OHF / MVS Specifications
CICS Users Will Create their Own Pop-Up Help Windows
The Online Help Facility (OHF) provides an easy, effective way to support System Z CICS users with pop-up help windows. Users press the designated PF key, and OHF display the help message for the current feild. IF the cursor is outside a field, users get more general screen-level help. OHF is simple enough that users can and will create their own help windows. System support personnel will spend less time on support and don’t need to make any changes to application programs.
Installation
OHF can be used in full, partial, or deactivated implementations. Partial implementation runs without resident memory and needs only one user exit. Deactivated implementation runs much like partial implementation, but requires a few lines of code in the applications it supports. It is useful for applications to be installed at multiple locations, some of which do not otherwise support OHF, or for forcing a help window onto a screen without the user’s request.
On CICS installations with LE/370 configurations, OHF’s standard COBOL executables may be replaced with modules that are link-edited for LE/370. The product ships with both the standard and LE/370 files.
Environment
Use OHF with CICS 1.7 or greater and any 3270-type terminal or 3270 emulator.
Full operation of OHF requires one or more CICS user exits and 300 bytes of resident memory plus 9 bytes for each terminal in the region. Limited operation is possible, however, without user exits and resident memory.
OHF does not use the Terminal Control Table User Area.
OHF operates properly in MRO, but it must be installed in your Terminal Owning Region.
The TCT entry of every terminal that will create or edit help messages should include a terminal I/O area length at least twice the screen size. For a standard 24 × 80 screen, that’s 4,000 bytes.
For normal operation, OHF requires VTAM. It can operate BTAM. It cannot operate in TCAM.
OHF runs below the 16 Mg line.
To allow color and highlighting, the VTAM log-on mode table for a given CRT must support extended attributes, and it and the CICS TCT must be consistent with one another.
Portions of OHF are compiled in DOS/VS COBOL for VSE and OS/VS COBOL for MVS. Though these compilers do not specifically address year 2000 issues, SDS has always employed Assembler sub-routines that avoid year-2000 problems.
OHF includes an optional CICS session manager that allows users to run four CICS transactions simultaneously.