HELP information may be requested either by typing HELP qualifier1 qualifier2 ...qualifier9 Only the first 3 letters of any qualifier need be typed. Also leading / marks are ignored. Hence, HELP SET BUF and HELP SET /BUF are treated identically. The order of qualifiers is important and any secondary, etc. qualifiers are found by typing HELP qualifier1. Valid qualifiers may be found by typing HELP. You need not be logged in to use this form of the HELP command. Another format exists for displaying a user's private HELP file (SY:HELP.HLP). You must be logged in to use this format. The format is HELP % qualifier1......qualifier9. To request help on the format of the help file type HELP HELP FORMAT (Note this has several screensful of information.) 2 FORMAT The form of the system help file is: Blank line 1 UPPER-CASE-QUALIFIER Text that will be displayed if HELP UPPER-CASE-QUALIFIER is typed. By convention (to be compatible with the DCLS implementation), each line of text must begin with a blank or tab. The only real restriction is that it not begin with the digits 1 through 9 inclusive. Certain practical restrictions must be considered. To accomadate VT05B's, lines should not be more than 72 decimal characters long (the real restriction is 132. characters), and a block of text should not be more than 20 decimal lines. If there are level n+1 qualifiers (like 2 UPPER-CASE QUALIFIER and 2 UPPER-CASE-QUALIFIER1 below), they should be mentioned in the text, so someone knows they exist. Similarly, level 1 qualifiers should be added to the list displayed when only HELP is typed. 2 UPPER-CASE-QUALIFIER Text that will be displayed if HELP UPPER-CASE-QUALIFIER UPPER-CASE-QUALIFIER is typed. 2 UPPER-CASE-QUALIFIER1 Text that will be displayed if HELP UPPER-CASE-QUALIFIER UPPER-CASE-QUALIFIER1 is typed. 1 ANOTHER-UPPER-CASE-QUALIFIER Text that will be displayed if HELP ANOTHER-UPPER-CASE-QUALIFIER is typed. The level numbers can be from 1 through 9 inclusive. They must be the first character of their line, and their qualifiers must be upper- case. HELP allows arbitrary strings of blanks and tabs between level numbers and qualifiers. If a qualifier that begins with a dollar sign ($) or a slash (/), the $ or / is ignored. When interpreting what the user typed, HELP allows arbitrary strings of blanks and tabs between qualifiers. A qualifier need not be completely specified. That is, a qualifier can be specified by the fewest initial characters that unambiguously define the qualifier. A / as the first character of a qualifier is ignored. Upper-case and lower-case characters can be freely mixed. An alternate command line interpretor may be specified on the HELP command line. This takes the form: HELP/xxx where 'xxx' is the CLI name. This will cause the file xxx.HLP to be used for input. If this form is not used, the filename defaults to MCR.HLP. HELP (really HELLO) interprets its command line and the system help file in a strictly nested fashion. The following example illustrates HELLO's algorithm. HELP qual1 qual2 ... qualn The line 1 QUAL is searched for in MCR.HLP. If such a line is found and qual2 ... qualn are null, the text following 1 QUAL is displayed until another level number is encountered. If qual2 exists, the line 2 QUAL is searched for following the 1 QUAL line. The search continues until 2 QUAL is found or until a lower level number than 2 is found. The correspondence of qualifier position in the HELP command with level numbers is continued until N QUAL is found. The desired text is then displayed. When you add a new level 1 qualifier, add it to the directory obtained by typing HELP (the first few lines of this file). The other general form of the HELP command is: HELP % qualifier1 qualifier2 ... qualifier9 This displays information from a local (private) help file (SY:[current uic]HELP.HLP). This syntax is not legal until you are logged in. Indirect file references may exist in place of text. Type: HELP HELP INDIRECT for details. Keys may share text by being synonyms. See HELP HELP SYNONYM 2 INDIRECT The HELP file may contain indirect references to other files. An "AT" sign as the first nonblank character in a line indicates that a file specification will follow, e.g., @[200,200]NEWFEATURE.EXT. This you to refer to files containing large blocks of text and higher-level keywords, thus speeding search time and enableing more flexible use of the HELP file. Once an indirect file has been opened, you cannot return to the file that called it. Thus, the following restriction exists: If a key of level N has any level N+1 or more keywords in an indirect file, the file must contain all of that key's level N+1 or more keywords (with texts) and no keys of level N or less. Examples of proper usage: ; (1) ! (2) ; N KEY1 ! N KEY1 ; @INDFL.EXT ---> FILE INDFL.EXT: ! TEXT1A ; N KEY2 TEXT1 ! @INDFL.EXT ---> FILE INDFL.EXT: ; TEXT2 ! N KEY2 TEXT1B ; ! TEXT2 ; (3) ; N KEY1 ; @INDFL.EXT ---> FILE INDFL.EXT: ; N KEY2 TEXT1 ; TEXT2 N+1 KEY1.1 ; N KEY3 TEXT1.1 ; TEXT3 N+1 KEY1.2 ; TEXT1.2 ; ... KEYWORDS AND ; TEXT OF LEVEL N+1 OR MORE Examples of improper usage (using (3) above): If KEY1.3 were where KEY2 is, in the original file, it would never be reached after INDFL.EXT was opened. If KEY1.1 (level N+1) preceded @INDFL.EXT, they it would imply that INDFL contained only keys and texts of level N+2 or more, so that the contents of INDFL would be ignored. In an indirect file spec, any fields that you do not provide will default to those of the help file presently open. (Exception: An absent version number becomes 0 - the latest version.) E.g., if SY0:[1,2]MCR.HLP;3 has a reference to [200,200]MYFIL, then HELLO will try to open file SY0:[200,200]MYFIL.HLP;0. Indirect files may refer to other indirect files to any depth, but you should keep the above restrictions in mind. 2 SYNONYM Two or more keys may be related by a "synonym" feature. A synonym key has no text or higher level keys; it refers to a later key for these. In place of a text, the line after a synonym key contains a pound sign (#) preceding the name of the key referred to. The key referred to must have the same level number as the synonym key and must succeed the synonym key in the same file. These keys must not be separated by a lower level keyword. For example: ; (1) ! (2) ; N KEY1 ! N KEY1 ; #KEY7 ! #KEY3 ; N KEY2 ! N KEY2 ; TEXT2 ! #KEY3 ; ...ETC... ! N KEY3 ; N KEY7 ! TEXT3 ; TEXT7 ! N+1 KEY 3.1 ; ! TEXT3.1 ; ! ; KEY1 AND KEY7 BOTH REFER TO ! KEY1, KEY2, AND KEY3 ALL REFER TO ; TEXT7. ! TEXT3, AND ALL CAN USE KEY3.1. In (1) above, the "...ETC..." must not include a key of level N-1 or less.