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.

Related Topics:

• HELP - System Commands documentation

• LASTMSG - System Commands documentation

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

• General Information - Natural Help Utility

• Detailed Information on Error Messages

• Specific Information on Menus and Fields

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General Information - Natural Help Utility

The Natural Help utility provides general information on Natural statements, commands, system 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

• Directly Accessing Help Topics

Invoking the Menu of the Natural Help Utility

To invoke the menu of the Help utility

1. Enter the following system command:

   HELP

   or

   ?

2. Press 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. Press 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.

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. Press ENTER.

   The EDIT screen of the Natural Help utility appears with information on the command requested as shown on the example screen below:

   11:36:16 ***** NATURAL HELP UTILITY ***** 2011-10-20 - EDIT - Page 1 of 3 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Function: Invoke a Natural editor for the purpose of editing a Natural object. Parameters: Object-type: Class(4), Copycode(C), Description(D), Function(7), Global(G), Helproutine(H), Local(L), Map(M), Parameter(A), Program(P), Subprogram(N), Subroutine(S) or Text(T). -> 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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 of n appears in the upper-right corner of the screen, where n is the number of the last page.

3. Press ENTER or PF8 to page forward.

   Or:
   Press PF7 to page backward.

   Or:
   Press PF6 to return to the first page.

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:

• 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:

• Displaying the Long Message Text

• Information on the Last Error

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.

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. Press 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

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. Press 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.

To display the long text of the error that occurred last

• Use either of the following methods:

  1. Enter the following system command:

     HELP ERROR

     Press 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:

     12:37:15 ***** NATURAL HELP UTILITY ***** 2011-10-20 Library TEST - Natural System Message NAT0082 - Page 1 of 2 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 processing of a Natural executable is not contained in the active library or in Enter-PF1---PF2---PF3---PF4---PF5---PF6---PF7---PF8---PF9---PF10--PF11--PF12--- Help Menu Exit Print + Canc

  2. Or:
     Place the cursor in the message line and press 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:

     11:41:44 ***** NATURAL ***** 2009-08-25 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 processing of a Natural | | executable 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 Enter 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

1. Enter the following system command:

   LASTMSG

2. Press 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 press 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.

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.

To invoke help for a menu

• In the command line or in the Code field, enter a question mark (?) and press ENTER.

  Or:
  Press PF1 (Help).

To invoke help for a field

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

2. Press ENTER.