Help automation is the name given to the set of constructs and methods included in ACUCOBOL-GT to support context-sensitive help in your application. Many applications provide on-line help information in a way that is sensitive to the application's context. Context-sensitive help responds to a particular screen or control that the user clicks on or otherwise identifies.
Help automation is the mechanism that takes care of informing the help processor that help is needed for a particular item or context. The help processor is a program or subroutine that performs the task of delivering the help content to the user.
In ACUCOBOL-GT, the help automation mechanism consists of:
Help automation support is based on the concept of a help ID. A help ID is a special integer value assigned to a control. When a help request is sent to the help processor, the help ID of the associated control is sent as a parameter.
Typically, each control is assigned a unique value. This allows the help processor to uniquely respond to each control. To create help that responds to the screen, rather than an individual control in it, you can give all the controls in the screen the same help ID. Or you can mix the two approaches by giving some individual controls unique help IDs, while the remaining controls get a shared screen help ID. Because help IDs are associated with controls, you cannot use help automation with character-based (textual) ACCEPT fields.
Whether the control is defined in the Screen Section or in a DISPLAY statement, help IDs are assigned with the HELP-ID phrase. You can easily assign a screen-wide help ID in the Screen Section by specifying the HELP-ID for the top-level group item. You can override the screen-wide ID for a specific control by including the HELP-ID phrase in that control's definition.