| Contents: | Main | Chapter | See Also: | Getting Started Manual | Advanced User Manual | |||
This procedure retrieves user-oriented help for a field from the Data Dictionary and other sources. The help is returned in arrays. (The MSG^DIALOG procedure can be used to display the help.) You control the kind of help obtained by using the FLAGS input parameter - either a specific kind of help, the help normally returned with one or two question marks, or all available help for a field.
HELP^DIE(FILE,IENS,FIELD,FLAGS,msg_root)
| FILE |
(Required) File or subfile number. |
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| IENS |
(Optional) Standard IENS indicating internal entry numbers. This parameter is only needed if code in the Data Dictionary for Xecutable Help or Screen on a Set of Codes references the entry number using DA() array or D0, D1, etc., and if that kind of help is being requested. |
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| FIELD |
(Required) Field number for which help is requested. |
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| FLAGS |
(Required) Flags used to determine what kind of help is returned by the call. If a lower case letter is shown, use it to suppress that kind of help - useful in conjunction with ? or ??. The possible values are: |
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| ? |
Help equivalent to user entering one "?" at an edit prompt. (Also help returned for an invalid response.) |
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| ?? |
Help equivalent to user entering "??" at an edit prompt. |
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| A |
All available help for the field. |
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| B (b) |
Brief variable pointer help. A single line beginning with
"To see the entries ...". |
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| C |
Set of Codes screen description. |
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| D |
Description text for the field; this may be multiple lines. |
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| F |
Fields that can be used for lookups. Returned for top-level .01 fields and for pointed-to files for pointer data types. For pointed-to files, the F flag is effective only if the G flag is also sent. |
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| G (g) |
Getting help from pointed-to file. Help for the .01 field of pointed-to file is returned. |
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| H |
Help prompt text. |
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| M |
More variable pointer help. Detailed description of how to enter variable pointer data. |
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| P |
Pointer screen description. |
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| S |
Set of codes possible choices. Any screen that exists on the set of codes field is applied so that only actually selectable choices are presented. |
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| T |
Date/Time generic help. This help text is customized based on the allowable and required elements of the particular Date/Time field. |
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| U |
Unscreened set of codes choices. |
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| V |
Variable pointer help that lists the prefixes and messages associated with a particular variable pointer field. |
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| X |
Xecutable help-the M code contained in Xecutable Help is executed. In order to have the help returned in an array, the executed code must use EN^DDIOL to load the help message. |
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| msg_root |
(Optional) Closed root into which the output from the call is put. If not supplied, output is returned in ^TMP-see Output. |
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The default output from this call is:
| DIHELP |
Number of lines of help text returned |
| ^TMP("DIHELP",$J,n) |
Array containing the lines of help text. The text is found in integer subscripted nodes (n), beginning with 1. A blank node is inserted between each different type of help returned. |
If error messages are necessary, they are returned in the standard manner.
If the MSG_ROOT is included in the input parameters, output is returned there instead of ^TMP. The help text is returned in nodes descendent from MSG_ROOT("DIHELP").
The following example illustrates the use of this call to return help text from a field that is a Set of Codes data type. This is the same help that can be obtained with a "?" in a traditional FileMan call. Note that the help is returned in the specified array descendent from MYHELP(1):
>D HELP^DIE(16200,"",5,"?","MYHELP(1)")
>ZW MYHELP
MYHELP(1,"DIHELP")=5
MYHELP(1,"DIHELP",1)=Only YES and MAYBE are acceptable.
MYHELP(1,"DIHELP",2)=
MYHELP(1,"DIHELP",3)=Choose from:
MYHELP(1,"DIHELP",4)=Y YES
MYHELP(1,"DIHELP",5)=M MAYBE
| 120 | Error occurred during execution of a FileMan hook. |
| 301 | An invalid flag was passed. |
| 501 | Field does not exist. |
| Helper and Validator |
Based on a flag passed to the Validator call, single question mark help is returned by the Validator if the value being checked is invalid. |
| Pointed-to Files |
By default you receive help for the .01 field of pointed-to files with ? or ?? when the field on which you are requesting help is a pointer. If you do not want this extended help returned, use the g flag. |
| Limitations |
This call does not return lists of entries for .01, pointer, or variable pointer fields. Use the Lister utility to obtain these lists. The b flag will suppress the line of Variable Pointer help that indicates a user can get a list of entries if they type <Prefix.?>. Use this flag with "?" if you are not supporting this capability. |
Reviewed/Updated: March 10, 2007