:18:27 ***** NATURAL HELP UTILITY ***** 2009-05-20 Library SAG - Natural System Message NAT0082 - Page 1 Invalid command, or Program ANTON does not exist in library. Tx *** Short Text *** Invalid command, or ... ... does not exist in library. Ex *** Explanation *** One of the following has occurred: - You entered a value in the command line which is neither a Natural command nor the name of a Natural program contained in the active library or in a library defined as a steplib. - An object which is required during execution of a program, subprogram, subroutine or helproutine is not contained in More ... Enter-PF1---PF2---PF3---PF4---PF5---PF6---PF7---PF8---PF9---PF10--PF11--PF12--- Help Menu Exit Print + Canc |
Or:
Place the cursor in the message line and choose
PF1 (Help). This alternative only applies when the message line is
displayed on a menu screen.
A Current Natural Message window similar to the example below appears:
11:22:48 ***** NATURAL ***** 2009-05-20 User SAG - Main Menu - Library TEST Function _ Development Functions _ Development Environment Settings _ Maintenance and Transfer Utilities _ Debugging and Monitoring Utilities _ Example Libraries +-------------------- Current Natural Message NAT0082 --------------------+ | Sh Invalid command, or Program ANTON does not exist in library. | | | | Tx Invalid command, or ... ... does not exist in library. | | Ex One of the following has occurred: | | - You entered a value in the command line which is neither a | | Natural command nor the name of a Natural program contained | | in the active library or in a library defined as a steplib. | | - An object which is required during execution of a program, | | subprogram, subroutine or helproutine is not contained in | | the active library or in a library defined as a steplib. | | - Your Natural session is currently applying system files other | | than those containing the object you specified. | | Ac Check to ensure that you entered a valid Natural command or the name | | of an existing Natural object. Use the command SYSPROF to check | | whether you are using the correct system file. | +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ NAT0082 Invalid command, or Program ANTON does not exist in library. Enter-PF1---PF2---PF3---PF4---PF5---PF6---PF7---PF8---PF9---PF10--PF11--PF12--- Exit Canc |
Note:
With the user exit routine
USR2002P (see the
Operations documentation), you can customize the
Current Natural Message window.
To display the last error message(s) and further details
Enter the following system command:
LASTMSG
Choose ENTER.
The LASTMSG window appears with the short text of the error message(s) that occurred last.
To open the Detailed Information window with further information on the error message(s):
In the LASTMSG window, place the cursor in the line that contains the message for which you require additional information and choose ENTER.
A Detailed Information window similar to the example below appears:
+---------------------------------- LASTMSG -------------------------More: ++ ! ERRTST1 0080 NAT0917 Error 920 in COPYCODE ERRTST2. ! ! ERRTST2 0090 NAT0917 Error 920 in COPYCODE ERRTST3. ! ! ERRTST3 0070 NAT0920 Program HUGO cannot be loaded (00000004). ! ! +--- Detailed Information for NAT0920 ---+ ! ! ! Error Number .. 920 ! ! ! ! Error Line .... 70 ! ! ! ! Object ........ ERRTST3 ! ! ! ! Object Type ... Copycode ! ! ! ! Level ......... 5 ! ! ! ! Library ....... SYSEXV ! ! ! ! DBID/FNR ...... 10 / 410 ! ! ! ! Error Class ... System ! ! ! ! Error Type .... Runtime ! ! ! ! Error Time .... 2003-02-27 15:58:01 ! ! ! +----------------------------------------+ ! ! ! ! Enter-PF1---PF2---PF3---PF4---PF5---PF6---PF7---PF8---PF9---PF10--PF11--PF1 ! ! Exit -- ++ << > Can ! +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Command ===> LASTMSG Enter-PF1---PF2---PF3---PF4---PF5---PF6---PF7---PF8---PF9---PF10--PF11--PF12--- Help Exit Canc |
For further details, see LASTMSG in the System Commands documentation.
In addition to the help topics of the Natural Help utility, Natural provides individual help information on all Natural menus and the input fields available.
To invoke help for a menu
In the command line or in the Code field, enter a question mark (?) and choose ENTER.
Or:
Choose PF1 (Help).
To invoke help for a field
Place the cursor at the beginning of the field required and enter a question mark (?).
Choose ENTER.