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Chapter 8: Introduction to On-line Help

This Part of the on-line book deals with the On-line Help System.

The On-line Help System is a sophisticated system for creating on-line help from your character-based applications, and displaying it on screen. The system includes facilities to allow extensive navigation around the available information.

You can choose between using the native Windows format help system or the Micro Focus format help system.

8.1 Overview

The On-line Help System displays formatted text files containing information for application users. The system has two parts:

Topics can contain cross-references to other topics which the user can select and action. Index, contents, bookmarks and a history list all provide additional navigation to allow the user to access quickly the information required. Alternatively, the user can browse through the information at leisure. Selected topics or parts of topics can be printed or placed into a text file for use elsewhere.

Topics can be presented in windows of differing sizes (as selected by the application) without the need to scroll sideways.

8.2 Part Structure

The chapter On-line Help Viewer (HyHelp) describes what the On-line Help Viewer is, its functions, how to invoke it and how to use it for viewing the Net Express Help.

The chapter On-line Help System describes in detail how to use the On-line Help Builder and the On-line Help Viewer.

The chapter On-line Help Source File Format describes the text format of an on-line help source file, outlining the tags and attributes you can use.

The chapter Directives for the On-line Help Builder lists and describes the directives that you can specify to control the behavior of the On-line Help Builder.

The chapter Configuration Option Tags lists and describes the tags you can use to configure the behavior of the On-line Help Viewer.

The chapter On-line Help Tags details the tags and attributes that you can use in an on-line help source file.

The chapter Ohbld Error Messages lists and describes the fatal, error, and warning messages issued by the On-line Help Builder.

The Glossary can be used as a dictionary for those terms that might be new to you.


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