Coding Standards for Database Files › Coding Standards for Help Text › Help Text Modularization

Help Text Modularization

You will want to structure your help text modules both to achieve maximum reuse of existing help groups and to minimize the effect of any possible changes. However, avoid over-complex interdependencies that make it difficult to build or debug a system. For database field dictionaries, a controlled ‘one-way’ system of reference is recommended. The following are some recommendations for structuring your help text:

• Place common text definitions in one or two standard modules and all other modules reference them. Place standard text fragments in one module, including any references to OS/400 help groups.
• Place standard definitions of application entities and concepts in a single dictionary panel group. This makes it easy to reference definitions by hypertext links and from the search index.
• Place help text for related panels in a separate panel group.
• Place help text for related commands in a separate panel group. For example, help text for the commands to create, change, delete, and edit a given object might all be placed in the same panel group.
• Restrict the use of UIM index (:ISCH) tags to a few source members so as to simplify the building and rebuilding of search indexes.

Help Dependencies - Panel Group Cross-References:

Under the above scheme, a search index can be built simply as follows:

• CRTPNLGRP PNLGRP(xSCHIDX)
• CRTPNLGRP PNLGRP(xxmmENH)
• CRTSCHIDX SCHIDX(xSCHIDX)
• ADDSCHIDXE SCHIDX(xSCHIDX) PNLGRP(xSCHIDX)
• ADDSCHIDXE SCHIDX(xSCHIDX) PNLGRP(xxmmENH)