Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!killer!ames!pasteur!ucbvax!QUCDNSUR.BITNET!PYM From: PYM@QUCDNSUR.BITNET (Dr John Pym [Cardiothoracic Surgery]) Newsgroups: comp.os.vms Subject: Re: Menu system like help Message-ID: <8807092105.AA13074@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> Date: 7 Jul 88 05:14:00 GMT Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Organization: The Internet Lines: 43 Michael Joe Walterswrites: > 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. > Are there better systems you would suggest I look at? I am looking for free > software, but would consider a commercial package. This can easily be achieved using VMS HELP - why re-invent the wheel by writing a heirarchical text database when d i g i t a l has already done it for you? Format your documents in help file format (remember only 74 characters per line). You can add the appropriate escape sequences to make it all pretty e.g. reverse video, double height/width, graphics mode for simple diagrams and flow charts, etc. Then build the modules into your own help library and define a symbol to point to it - such as $ XYZ :== HELP/LIBRARY=Dxxx:[WHEREVER]YOURHELP.HLB remembering the full device and directory specification (defaults to SYS$HELP). We have implemented a drug and medical procedural database for resident staff in our large multidisciplinary intensive care unit using just this method. It is, however, an obvious choice for any heirarchical text database which requires modular addition and revision - and it's cheap and easy to implement. As an aside, an excellent online help system has been released by Sun for their new 386i workstation. It is hypertext-like - just click the mouse on an underlined word in the text and you go off to help information on that particular key word. I understand that this will be added to upcoming versions of Sun OS for other processors. This feature would be useful in VMS help - IS ANYONE FROM VMS DEVELOPMENT LISTENING? John Pym BITNET: PYM@QUCDNSUR Real life: Dr. John Pym Department of Surgery Telephone (613)549-3898 - office Queen's University (613)548-4879 - home Kingston. Ontario (613)541-7792 - cellular CANADA. K7L 2V6