You can associate a help with a Screen or a TUI client.
Overview of the help function
The help documentation
is present at two levels:
- Screen help (how to use the screen)
- Input field help (which lists the possible values for example)
The user accesses the help by either:
- Moving the cursor to the appropriate field and pressing a PF key
- Entering a special character in the choice field (CH)
for screen help, or in an input field for input field help
On the help screen, the user can use the choice field
to complete the following tasks:
- Return to the beginning of the help documentation
- Continue scrolling through all help documentation
- Stop the help display and return to the initial work screen
The help screen must be defined but not described because
its format is fixed and cannot be modified.
The code of this
Screen is XXHELP, where XX is
the Dialog code. The external name must also be indicated (PACHELP by
default). It must then be generated using the appropriate Type
of COBOL and map to generate, according to the environment.
Contents of the help function
You use help
messages to document Screens and Data Elements and to explain the
rules for information coding and error detection.
These messages
can be created as needed and generated on request to update the sequential
error message file.
This file is used to create the error messages
files of applications. These are indexed files or databases depending
on the environment.
The screen help comes from the -GE
Lines of the Screen -G Lines tab.
The
input field help documentation comes from the:
- Data Element Description (-D Lines tab),
- Documentation of the Data Elements called in the Screen on the
-GE Lines (on C or T lines
entered after an F line)
- Standard error messages (type 2 to 5)
- User error messages (alphabetic type A to Z)
- User error messages (numeric type 6 to 9)
- Description lines or Text calls (-GE Lines)
associated with Data Element-related errors:
- User errors: C or T lines
following a U line
- User or standard errors: C or T lines
with the error code.
Note: For a better presentation of the help screen, the numeric
type user error messages should be used rather than the alphabetic
type. The numeric type messages are grouped with the standard error
messages.