Help on Help
The latest up-to-date Help is available on the Micro Focus Infocenter on the Web, at http://documentation.microfocus.com. Alternatively, you can display the Help locally from the Help menu in the IDE, or from the Start menu.
Help in the Infocenter
Tips on using the Infocenter Help:
- You can specify the scope of Help to search, by creating your own search lists. To do this, click Search scope and follow the wizard instructions.
- The Help topic being displayed can get out of step with the contents, such as when you choose the topic from a search or when you link to it from another topic. To show where the topic appears in the contents, click
on the toolbar. - This Help is in Eclipse format. For full details of the Help system, see the Eclipse Workbench User's Guide
COBOL Help within the IDE
Tips on getting Help on COBOL when using the IDE:
- COBOL syntax, library routines and Compiler directives. In the COBOL editor, put the cursor anywhere within the reserved word, routine or directive, and then press F1.
- Error messages. In the output pane, put the cursor on the error message number and press F1.
- Tooltips. Hover over an item in the COBOL code or over a field or control, by leaving the mouse pointer on it for a moment. A brief description of it may be displayed, either beside it or at the bottom of the window.
Help in Microsoft Visual Studio
The Microsoft Help on using Visual Studio is comprehensive and detailed and includes many samples as well as extensive reference material and more. If you are new to Visual Studio, we recommend that you explore the Microsoft Help and follow the tours and introductory material there.
Tips on using Help in Visual Studio Help format:
- The contents for the Help system does not expand and collapse in the same way as previous Help systems. When you expand an item in the table of contents, the children of the expanded item are displayed as expected. However, the siblings of the expanded item are removed from the list, and only the parent, grandparent and other direct ancestors remain listed.
- The Help system does not include an index.
- To display the help with an index or fully expanding table of contets, the following third-party tools are available:
- Microsoft Help Viewer Power Tool - can be used either as a standalone Help viewer or embedded in the VS IDE.
- Help Viewer Keyword Index- displays the index in the browser-based help or, optionally, embedded in the Visual Studio IDE.
- Microsoft Help 3 Viewer - a standalone Help viewer that provides an index and a fully expanding table of contents.
Micro Focus does not endorse or recommend the above tools, and if you choose to use them you do so at your own risk.
- For full details of the Help system, see the Microsoft Help System Documentation, which is available from Help menu in the IDE.