HP 3000 Manuals HP 3000 Manuals
Objectives When you have completed this lesson, you will have learned how to create user help screens. Defining Help Screens HP ALLBASE/4GL allows you to define three levels of help. These are message help, field help, and screen help. The procedures for defining the different types of help screens are identical. The way these screens are linked to the application determines the way HP ALLBASE/4GL displays them when the user presses the Help function key. To access the Help Screens screen: 1. From the main menu, select the Dictionary option. 2. Choose Help Screens. Description A help screen is a free format area of 16 lines that can each contain 60 characters. When displayed, it is centered on the screen.Help Screens Screen Creating Field Level Help. The help screen you will define first is an example of field level help. To enter the field values: Field Entry Explanation --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help Screen Name product_no This is the name of the help screen. In this case, the help screen is associated with the product_no field. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Next Help Screen Leave blank. You are not limited to just one help screen. Entering the name of a further help screen in this field links a further help screen to this screen. When the user presses the More Help function key on this help screen, the next help screen named here is displayed. This example only uses one screen. Table 9-0. (cont.) Field Entry Explanation --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help Screen Contents Enter some text for This is a free form area where you can the help screen. insert lines, delete lines, insert characters and delete characters as required. You can use any printable characters. To complete and commit the screen: 1. Press the Commit Data function key when you have finished creating the help screen. When you created the product_scrn data screen using product_no field specification, you accepted the default help name of product_no for the field. Next time you run the application and the cursor is on the product number field, press the Help function key. The help screen you have just defined will be displayed. Creating Message Level Help. 1. Modify the product_no_error message so it specifies a help screen name of product_no_error. This message is invoked when the product_no range check fails. 2. Create a help screen called product_no_error, to tell the user which values are valid for the field. 3. Run the application again and enter an invalid product number in the product_no field on the product_scrn screen. The error message is displayed and the field is error highlighted. 4. Press the Help function key. The help message for the error is displayed. Note that the application screens will not work as described in this chapter because the logic to call these screens has not been created yet. This is an example of a message level help. The same process applies for ABORT and QUERY type messages. Creating Screen Level Help. Now create a help screen called product_scrn to give the user general assistance in using the product_scrn screen. 1. Go to the product_scrn screen header and ensure that the help screen name is product_scrn. 2. Run the application again. 3. Press the Screen Help function key after you have called the field help from the product number field. Screen help will then be displayed. If you want to allow the user to call up screen help directly from a field, you must ensure that its field help name is blank.
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