HP 3000 Manuals HP 3000 Manuals
Operation
This section is split into two main subsections:
* Invoking Hyhelp.
* Using Hyhelp.
Invoking Hyhelp
Before invoking Hyhelp, you must set up the COBHNF environment variable
to enable Hyhelp to search for the required source files:
set cobhnf=path-name
where:
path-name is the path where the .HNF files are located.
To invoke Hyhelp, and thus gain access to the On-line Reference, enter
one of the following command lines:
component [file-name!][topic-name]
component [file-name!][@context-number]
where:
component is the program-name for the system component to be
invoked, in this case Hyhelp:
DOS and OS/2 Windows UNIX hyhelp hyhelpw cobrun
hyhelp
file-name is the name of an On-line Help
file or a Microsoft Advisor
format help file
topic-name is the name of a topic within such a file. Topic
names are described later in this chapter.
@context-number is the context number of the topic to be located.
If file-name has no extension, then .HNF is assumed. If file-name is
specified without topic-name or context-number, the home topic of the
selected On-line Help file is displayed.
NOTE Where you specify the command line depends upon the operating
system you are running in. For example, in Windows and OS/2, if
you have created a group for COBOL, you double click on the
appropriate program icon to invoke the component. Full details on
the alternative methods of invoking system tools in your
environment are provided in the chapter Introduction.
If you are using DOS without XM and limited memory is a problem, you
should ensure that enough DOS memory is freed up by the COBOL run-time in
order to satisfy any memory requests made by Hyhelp. To do so, set the
COBPOOL environment variable before invoking Hyhelp. For details on the
COBPOOL environment variable, see the chapter The COBOL Interfacing
Environment in your COBOL User Guide.
Once entered, Hyhelp has access to all Micro Focus format on-line
information files (.HNF) that exist in the current directory or a
directory specified in the path list defined by the environment variable,
COBHNF.
On DOS, Windows and OS/2, Hyhelp can also access all Microsoft Advisor
(QuickHelp)format help files (.HLP)that exist in the current directory or
are specified in the file list defined by the environment variable,
HELPFILES. (DOS, Windows and OS/2)
Hyhelp can know about a maximum of 32 files.
This system cannot access IBM OS/2 on-line or Windows help files, which
also have the extension .HLP.
Using Hyhelp
Once you have invoked Hyhelp, this section helps you to use it. It
describes the user interface and various terms associated with Hyhelp.
When you have invoked Hyhelp, it displays a bordered panel which contains
the text for the selected topic. Figure 23-1 shows the Hyhelp screen for
help on Hyhelp. The title of the topic is displayed in the top border.
![[]](../../pic3k/M015153/FFN13c50.gif)
Figure 23-1: The Hyhelp Main Screen
If a topic contains more lines than the panel can show at one time, the
right side of the border contains a scroll bar. The scroll bar indicates
what proportion of the text is visible, and the current position of the
panel within the topic.
Youview the topic using ^ and v to move up or down one line at a time, or
Page Up and Page Down to move up or down one panel at a time.
On DOS, Windows and OS2, if you have a mouse, click on the scroll bar to
move up or down one panel of text or click on the up/down arrow icons to
move up or down the topic by one line.
Some topics contain frozen lines. These lines always remain visible at
the top of the screen while the rest of the text scrolls.
If you are using an add-on product and you invoked Hyhelp from, for
example, the COBOL Editor, a standard menu below the help text indicates
the functions you can perform using Hyhelp. You can toggle between
showing the Hyhelp menu and the COBOL Editor menu by pressing F2. Any
text that was on the screen prior to invoking Hyhelp is revealed in the
area previously occupied by the menu.
You can perform various operations in Hyhelp using the keyboard or, on
DOS, Windows and OS/2, the mouse. All the functions indicated on the
menu are activated by pressing the appropriate key. Several other
functions can be performed using the various cursor-control keys or the
mouse. These are described later.
In the following text, the terms clicking and double-clicking with the
mouse refer to the operation of moving the mouse cursor to the relevant
point and the clicking once or twice with the left mouse button. The
mouse pointer is visible only if you have a mouse. When you initially
invoke Hyhelp it is located at the bottom of the right hand side of the
panel border. (DOS, Windows and OS/2)
Selecting and Activating.
