Displaying context-sensitive help

There are two types of context-sensitive help: View context-sensitive help provides a short help overview for a specific view and field context-sensitive help provides detailed help for a specific CICS® attribute.

View context-sensitive help

To display the view context-sensitive help, press the help key from the main menu of the CICS Explorer® workbench. The help keys that are supported for different OS are listed:
  • Windows: Press F1.
  • Linux®: Press (Ctrl+F1).
  • macOS: Click Help > Show Contextual Help.
The context help for a specific view (for example, Local Files view) is displayed in the Related Topics pane of the dynamic Help view of the workbench or in an infopop window, depending on the help preferences selected.
Figure 1. The context help for the Local Files viewScreenshot of the context-sensitive help for the Local Files view. The information is titled 'About Local Files' followed by a short description. It also provides a link to 'See also: Local files view'.
A link is provided to more detailed help. If you click the link, the detailed help is displayed in the dynamic Help view or in the Help Contents view if your preferences are set to use infopops. The default size of the dynamic Help view is more suited for displaying context help, which is only an overview, but when displaying detailed help topics, you probably need to increase the size of the view or make extensive use of the view scroll bars.
Figure 2. Detailed help for the Local Files viewScreenshot of the detailed help for the Local Files view. The information is titled 'Local Files view' and is followed by a short description and a table describing columns in the Local Files view.
As an alternative, you can open the Help Contents window by pressing the help key and displaying the topics there.
Figure 3. Help Contents windowScreenshot of the Help Contents window. It features a table of contents. The title of the selected topic reads 'Overview of IBM Explorer for z/OS' and is followed by a detailed description.
If you have not yet opened the detailed view, perform these steps:
  1. Place your mouse cursor over the link pointing to the detailed help in the dynamic Help view and right-click.
    Figure 4. A link pointing to the detailed help in the dynamic Help viewScreenshot of the context-sensitive help for Local Files view. It features a pop-up from pressing right-click on the link for detailed help. The option highlighted reads 'Open in Help Contents'.
  2. Click Open in Help Contents. The detailed help is displayed in the Help Contents window.
    Figure 5. The detailed help displayed in the Help Contents windowScreenshot of the detailed help that is displayed in the Help Contents window. It features a table of contents. The title of the selected topic reads 'Overview of IBM Explorer for z/OS' and is followed by a detailed description.
If you have already opened the detailed help in the dynamic Help view, click the Show in external window icon Show in external window icon in the Help view. The detailed help is displayed in the Help Contents window.
Figure 6. Local Files view displayed in the Help Contents windowScreenshot of the detailed help for the Local Files view that is displayed in the Help Contents window. It features a table of contents and the Local Files view topic in detail.
If you are viewing the context-sensitive help in the dynamic Help view, an automatic help search provides more links to other help topics that might be relevant. Click a link and use the previous steps to display the additional help.
Figure 7. An automatic help searchScreenshot of an automatic help search for 'Local Files view'. It features a list of results for other relevant help topics.

Field context-sensitive help

Field context-sensitive help provides detailed help about a specific CICS attribute in the Property or Editor views. To display the field context-sensitive help, select an attribute in the Property or Editor view and press the help key. The help for a selected attribute is displayed in the dynamic Help view of the workbench.
Figure 8. The help for a selected attribute is displayed in the dynamic Help viewScreenshot of the context-sensitive help displayed for a selected CICS attribute in the Property or Editor view. There is no description displayed but it features a link to detailed help that reads 'See also: property_LOCFILE.
You can view the context-sensitive help for an attribute by clicking the Help icon A screen capture of the Help icon in the Property or Editor view.
Figure 9. The context-sensitive help in the Property or Editor viewScreenshot of the context-sensitive help for the selected attribute 'LSR Pool ID' with the CICS Name 'LSRPOOLID' and the value '1'. The help pane features the entire details of LSR Pool ID attribute in a tabular format.
You can detach the Help view from the workbench so that it does not take space in the workbench: Right-click the Help tab and click Detach option.
Figure 10. Working of detach optionScreenshot of detaching the Help view from the workbench.
The Help view opens in a new window and can be sized or positioned as you prefer. If CICS Explorer is configured to display help in an infopop window, the help opens in a new window. This is because the size of the help that is displayed is too large to fit in an infopop window.
Figure 11. Sizing or positioning of Help viewScreenshot of the Help view opened in a new window. It features the details of a selected CICS attribute in a full screen mode for better readability.
Each time when you select a different attribute, you must click the Help icon A screen capture of the Help icon to display the help information. Alternatively, you can click the 'Help dynamic link' icon The Help dynamic link icon. and dynamically link the help to a selected attribute, so that when you click a different attribute, the help changes without having to press the Help icon.
Figure 12. Dynamically linking the Help icon to a selected attributeScreenshot of the Help icon that is dynamically linked to a selected attribute. It features the dynamic linking of Help icon from the previously selected attribute 'ACCESSMETHOD' to the next selected attribute 'Browse' without having to press the Help icon.