HP 3000 Manuals HP 3000 Manuals
Chapter 3 Application Help Facility Introduction to the Application Help Facility The application help facility is part of the RPG Screen Interface (RSI). At runtime, RSI uses "help areas" and "help forms" created by SIGEDITOR. For applications converted from the IBM S/36, the SIGEDITOR converts the help (or H) specifications to the RSI format as part of the convert S and D specifications function. Help Areas Help areas are imaginary areas that are overlayed on the application form. The help area can be as small as a single character or as large as the entire screen. Up to 256 help areas can be associated with an individual form. When an application form is displayed and the user presses the f6 (HELP) key, RSI notes the cursor position at the time f6 is pressed and scans a list of help area definitions for the first one that covers the cursor position. The help area definition contains the name of the first help form to display. Additional help forms, if available, can be displayed using the f3 (ROLL UP) and f1 (ROLL DOWN) keys. The user must press the ENTER key to return to the application form. Help Forms Help forms are ordinary RSI forms, except that they are made up of text only. They can start on any line (01 through 24) and clear up to 24 lines. Help forms can be overlaid on other help forms, but not the application form. Help forms cannot contain fields, video enhancements, or message constants. They cannot use the variable starting line number feature. If a help form contains unsupported specifications, they are ignored when the form is displayed. To use the RSI application help facility in an RPG program, you must first prepare the program with DS capability. The application form must have the f6 (HELP) key disabled. No additional RPG programming is required to use the basic RSI application help facility. If you want to use the suppress selection or boundary features, you must enter RPG calculation specifications to control these indicators.