WithHyhelp, a number of objects can be selected and/or activated.
Selecting an object simply makes it the current object. Usually it
becomes highlighted in some way. Subsequent keystrokes may take account
of what object is selected.
Activating an object causes some process to take place related to the
object.
For example, selecting a hot-spot (see later) causes it to be
highlighted; activating it (by pressing Enter after selecting it) causes
the topic that is cross-referenced by the hot-spot to be displayed.
Topics and Files.
Theinformation accessible to Hyhelp is held in any number of On-line help
files. Topics from any of these files can be displayed using the
facilities available.
In general, each file is self-contained and does not cross-reference to
another file. However, in some instances (such as the On-line
Reference), two or more files are used to contain a complete set of
information. In this case you may switch from one file to another
without knowing it. When a topic from a file is displayed, the file
becomes the current file.
Each file contains a set of topics. The topics are usually stored in the
file in a logical sequence. Many files have a hierarchical structure.
In general you should not need to understand the structure of a file to
find the information you need. However, it can sometimes be helpful.
The first topic in a file is called the home topic. This topic provides
a launch point to any of the information held in the file. In addition,
most files also contain a contents list and an index of some form to help
you.
Some files contain list topics. These topics contain a full width cursor
bar. Each line in such a topic acts like a hot-spot, and as such is a
cross-reference to another topic. You can select a line by moving the
cursor bar to it using the cursor keys or, on DOS, Windows and OS/2, by
clicking on it. Press Enter to activate the selected list line. On DOS,
Windows and OS/2, double-clicking with the mouse on any line selects and
activates that line.
Topic Names.
A topic name is an ASCII string up to 30 characters in length, used to
identify that topic. More than one topic name can point to a single
topic. You can use the topic name to reference a topic from the command
line or using the search function.
The same topic name can exist in more than one file. When displaying
information, the file containing the desired topic name can be prefixed
to the topic name with an exclamation point (!) as follows:
[file-name!][topic-name]
If file-nameis supplied, then only that file is searched. Otherwise all
files available are searched in the order shown in the file list (see the
description of the Files function in the section Descriptions of Hyhelp
Menu Functions). If topic-name is supplied, a topic with that name is
searched for. Otherwise the first topic in the file specified - the home
topic - is displayed.
For example, invoking Hyhelp using the following command line:
hyhelp cobol1.hnf!stop
invokes Hyhelp and displays the information on the topic called stop in
the help file cobol1.hnf (one of the help files for the On-line
Reference).
The topic name is not the same as the topic title which appears at the
top of the screen when a topic is displayed.
Hot-spots.
Atopic can contain areas which cross-reference other topics. These areas
are called hot-spots. They are normally colored or enclosed in the horn
characters (<- and ->) to show their presence. Select a hot-spot by
clicking on it (on DOS, Windows and OS/2) or by using the Tab and Backtab
keys. The hot-spot selected is highlighted.
If you double-click on a hot-spot (on DOS, Windows and OS/2), or press
Enter when a hot-spot is selected, the system displays the topic
cross-referenced by the hot-spot.
If you double-click on any other word in a topic, the system searches the
On-line Help and help files for a topic with that name. The topic is
displayed if found. (DOS, Windows and OS/2)
Navigating a Help File.
This section lists the additional functions which can be activated using
the keys and mouse operations described below.
Key Description
-------------------------------------------------------
Escape Exits from the current menu.
F1=help Displays help for current menu.
Enter Activates the selected hot-spot or list
item.
^ Moves topic text down one line in the
panel or moves the list topic cursor bar
up one line.
v Moves topic text up one line in the panel
or moves the list topic cursor bar up one
line.
Page-Up Moves topic text up by one panel height.
Page-Down Moves topic text down by one panel height.
Home Moves to the start of the current topic.
End Moves to the end of the current topic.
Tab Selects the next hot-spot, or the first if
none are selected.
Backtab Selects the previous hot-spot, or the last
if none are selected.
Ctrl+Home Displays the home topic of the current
help file.
Thefollowing mouse operations are available in DOS, Windows and OS/2:
(DOS, Windows and OS/2)
Operation Description
-------------------------------------------------------
Click on vertical Moves topic text down by one panel
scroll bar above height.
slider.
Click on vertical Moves topic text up by one panel
scroll bar below height.
slider.
