Help-Windows for OS390

Online Documentation Management

Help-Windows is a CICS product that was developed to meet an ever-growing need in the data processing industry, that of on-line documentation. As on-line systems have become more and more sophisticated, the need for immediate access to procedural instructions has increased substantially. Terminal operators do not want to browse through manuals to find answers, they want answers at the touch of a key. Text writers and documentation personnel want to maintain there documentation on-line, where changes can easily be made. Management does not want to go through expensive re-prints to new procedural manuals. Programmers and other users do not want to be bothered with updating manuals and inserting pages.

  • OVERVIEW
    OVERVIEW
    OVERVIEW
    OVERVIEW
    OVERVIEW
    OVERVIEW
  • AT-A-GLANCE
    AT-A-GLANCE
    AT-A-GLANCE
    AT-A-GLANCE
    AT-A-GLANCE
    AT-A-GLANCE
  • FEATURES
    FEATURES
    FEATURES
    FEATURES
    FEATURES
    FEATURES
  • REQUIREMENTS
    REQUIREMENTS
    REQUIREMENTS
    REQUIREMENTS
    REQUIREMENTS
    REQUIREMENTS

OVERVIEW

Help/Windows meets these and many more needs by providing one product which performs two major functions.

  1. Full on-line text maintenance. Complete manuals can be created and maintained on-line. Manuals can be sub-divided into system, documents, sections and subjects. Text is easily entered and edited using a text-editor type of process. Common paragraphs or entire subjects may be "included" from one document to another. Nested includes are supported. Printing orders may be inserted in the text to control document appearance. Entire manuals or selected subjects may be printed or displayed on the terminal in "list" form (as it appears when printed). Automatic page numbering, section Titles, running headers, table of contents and index creation are supported.
     
  2. On-line text retrieval from application transactions. Selected sections of a manual, or stand-alone documents may be "keyed" to any application transaction in the on-line environment. A user-defined PF or PA key may be used to retrieve the associated text while operating the transaction. The associated text can be displayed either in full-screen mode or in a "window" on the screen, the position and size of which is defined by the text writer. Help windows may be referenced at the transaction level, the screen level or at the individual field level. The terminal operator uses the cursor to "point" to the data for which a Help window is requested. When finished browsing through the Help text, control returns to the application transaction at the touch of a key.

Two special features make it very easy to define on-line help displays and associate them with a user transaction. These are:

  1. The automated application interface. The user transaction is started normally and the screen to be documented is displayed. You position the cursor to the field to be associated with a help display and press a pre-defined "help definition" key. This causes a window to appear on the screen and puts you directly in text entry mode. You may then key the desired text or reference text which has already been keyed to display in the window. PF key options allow you to easily define the size and position of the window at this point. When finished, the application screen is restored and you may proceed to the next field to be documented.
     
  2. Word-wrap. With word-wrap, you need not concern yourself with the size of the help window when keying the documentation text. Help/Windows will automatically break a sentence on a word boundary so that it will all fit in the window, no matter what size window is defined. This feature makes it quite practical to display extracted portions of an on-line document in a window on the screen, eliminating the need for the operator to "pan" left or right to read all of the text.

There is no need for any hardware changes, nor is there any need to modify your existing software. Any type of application transaction may be interrupted to display a Help window, then resumed. With Help/Windows, there is never any need to modify application software in order to access needed Help screens. And, of course, there is no degradation to the system nor to user response time.

AT-A-GLANCE

  • Full on-line text maintenance.
  • On-line text retrieval from application transactions.
  • Automated application interface.
  • Word wrapping capability.

FEATURES

  • Full online access
    Create, maintain, display and print entire manuals on-line, on the mainframe, and the power of four levels of hierarchical organization are supported.
  • Attach sub documentation to any user transaction
    Access sub-sections of a manual, or stand-alone documents from any user transaction.
  • Windowed help screens
    Display help text in a window on the screen.
  • Full screen help
    Create and use help menus, either in window mode or full-screen mode, for quick access to various sections of help text.
  • Word wrap capable
    "Wrap" the text to fit the window, or pan the text right or left in a window.
  • Full help text search
    Search for key words or character strings in help text.
  • Attach Help to transactions and fields
    Associate help text with a transaction, a screen of a transaction, or a field of a screen.
  • Attach Help to Keywords and phrases
    Associate help text with a word or phrase within other help text, thereby creating multiple levels of help.
  • Cross document level help
    Define "cross-document" fields. fields that appear on multiple screens or multiple transactions, always referencing a common set of help text.
  • Cursor position help
    Define help displays by invoking the user transaction screen, positioning the cursor as desired and pressing a "help definition" key.
  • Hot key help
    Define a single "hot" key to be used as the help-retrieval key for all transactions, or define a different help key for individual transactions.
  • Nested help support
    "Chain" sections of help text together in various ways to create multiple paths through the documentation.
  • Unlimited window layout
    Create multi-window displays, windows may overlap in any configuration desired. there is no limit to the number of windows on one screen.
  • Import text
    Import text from some other file into the help-windows text file. control statements make it easy to define and sub-define the imported document.
  • Export text
    Export Help/Windows text to a sequential file to be processed by another system.

REQUIREMENTS

  • Mainframe
    IBM z/Architecture and compatible
  • Operating System
    MVS/ESA
    OS/390 2.10 or later
    z/OS 1.8 or later 
  • Host System
    CICS Transaction Server 3.2 or later
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Help-Windows for VSE