Help


CTRL-C FOR ATTN MODE Release 3.30

When Ctrl-C is pressed while HELP mode is active, Business Rules! will return to the program and enter ATTN mode. Previously it would just exit Help and return to program processing.

PAGE DOWN MESSAGE Release 3.30

When Business Rules! is in HELP mode, the message "Page down for more" will now be displayed in the message area of the status line when there is more than one screen for the selected topic.

WBHELP COMPILER Release 3.30

The 1.5 release of the wbhelp compiler supports several features in Help text files.

Attributes terminate with | - The vertical bar character (|) may now be used to signal the end of an attribute specification. Previously, the end of the attribute was signaled by the first invalid character. This feature allows for the following in a Help text file: |H|Until now a blank was required before the U.

External file references - Help subtopics may now include references to external Help text files. If the subtopic is selected, Business Rules! will search for the specified Help text file, locate the subtopic as a main topic, and display the associated text or menus. For example, if "Using XCOPY" is selected from the following menu, Business Rules! will find the COPYHELP.WBH Help text file and display the text and/or menu which is associated with XCOPY (as a main topic reference) in that file:

:MOREHELP Additional Help Topics
::XCOPY,COPYHELP.WBH Using XCOPY
::EDLIN,EDLIN.WBH Using Edlin
:MOREHELP

The -c option of the wbhelp command should be used if external topic references are used in a Help text file. See "Expanded wbhelp syntax" below for more information.

Menu descriptions - Attributes may now be specified for menu descriptions, as in the following example:

:HELP |H|Help on Help

When a subtopic with a preceding asterisk (used to pass the subtopic value back to the program) is defined without a menu description, the menu description which is specified with the main topic of the same name, excluding the asterisk, is used instead. In the following example, the menu description "Copy files" is used on the OTHER menu, even though the menu description has been omitted.

:OTHER Select the operation to be performed
::*BACKUP.WB Back up files
::*RESTORE.WB Restore files
::*COP.WB
:OTHER
:COP.WB Copy files
HOW TO COPY FILES

...
:COP.WB

Also, if no menu description is found anywhere for a topic that appears in a menu, the wbhelp compiler now prints a warning to indicate this.

80+ character lines truncated - Lines longer than 80 characters (not including attributes) in Help text files will be truncated rather than wrapped to the next line.

Expanded wbhelp syntax - Two options are available in the syntax of the wbhelp command. The -c option causes a .WBH Help file to be created even if errors are found during the compile, and the -e option causes a list of all external file references to be output as part of the compile. The -e option must be used in conjunction with the -c option. Type wbhelp from the operating system for a display of the command's syntax and release number.

Keys


CONTROL CHARACTERS NOT VALID FOR INPUT Release 3.30

Control characters are no longer allowed as valid input for INPUT statements on Unix, Xenix and AIX versions of Business Rules!. Some of the characters (such as Ctrl-S) were previously being accepted as valid input, but when that data was sent to the printer, the printer would go off-line. Also, since most terminals cannot display control characters, the input would show up as a space, making it difficult to spot the problem.

CTRL-C DURING HELP MODE Release 3.30

When Ctrl-C is pressed while HELP mode is active, Business Rules! will now return to the program and enter ATTN mode. Previously it would exit Help and return to program processing.

CTRL-P OUTPUT REDIRECTABLE Release 3.30

You can now redirect the Ctrl-P (print screen) output to a file/printer of your choice. See "SUBSTITUTE" in the Wbconfig.sys Specification section for more information.

CTRL-S Release 3.50

The HOLD function is performed by CTRL-T and, when permitted by the terminal protocol, by Ctrl-S. The ESC key now acts as a command key 99.

ESC

Release 3.30

This key may now be remapped (in wbconfig.sys) with the KEYBOARD specification.

Release 3.50

ESC key now acts as a command key 99. The HOLD function is performed by Ctrl-T and, where permitted by the terminal protocol, Ctrl-S.

PgUp and PgDn Release 3.30

These keys will now return CMDKEY values of 90 and 91 during program input. Previously these keys operated the same as the up and down arrows during program input. Please inform your customers about this change in case they are using these keys instead of the arrow keys. If necessary, PgUp and PgDn may be remapped (in wbconfig.sys) to operate as arrow keys.