Click on up-arrow. Moves topic text down by one line.
Click on Moves topic text up by one line.
down-arrow.
Click outside text Displays the history menu.
panel.
Click on Selects the hot-spot/list line.
hot-spot/list
line.
Click on Maximizes/restores the topic window
maximize/.
restore icon (top
right-hand
corner).
Double-click on Activates the hot-spot/list line.
hot-spot/list
line.
Double-click on Searches for a topic with that name.
word in main panel
(not a list
topic).
Hyhelp Menus
The Hyhelp menus are organized to provide rapid access to the most
commonly used functions.
Help menus can be accessed from any Hyhelp menu by pressing F1=help.
This calls the help screen for the option from which it is called.
Bookmark Menu.
The Bookmark menu and list is displayed when you press B from the Hyhelp
main menu. This menu is displayed in Figure23-2.
![[]](../../pic3k/M015153/FFN23c50.gif)
Figure 23-2: Bookmark Menu
A bookmark is a user-defined index item identifying a specific point in a
specific topic. In the same way you would use a real bookmark to mark a
place in a book, you use these bookmarks to mark places in the
information.
The bookmark list is a list of all the bookmarks you have defined.
Bookmarks are listed in alphabetic order, just like an index. Each
bookmark is a user-defined name relating to a point within a particular
topic.
The Bookmark menu displays functions that enable you to perform the
following operations:
* Add a bookmark.
* Rename a bookmark.
* Goto a bookmark.
* Delete a bookmark.
Files Menu.
The Files menu is displayed when you press F from the Hyhelp main menu.
This menu is displayed in Figure 23-3.
![[]](../../pic3k/M015153/FFN33c50.gif)
Figure 23-3: Files Menu
The Files menu shows a list of information files currently available to
Hyhelp. These are the files that are searched when you specify a topic
name, either on invocation or, on DOS, Windows and OS/2, by clicking on a
word that is not part of a hot-spot.
The Files menu displays functions that enable you to perform the
following operations:
* Add a file to be used by Hyhelp.
* Remove a file so that Hyhelp cannot use it.
Hyhelp Main Menu.
The Hyhelp main menu is displayed when Hyhelp is started, and is shown in
Figure 23-4.
![[]](../../pic3k/M015153/FFN43c50.gif)
Figure 23-4: Hyhelp Main Menu
To select a submenu or function use the appropriate function key or
letter.
Output Menu.
The Output menu is displayed when you press O from the Hyhelp main menu.
This menu is displayed in Figure 23-5.
The Output menu displays functions that enable you to perform the
following operations:
* Copy a whole topic or part of a topic to a file.
* Append a whole topic or part of a topic to an existing file.
![[]](../../pic3k/M015153/FFN53c50.gif)
Figure 23-5: Output Menu
Hyhelp Functions
Hyhelp functions are accessed from menus. The following section contains
a quick reference listing all of the functions available in Hyhelp. The
listing is followed by detailed desciptions of these functions.
Hyhelp Function Access.
The following table lists the Hyhelp functions in alphabetical order and
indicates the keys you must press to access them. Thus, to determine the
path to access a given function, follow the sequence of keystrokes. For
example, to reach the Remove File function, from the Hyhelp main menu you
press F followed by R
For some functions you will need to use the cursor keys at some point.
This is represented in the list by showing all available cursor keys.
For example, the Copy to File function shows that you can either copy the
whole topic to a file, or use the cursor keys to copy just a selection of
the topic.
Some of the functions in the following list refer to mouse actions, which
are not currently available in Hyhelp for UNIX. For such functions, an
alternative method of invocation that does not use the mouse is
shown.(UNIX)
Function Menu Access Keys
-------------------------------------------------------
Activate Hot-spot Tab, Enter or Backtab, Enter or
mouse click, Enter or double mouse
click.
Add Bookmark M, A
Add File F, ^ , v, A
Append to File O, M, ^, v, A or O, A
Back B
Bookmark M
Browse Backward <
Browse Forward >
Contents C
Copy to File O, M, ^, v, C or O, C
Delete Bookmark M, ^, v, D
Escape Escape
Files F
Goto Bookmark M, ^, v, G
History H
Home Ctrl+End
Index I
Mark O, M
Next Hot-spot Tab
Output O
Previous Hot-spot Backtab
Print to File O, P
Remove File F, ^, v, R
Rename Bookmark M, ^, v, R
Search S
Hyhelp Function Descriptions.
