Online Tutorial

The Entire System Server is delivered with an online tutorial as a starting help for users. It contains available views, a help text for each view specific to each operating system, and a sample program for each view. All sample programs can be displayed, edited and executed. They illustrate the use made of the Entire System Server, and can be taken as starting points for more elaborate applications.

Note:
When using the Entire System Server online tutorial, the Natural session parameter LE, which controls the action to be taken if the limit of retrieved records was exceeded in a database access statement processing loop, must be set to OFF.

This document covers the following topics:


Online Tutorial Menu

You can activate the online tutorial by logging on to the library SYSNPE in your Natural environment and issuing the MENU command.

This displays the online tutorial menu, and you are prompted for the Entire System Server node number. You will usually leave the default (but see the subsection Using Entire System Server in a Multi-Computer Environment).

The content of the menu may vary according to your particular operating environment: the online tutorial provides those views relevant to your site.

Press Enter to select the node number in the prompt window.

Meaning of the information in the columns:

Column Heading Meaning
View Name of the view.
Program Name of the sample program that illustrates use of the view.
Program Description Description of the program's function.

Online Tutorial Function Keys

The PF key line at the bottom of the online tutorial provides the following functions:

PF Key Function Description
PF3  Exit Leave the online tutorial.
PF5  User Display user-defined view and program names.
PF7  Up Scroll the list of views backwards.
PF8  Down Scroll the list of views forward.
PF10  Lang Select the tutorial in another language from a prompt window.
PF12  Node Select another Entire System Server node by typing the node number in the prompt window.

Online Tutorial Commands

From the online tutorial menu, you can display view definitions and sample programs. You can also edit the programs and execute them to see the result. Additionally, you can display a help text for each view and select the text as relevant to the supported operating systems.

These functions are performed by means of line commands. Available line commands are listed at the bottom of the online Tutorial Menu, above the PF key line. You can perform a function by entering the appropriate line command in the input field preceding the view name.

The table below lists the available line commands:

Line Command Function Description
E Edit Edit the example program. You can see the results of your edited program using the line command X.
H Help Display an explanation of the selected view's function; see the subsection Online Help.
L List Display the example program (no modification possible).
V List Userview Display the selected view description (names and attributes of the fields). For a comprehensive description of views and fields, see View Descriptions.
X Execute Display the results of the example program.

Online Help

The online tutorial provides online help for each view.

To display the online help text, issue the line command H in the input field preceding the view name.

The online help texts all have the same format, containing information on the purpose of the view, supported operating systems, and some additional information.

The following functions can be performed from this screen by pressing the appropriate PF key:

PF Key Description
PF3  Leave the help screen and return to the tutorial menu.
PF5  Display general help text, that is, information relevant to all supported operating systems.
PF6, PF7, PF8 Display operating system specific information.