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Conference iosg::all-in-1_v30

Title:	OLD ALL-IN-1 (tm) Support Conference
Notice:	Closed - See Note 4331.l to move to IOSG::ALL-IN-1
Moderator:	IOSG::PYE

Created:	Thu Jan 30 1992
Last Modified:	Tue Jan 23 1996
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	4343
Total number of notes:	18308

981.0. "Modifying ALL-IN-1 help" by KAOFS::M_MORIN (Le diable est aux vaches!) Thu Jul 02 1992 22:23

I need some clarification on how ALL-IN-1 help works.

In V3.0, if you customize a help module, what happens to OAHELP.HLB when you
do the Move-live-area and process-marked-elements bits?

Is the entire copy of OAHELP.HLB copied over to the site area?

Also, if a customer develops applications with application area and they
develop help modules for this application, do the help modules have to all be
together into the same OAHELP.HLB for the help to work?

In the V3.0 guide, page 22-3 it states that:

"OAHELP.HLB:  This library contains the formatted Help text for any customized
Help modules moved from the development area to the live area and the Help text
for any uncustomized ALL-IN-1 Help modules.  It is in the OA$SITE_LIB directory.
If you make any customizations to ALL-IN-1 Help, the logical OAHELP points to
this library."

Why/when to have this logical defined?  Isn't having a copy of the OAHELP.HLB
in the site area good enough?  My guess would be that if you have more than the
OA application, ALL-IN-1 wouldn't know which OAHELP.HLB to use.  Is this the
reason for defining the OAHELP logical?

Any help appreciated.

Mario

T.R	Title	User	Personal Name	Date	Lines
981.1	This is how to do it	AIMTEC::WICKS_A	DEC Mail Works for ME sometimes	`Thu Jul 02 1992 22:49`	13
	Mario, When you customise a help module and move-it-to-live it fails out of the box because it doesn't have the necessary help libraries in the live area. If you copy OAHELP.HLB from OA$LIB_ENGLISH to OA$SITE_LIB_ENGLISH AND HLPSOURCE.HLB (don't forget to rename it to SITEHLPSOURCE) then it works. Regards, Andrew.D.Wicks
981.2	Not an easy one I'm afraid.	CESARE::EIJS	All in 1 Piece	`Fri Jul 03 1992 12:21`	71
	Mario, Due to overhead reasons, OAHELP.HLB is not available in OA$SITE_LIB_<language>: after the installation. However, SITEHLPSOURCE.HLB is available. As Andrew indicated (and the documention) the OAHELP.HLB needs to be copied before you can mark the first HLP to be moved to Live. The same name should be used (OAHELP.HLB) as if you don't use the logical OAHELP is assumes OA$LIB:OAHELP.HLB as the library. The way HELP works at this moments puts a restriction on the flexibility of maintaining HLP files. However, it is doable. Then application specific HELP. Imagine using another HELP library, located in your application areas. First, you need to maintain the OAHELP logical on a per application base. Second, you need to make sure that the standard OA HELP files still can be accessed. You might end up with 1-n HELP libraries, but that will almost be impossible to maintain. Taking this 'dilemma' into account, we currently see the following as the advisable way of maintaining application HELP: Use the same Live location (and Base) for all application HELP elements, so based on the OA application. E.g. Your application TEST, application area TEST_ENGLISH should have a valid live location defined as: Site Location: OA$SITE_LIB_ENGLISH:SITEHLPSOURCE.HLP [ Base Location: OA$LIB_SHARE:HLPSOURCE.HLP ] Please, no bodily harm because of the above. We know about this. What? Well, the fact that when your application moves the HLP elements to Base, they will be put in the HLPSOURCE.HLB and OAHELP.HLB, files which are Base files for the OA application. And we always said that you shouldn't do that. It's the restriction because of the current functionality of the HELP. There is a modification needed to CM_VALIDATE_HLB.SCP to be able to do the above: The lines: GET OA$FUNCTION = " - FOR FIRST CM$AUTH$LOCATIONS WITH .AREA NES AREA AND - ." #CM_FIELD " EQS " #CM_FIELD " DO GET #CM_TMP = 0" should be commented out: ! GET OA$FUNCTION = " - ! FOR FIRST CM$AUTH$LOCATIONS WITH .AREA NES AREA AND - ! ." #CM_FIELD " EQS " #CM_FIELD " DO GET #CM_TMP = 0" There is no 'easy' workaround, except in the case that your application is under control of a initialization and end procedure (which will almost never be the case). For the time being, from a maintainability point of view and the above done, the advise: before any update (upgrade) or patch installation, save the OA$LIB:HLPSOURCE.HLB and OA$LIB:OAHELP.HLB, and in case the libraries get replaced, merge the saved version into the new version by hand. Sorry. Ciao, Simon [End of buffer]