This section describes the functions available in Hyhelp.
Activate Hot-spot
Activates the selected hot-spot (selected using Tab, Backtab, or, on DOS,
Windows and OS/2, a mouse click). The topic cross-referenced by this
hot-spot is displayed.
Add Bookmark
Defines a bookmark at the current position in the current topic. The
title of the topic is placed at the prompt, indicating that it will be
used as the name of the bookmark. You can accept this name by pressing
Enter, or you can allocate a name of your own by typing over the name at
the prompt and pressing Enter. The name is inserted into the bookmark
list and you are returned to the Hyhelp main menu.
Add File
Enables you to add a help file to the file list, making it available for
use with Hyhelp. You can either enter the name of the help file at the
prompt, or you can use the select F2=directory to locate the file you
wish to add. Press Enter when the prompt shows the correct help file.
If you specify a file-name but no path, Hyhelp first looks for the file
the current directory. If the file is not found, then, for .HNF files
the directories specified in the path list defined by the environment
variable COBHNF are searched. On DOS, Windows and OS/2, Hyhelp searches
for Microsoft Advisor format files (.HLP) in the directories in the path
list of the environment variables HELPFILES and QH.
If the file is found, it is added to the list. If Hyhelp does not find
the file or is unable to load it the following message is displayed:
Failed to add file
Append to File
Appends the current topic, or marked block, to the end of the text file
paste.txt. If no text has been marked, the whole topic is copied to the
file.
The text selected is formatted to 76 characters wide before being copied.
Back
Displays the previously displayed topic. If you select the function
repeatedly without selecting any other topics in between, the topics so
far displayed in this session are displayed again in reverse order. Up
to 40 topics can be displayed in this way.
Bookmark
Displays the Bookmark menu, described in the section Hyhelp Menus. For a
description of the functions available on this menu see Add Bookmark,
Rename Bookmark, Delete Bookmark and Goto Bookmark.
Browse Backward
Displays the previous topic in the information file. The Browse
functions enable the topics in an on-line information file to be
displayed sequence they are stored in the file, or, for .HNF format
files, in a sequence selected by the creator of the file - a browse
chain. If no browse chain has been defined then you see the
next/previous topic in the file.
The sequence in which topics are displayed when using the Browse Backward
function depends entirely on the structure of the file and cannot be
described in detail here.
Browse Foreward
Displays the next topic in the information file. The Browse functions
enable the topics in an on-line information file to be displayed sequence
they are stored in the file, or, for .HNF format files, in a sequence
selected by the creator of the file - a browse chain. If no browse chain
has been defined then you see the next/previous topic in the file.
The sequence in which topics are displayed when using the Browse Backward
function depends entirely on the structure of the file and cannot be
described in detail here.
Contents
Displays a table of contents where available. An example of such a table
of contents in shown in Figure 23-6.
![[]](../../pic3k/M015153/FFN63c50.gif)
Figure 23-6: Contents Screen
The general contents for an .HNF format file is displayed as a list of
entries in a pop-up window (see Figure 23-6). Entries are in the order
that the topics are stored in the file and each entry is the title of a
topic in the current file. All topics with titles appear in the contents
list.
To select an entry use the ^, v, Page-Up, Page-Down, Home or End keys or,
on DOS, Windows and OS/2, click on it. The selected entry is
highlighted.
Activate an entry by double-clicking on it (on DOS, Windows and OS/2), or
by selecting it and pressing Enter. When activated, the topic relating
to the contents entry is then displayed.
Press Escape or, on DOS, Windows and OS/2, click the mouse outside the
main panel area to leave the contents list without activating any entry.
The contents in the On-line Reference is displayed and used in a
different way. This is described in the section On-line Reference.
Copy to File
Places the current topic, or marked block, into the text file paste.txt.
If there is no marked block the whole topic is copied. See the
description of the Mark function for details of marking a block.
The text selected is formatted to 76 characters wide before being copied.
Delete Bookmark
Enables you to delete a bookmark. Select the bookmark to be deleted by
highlighting it using the ^, v, Page-Up, Page-Down, Home and End keys,
or, on DOS, Windows and OS/2, click on it.
