_help.utl Utility - Online Help Manager

Syntax

call "_help.utl"{,helpfile{,helpitem}}

Description

The _help.utl utility is available for applications that display large amounts of text. The program uses two methods of help file design: 1) it mimics _help.pub if the file specified is a searchable ASCII file; or 2) it retrieves data from an indexed ASCII file, which is faster than using _help.pub.

For the indexed ASCII file method, the display window will be centered in the current window, offer page-down if required, and be surrounded by a box. The box title is taken from an optional line at the front of the file.

If any text segments within the selected portion of the help file are contained in parentheses, _help.utl attempts to replace them with the contents of matching global strings. Failure to match the parenthetical text with a global string results in the text being displayed as is.

For additional information about the online help system see Online Help.

Parameter	Description
`helpfile$`	Help information file. If specified alone (without `helpitem$`), use one of the formats below. `_help.utl` attempts to locate an ASCII file with the name given as `helpfile`. Use the second format to access a searchable help file. If the entries omit helpfile but start with either ";" or "@", the global string (HELPFILE), if it exists, is used to locate a default ASCII file. If NEITHER format is used, or if the global (HELPFILE) does NOT specify the path to an indexed ASCII help file, the HELPFILE$ parameter is presumed to be a program, typically a TAOS form. `_help.utl` will call this program twice. The first time it passes a string variable with the value "QUERY". It is expected to redimension that string in response to the "QUERY" to contain a template of at least three fields:
	`helpfile@key` Indexed ASCII help file
	`helpfile;helpitem` Searchable ASCII help file
	If the entries omit helpfile but start with either ";" or "@", the global string (HELPFILE), if it exists, is used to locate a default ASCII file. If NEITHER format is used, or if the global (HELPFILE) does NOT specify the path to an indexed ASCII help file, the HELPFILE$ parameter is presumed to be a program, typically a TAOS form. `_help.utl` will call this program twice. The first time it passes a string variable with the value "QUERY". It is expected to redimension that string in response to the "QUERY" to contain a template of at least three fields:
	FLAG:N(1) Set to 0 by `_help.utl`.
	DEFAULT_COLOR:C(1*) Set by `_help.utl`.
	BORDER_COLOR:C(1*) Set by `_help.utl`.
	On the second CALL, the word "QUERY" is not present in the string, but FATTR() returns the field names.
`helpitem$`	Names the help item within a searchable ASCII help file.

Examples

The following uses a default (HELPFILE) global string's value:

LET BBEXT$=STBL("BBEXT")
CALL BBEXT$+"_help.utl"

The following specifies an INDEXED ASCII file with key:

LET BBEXT$=STBL("BBEXT")
CALL BBEXT$+"_help.utl","thelp@first"

The following specifies a SEARCHABLE ASCII file with key:

LET BBEXT$=STBL("BBEXT")
CALL BBEXT$+"_help.utl","oldhelp;topic"

The following specifies a help "form" program:

LET BBEXT$=STBL("BBEXT")
CALL BBEXT$+"_help.utl","form"

_help.utl Utility - Online Help Manager

Syntax

Description

Examples

See Also