Version 4.2.6 for Mainframes
 —  Using Natural  —

Natural Online Help

Natural provides several types of help:

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.

Related Topics:

This section describes the help topics provided and how to access them.


General Information - Natural Help Utility

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:

Invoking the Menu of the Natural Help Utility

Start of instruction set To invoke the menu of the Help utility

  1. Enter the following system command:

    HELP

    or

    ?
  2. 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
  3. In the Code field, enter the one-letter code that corresponds to the help topic desired.

  4. 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.

Directly Accessing Help Topics

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.

Start of instruction set To directly access a help topic

  1. Enter the following system command:

    HELP command

    where command, for example, is the system command EDIT about which you request information:

    HELP EDIT
  2. 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.

  3. 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).

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Detailed Information on Error Messages

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:

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:

Displaying the Long Message Text

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.

Start of instruction set To display the long text of a Natural system message

  1. Enter one of the following system commands:

    HELP NATnnnn

    or

    ? nnnn

    where nnnn is the four-digit error number.

  2. 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.

Start of instruction set To display the long text of a user-defined message

  1. Log on to the library where the required user-defined message is stored.

  2. Enter the following system command:

    HELP USER nnnn

    or

    ? U nnnn

    where nnnn is the four-digit error number.

  3. 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.

Information on the Last Error

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.

Start of instruction set To display the long text of the error that occurred last

Start of instruction set To display the last error message(s) and further details

  1. Enter the following system command:

    LASTMSG
  2. Choose ENTER.

    The LASTMSG window appears with the short text of the error message(s) that occurred last.

  3. 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.

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Specific Information on Menus and Fields

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.

Start of instruction set To invoke help for a menu

Start of instruction set To invoke help for a field

  1. Place the cursor at the beginning of the field required and enter a question mark (?).

  2. Choose ENTER.

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