Press D. The bookmark is removed from the list, and the bookmark deleted.
Escape
Returns to the Hyhelp main menu. If you are already on the Hyhelp main
menu, exits from Hyhelp. The following prompt is displayed:
Exit from HYHELP ? Y/N
Press Y or y to exit from Hyhelp, N or n to abandon your request to exit.
Files
Displays the Files menu, described in the section Hyhelp Menus. For a
description of the functions available on this menu see Add File and
Remove File.
Goto Bookmark
Displays the topic associated with a bookmark. Select the bookmark whose
topic you want to see by highlighting it using the ^, v, Page-Up,
Page-Down, Home and End keys, or, on DOS, Windows and OS/2, click on it,
then press G.
Alternatively you can press Enter when a bookmark is highlighted, or, on
DOS, Windows and OS/2, you can double-click on a bookmark in the bookmark
list.
History
Displays a list of topics previously viewed in a pop-up window (see
Figure 23-7). The list is chronological, with the most recently visited
topic occurring at the top of the list. Each entry in the list is the
title of a topic. The list contains the forty most recent entries.
To select an entry, use the ^, v, Page-Up, Page-Down, Home or End keys
or, on DOS, Windows, and OS/2, click on it. The selected entry is
highlighted.
![[]](../../pic3k/M015153/FFN73c50.gif)
Figure 23-7: History Screen
Activate an entry by selecting it and pressing Enter or, on DOS, Windows
and OS/2, by double-clicking on it. When activated, the topic relating
to the contents entry is displayed.
Press Escape or, on DOS, Windows and OS/2, click the mouse outside the
main panel area to leave the history list without activating any entry.
Home
Displays the home topic of the current help file.
Index
Displays the index for the current file. A typical index is shown in
Figure 23-8.
![[]](../../pic3k/M015153/FFN83c50.gif)
Figure 23-8: Index Screen
The general index for a .HNF format file is displayed as a list of
entries in a pop-up window. Entries are in alphabetical order and each
entry relates to a specific topic in the current file.
To select an entry use the ^, v, Page-Up, Page-Down, Home or End keys or,
on DOS, Windows and OS/2, click on it. The selected entry is
highlighted. You can also select an entry by pressing a letter key,
which moves the cursor to the first item starting with that letter.
Activate an entry by selecting it and pressing Enter or, on DOS, Windows
and OS/2, by double-clicking on it. When activated, the topic relating
to the index entry is displayed.
Press Escape or, on DOS, Windows and OS/2, click the mouse outside the
main panel area to leave the index list without activating any function.
The index in the On-line Reference is displayed and used in a different
way. This is described in the section On-line Reference.
Mark
Enables you to mark a block for output to file or printer. Press M to
start the block, then use ^, v, Page Up and Page Down to size the block.
When the block covers the text you want to output, use Copy to File,
Append to File or Print to File to output the text. To cancel the
marking, press M again.
Next Hot-spot
Selects the next hot-spot in the current topic. If no hot-spot is
currently selected, the first hot-spot is selected. If the last hot-spot
is already selected this function selects the first hot-spot.
Output
Displays the Output menu, described in the section Hyhelp Menus. For a
description of the functions available on this menu see Mark, Copy to
File, Append to File and Print to File.
Previous Hot-spot
Selects the previous hot-spot in the current topic. If no hot-spot is
currently selected, the last hot-spot is selected. If the first hot-spot
is already selected, this function selects the last hot-spot.
Print to File
Sends the current topic, or marked block, to a printer. If no text has
been marked the whole of the topic is printed.
The text selected is formatted to 76 characters wide before being
printed.
Remove File
Removes a file from the file list, making it unavailable for use by
Hyhelp. Use the ^ and v keys to highlight the file to remove, then press
R. The file is removed from the list unless it is the only file on the
list or is the current file. In these cases the following message is
displayed:
Failed to remove file
Rename Bookmark
Enables you to change the name of an existing bookmark. Select the
bookmark to be renamed by highlighting it using the ^, v, Page-Up,
Page-Down, Home and End keys, or, on DOS, Windows and OS/2, click on it.
Press R and type the new name for the bookmark, followed by Enter. The
selected bookmark is renamed and the new name placed in the list at its
new alphabetical position.
