Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!rutgers!ucsd!ucbvax!ISUMVS.BITNET!GG.SPY From: GG.SPY@ISUMVS.BITNET ("John Hascall") Newsgroups: comp.os.vms Subject: Re: Menu system like help Message-ID: <8807100828.AA21739@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> Date: 7 Jul 88 13:44:12 GMT Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Organization: The Internet Lines: 43 > Date: Wed, 6 Jul 88 16:42:44 MDT > Sender: INFO-VAX Discussion> From: Michael Joe Walters > Subject: Menu system like help > > I need to set up a system where the user can make choices and proceed down the > tree to find the document they are interested in. The VMS Help facility is a > good example of the type of system I am looking for. > > Can the VMS Help facility be used as a separate process? This project should > not be part of the Help system. I want the user to be able to type XYZ and get > into the system just like Help gets you into the help system. > You can call the VMS help facility with your own help library (simple to create). You can either do it in DCL "XYZ :== HELP @MYHELPLIBRARY" or if you want more flexibility you can write a program--the routine you want to call is LBR$OUTPUT_HELP (see "VAX/VMS Utility Routines Reference Manual" (Volume 8A of the orange books), pages LBR-50 through LBR-54). To create your own help library: 1) LIBRARY/CREATE/HELP name-of-my-library.HLB 2) then create a help file for each major (top-level) topic 3) LIBRARY/INSERT name-of-my-library.HLB name-of-my-help-file.HLP (for each file) For an example of the format of a help file you can: LIBRARY/OUT=TT:/EXTRACT=ASSIGN SYS$HELP:HELPLIB.HLB which will show you the input for "HELP ASSIGN" John Hascall Iowa State Univ. Computation Center GGUUU@ISUMVS.BITNET -or- GVJPH@VAXD.IASTATE.EDU > Michael Walters > MWalters @ UWYO.BITNET > >