SCT Online Help Training

Entry to Online Help

The SCT Online Help system can be entered from two different applications. First, it can be reached from the normal SCT online system, namely, ZCTL.

Second, it can be reached through a special CICS application called ZDOC. This method is used when application files are closed to CICS making ZCTL inaccessible. To use this, the online documentation files must first be opened to CICS. Generally, this will not impact on batch processing. To open the online documentation files, use the ZFOC application. Select the appropriate system and use the ODOC function. Once this has been completed, ZDOC may be used. It requires the same logon procedure as ZCTL.

Accessing Online Help

If entering the online help system from ZDOC, the online help system is immeiately accessible. If the online SCT system was entered through ZCTL, there are three different ways of entering the online help system.

Standard Access: The online help system is normally accessed by using the PF1 key. This will display the online help menu panel.
Specific Access: Specific access to online help is done by pressing the PF2 key. This displays specific online help for a topic related to the position of the cursor on the screen. If the cursor is on a message (line 1 of the screen), the extended message contents will be displayed. If the cursor is on a data field, help about that data field will be displayed. If the cursor is anywhere else on the screen, a help panel associated with that screen will be displayed.
Help Toggle: The online help system can also be accessed by pressing PF4. This will go to the online help system abd will display the last help screen accessed during the current ZSS session. If the help system has not yet been accessed, the help menu will be displayed.

Exiting Online Help

If the online help system was entered through the ZDOC application, it must be exited by pressing PF4. This will display the ZDOC initial entry screen. Pressing Enter will exit the ZDOC application.

If online help was entered from a screen under ZCTL, pressing PF4 will return to the ZSS application.

The Online Help Menu

The online help menu looks as follows:

                     On-Line Reference System Menu



REFERENCE SYSTEM:
enter the ID, type or                         Topic ID    ________
name of your topic.          ============>    Topic Type  __
For an INDEX of all topics                    Topic Name  ____________________
by category, enter *.


WORD SEARCH: enter one or                     Word(s)     ____________________
more words, separated with   ============>    Match All   _  (Y/N)
commas.                                       Time Limit  _  (minutes)


SCREEN OR DIAGNOSTIC                          Screen ID   ___
MESSAGE HELP: enter the      ============>    Message ID  _____
screen or message ID.


                  For INSTRUCTIONS, enter ? here _
                  To  EXIT the reference system, press PF4

Screen and Message Help

There are 3 ways of accessing help from this panel. The last section permits direct access to help topices for diagnostic messages or for online screens. Simply type in the message ID or screen number to get help.

Word Searches

The middle section permits searches on words. This can be slow, as it does a search of the entire help database finding matches.

Selected Help

The most commonly used area on this help menu is the first section. Help can be found by topic ID, topic type or by topic name.

Help by Topic ID

The easiest way to get help is by topic ID. Simply type in the topic you want to see. For example, to find help for the batch program FBM100, enter FBM100BP in this field (the BP will be covered shortly). You could also enter FBM1007 and a list of topics matching it, regardless of type, would be displayed, a follows:

I-Z0288 NO MORE TOPICS
Topic Search       Search by:  (enter one)      Search for:
                     ID:   FBM100                 Word(s): ____________________
List FRS Topics: Y   Type: __                     Match All:  N  (Y/N)
List ZSS Topics: N   Name: ____________________   Time Limit: 1  (minutes)

Ln  Topic    Topic Name                             Topic Type            Pages
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
01  FBM100   BATCH FILE LIST (FBM100)               BP  BATCH PROGRAM         2
02  FBM100   BATCH FILE LIST (FBM100)               CR  CONTROL RECORD        3













PF4=exit    Press ENTER for NEXT PAGE of topics.    Select topic on line: __

Place the cursor on the topic to be selected. Then press ENTER to display help for the selected topic.

