HELP SUBSTATEMENT IN MENU LAYOUTS

HELP defines a help box that contains a help message for an item or specifies a help trigger to execute when the user presses the help key. Define the size, rendition, and where the help box is displayed on the screen. The text of the help message is specified by the TEXT statement. At least one line of text must be specified or a help trigger performed.

The default help key is a question mark (?). The help key can be changed by setting a new help key to the system field HELP_CODE.

Syntax

to paste a Help Box

/HELP row column number_of_rows number_of_columns rendition /{TEXT text}...

row	is an integer constant that specifies the row position of the screen, not the menu, where the top left corner of the help box is displayed.
column	is an integer constant that specifies the column position of the screen, not the menu, where the top left corner of the help box is displayed.
number_of_rows	is an integer constant that specifies the number of rows in the help box.
number_of_columns	is an integer constant that specifies the number of columns in the help box.
rendition	specifies the video attributes desired for the help box. More than one video attribute may be specified by separating the attributes with plus signs.
	The valid video attributes are: @NORMAL specifies normal video attribute. [default setting] @BLINK specifies blinking video attribute. @BOLD specifies bold face video attribute. @REVERSE specifies reverse video attribute. @UNDERLINE specifies underlining video attribute.

SYNTAX

to perform a Help Trigger

/HELP
/PERFORM trigger_name

trigger_name

specifies a Process Module (PM) trigger to execute. This allows flexibility in specifying the action that takes place when the user presses the help key (for example, another window could be displayed).

Statements in the performed trigger that reference system fields used for menu and form control (such as @FILL_ACTION, @NEXT_ITEM, and @MENU_ACTION) are ignored. For example, @NEXT_ITEM cannot be set to change the next item to be processed.

EXAMPLE

/HELP 15 5 5 50 @NORMAL

When this help box is displayed on the screen, the top left corner of the box is at row 15 and column 5 of the screen. The help box has 5 rows and 50 columns with normal rendition.

SEE ALSO: TEXT Statement (later in this section).