Search
Enables you to search for a topic name. You are prompted to enter the
name of a topic to search for, followed by Enter. If the topic name that
you enter cannot be found, the following message is displayed:
Topic "topic-name" not found.
All the files available to Hyhelp, as listed in the files list, are
searched, in the order specified, for a topic that has the entered name.
The On-line Reference
TheOn-line Reference contains items from the printed manuals that you may
wish to access on-line. This includes:
* COBOL system from COBOL System Reference
Animator directives
Command lines
Compiler directives
Run-time switches
* COBOL language
Call-by-name routines from COBOL System Reference
COBOL syntax from Language Reference and
ASCII/EBCDIC tables Language Reference - Additional Topics
Reserved words
* COBOL messages from Error Messages
Code generation errors
File Status Codes
Run-time errors
Syntax errors
The following sections help you to find your way around this information.
Accessing the On-line Reference.
There are two ways to access the On-line Reference:
1. Use the Hyhelp command described in the section Invoking Hyhelp
earlier in this chapter.
2. If you are using Animator (or the COBOL Editor if you are using an
add-on product) you can access the On-line Reference by pressing
Alt+1. When you press Alt+1, a program called Hyhintf locates the
current cursor position in order to pass a topic name to Hyhelp.
Hyhintf passes a topic name to Hyhelp according to the following
rules:
a. If the cursor is on a word, that word is used.
b. If the cursor is on a space, the word immediately following
the space is used.
c. If the cursor is on a space but there is no following word,
the word immediately preceding the space is used.
d. If the current line is blank, no topic name is passed.
When the On-line Reference is displayed, if the topic name
passed by Hyhintf exists, the help for that topic is
displayed. If the topic name passed by Hyhintf does not
exist, or if no topic name was passed, the home topic of
the On-line Reference is displayed.
To return to Animator (or the COBOL Editor if you are using
an add-on product) press Escape from the On-line Reference
main menu.
On-line Reference Structure.
The On-line Reference is organized as a hierarchical structure. All
topics can be reached by starting at the top of the hierarchy and moving
downwards. Each subject item has a number of topics related to it.
These topics are regarded as being at the same level. All items within a
particular subject are also grouped at the same level of the hierarchy.
Moving around (navigating) the On-line Reference, or any other on-line
information, is very easy. Using hot-spots, browse, index and contents
it is easy to move from one topic to another. However, it is also quite
easy to become lost.
To ensure that you can always find your way back, you should become
familiar with the following functions:
* Contents.
* Index.
* History list.
* Bookmarks.
* Up.
These functions are described in the following sections.
Contents.
The On-line Reference contents are set up in a different manner to that
in a standard .HNF format file. In the On-line Reference a separate
topic is displayed for the contents showing only the top-level contents.
This topic is displayed when the Contents hot-spot is activated.
Activating a content item hot-spot causes another topic to be displayed
which contains either a lower level contents topic for the chosen
subject, or a list of topics available for that subject.
Activating the Up hot-spot moves you back up the contents hierarchy.
Index.
The On-line Reference indexes are set up in a different manner to that in
a standard .HNF format file. Each file in the On-line Reference contains
its own index. When the Index hot-spot is activated a topic is displayed
which lists the available indexes. You must select the index you
require. You are then placed in the "A" topic for that index.
Each index consists of a set of topics, one for each letter. Each topic
starts with a selection bar for all the letters, enabling the index to be
quickly navigated. Each item in the index has a term and a definition.
The definition is a hot-spot. Selecting the hot-spot and pressing Enter
or double-clicking on the hot-spot in DOS, Windows, and OS/2 causes the
relevant topic to be displayed.
History list.
Every topic that you enter is added to the history list. The last 40
topics visited are retained on the list. You can access the list at any
time. Assuming you remember the title of a topic, you can select it from
the history list and are returned there.
Alternatively, using the Back hot-spot or the Back function from the menu
you can move back through the topics in the history list until you find
the one you want.
Bookmarks.
If you arrive at a topic that you know you want to return to, you can
easily set a bookmark to that topic. Then, when you wish to return to
the topic, simply select the relevant bookmark from the bookmark list.
Up.
Using the Up hot-spot within each topic of the On-line Reference you can
move up the hierarchy from any point. The hierarchy of the On-line
Reference is very shallow. Consequently, using Up returns you to a
familiar contents list very quickly.