Help by Topic Type

Help can also be found by topic type. Enter the topic typ and a list of all help topics under that topic type will be displayed in the same format as the above selection screen. The following are valid values for topic type:

BP: Batch Program
CR: Control Record (job input parameters)
CM: Copy Members (Cobol)
DM: Diagnostic Messages
EL: Data Elements (DBD)
FL: File Descriptions
GL: Glossary
OP: Online Programs
OV: Overviews
RN: Version Release Notes
SC: Screens
SU: Subroutines (programmatic)
TB: Program Tables

Help by Topic Name

The other kind of search for this section is for topic name. To use this search, enter a word or phrase. Any help item on file whose description begins with that word or phrase will be displayed. It will have a selection screen as is shown above. For example, a search for CONTROL would yield:

I-Z0288 NO MORE TOPICS
Topic Search       Search by:  (enter one)      Search for:
                     ID:   FBM100                 Word(s): ____________________
List FRS Topics: Y   Type: __                     Match All:  N  (Y/N)
List ZSS Topics: N   Name: CONTROL                Time Limit: 1  (minutes)

Ln  Topic    Topic Name                             Topic Type            Pages
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
01  GCFILE   CONTROL FILE (GCFILE)                  FL  FILE                  2
02  GC102    CONTROL KEY                            EL  ELEMENT HELP          1
03  VO905    CONTROL KEY ID                         EL  ELEMENT HELP          1
04  VO904    CONTROL KEY SPACES                     EL  ELEMENT HELP          1
05  TT002    CONTROL REC KEY                        EL  ELEMENT HELP          1
06  TT005    CONTROL REC TABLE ID                   EL  ELEMENT HELP          1
07  CTLREC   CONTROL RECORDS (CTLREC)               OV  OVERVIEW              1








PF4=exit    Press ENTER for NEXT PAGE of topics.    Select topic on line: __

Place the cursor on a topic and press ENTER to display that help topic.

Selection can be changed on this screen by overtyping values. Two control fields are of interest. In the upper left quadrant of the screen is List ZSS Topics: N. ZSS topics are not normally included in the list of topics matched. Enter a Y to have ZSS topics also included. This is quite useful when looking at diagnostic messages that begin with a Z. The other field is in the upper right quadrant of the screen and is Time Limit: 1 (minutes). A word search can take considerable time. This can be used to limit the amount of time spent on a search.

Navigation

Once a help topic is displayed, there are a few navigation tools. A typical help screen looks as follows:

                            CONTROL FILE (GCFILE)
                        PHYSICAL FILE CHARACTERISTICS


            FILE ORGANIZATION:   Indexed
          FILE STORAGE MEDIUM:   Disk
                    FILE TYPE:   Permanent
                 I/O ROUTINES:   FSGCIO

   RECORD COPY MEMBER NAME(S):   FCGCRC
                RECORD LENGTH:   70
                RECORD FORMAT:   Fixed

                   KEY LENGTH:   12
                 KEY POSITION:   01
                     FILE KEY:   GC-CN-KEY or GC-SY-KEY or GC-SC-KEY or
                                 GC-CA-KEY or GC-GU-KEY or GC-AN-KEY or
                                 GC-JC-KEY or GC-JA-KEY or GC-CL-KEY

                    The logical file description follows.

===============================================================================
Page 001 of 002   Next page: 002                      Change topic to: ________
PF4=exit                   Previous topics: _ FRSGLS    _ 97ERLY    _ FBI014

There is a Next page field near the bottom left. Press ENTER to display the next logical page, or enter the next page you wish to see. This is the only means of paging backwards.

As various topics are displayed, the three previously displayed topics during the current logon are retained. They are displayed near the bottom right of the screen. Tab to the desired topic and press Enter to return to that topic.

Some help screens have related topics. These will be found at the end of the help screens. Tab to the desired field and press Enter to display help on that related topic.

When help is invoked for an input screen element by pressing PF2, and valid values for that element are displayed. Tabbing to one of those elements and pressing ENTER will cause that value to be returned to the screen and entered for the selected data element.

Printing Online Help

Printing online help from the online environment is quite tedious. It can only be done through a series of screen prints or screen captures.

However, a batch utility is provided to print online help. This is done by the ZBA310 program. This uses the AU3310 series of jobs in the various test Panvalet libraries (ISP00, ISP32, etc.). Topic selection is quite flexible. See the ZBA310CR help topic for a definition and description of the input parmeters. Output will be in 8.5 x 11 (portrait) format and is suitable for printing on a laser printer. In addition, a table of contents is printed at the end. This makes printing tailored help guides a relatively simple task.