z/OS User Exits › z/OS Blockmode User Exits—CICS › TIRHELPX—Help Interface Exit › Customizing the Exit

Customizing the Exit

Copy the default exit from the CA Gen CEHBSAMP library to one of your libraries. The member name is TIRHELPX. The skeleton includes sample code, as comments, for invoking the CA Gen Help system. This code may be uncommented for use with that system, or used as an example for invoking other help applications.

The Dialog Manager provides an error message parameter to the Help exit and a parameter list that contains the following information:

• Screen help identifier (helpid). This identifier is specified at the workstation level during screen design. The helpid can be a key into a DB2 table, for instance. For an explanation of the screen help identifier see the Design Guide.
• Current transaction code, screen name, user ID, terminal ID, printer ID, and current dialect.
• Last displayed message and command before requesting help.

If the cursor is on a field that has a field help identifier (helpid), the Dialog Manager also provides the following information:

• Field help identifier (helpid). This identifier is specified at the workstation level during screen design. For an explanation of the screen help identifier see the Design Guide.
• Current, edited values of the field as it appears on the screen, screen length of the field, and a token identifier for the field. These may be passed to the help system and used to replace the contents of the field upon return from the help system.

TIRHELPX calls User Exit TIRMTQB. TIRMTQB finds a message number in the runtime error message table and returns the corresponding message and its length. If the message number is not in the table, TIRMTQB returns a default message. For more information, see Runtime Message Table Exit in this chapter.

TIRHELPX can use the provided data to invoke a user-written help system. TIRHELPX must set a return code to instruct the Dialog Manager which action to take. The Dialog Manager can either terminate the transaction and not redisplay the screen, or redisplay the screen with the contents of the message parameter as the screen’s error message.